Near the end of a half day of work, I took a home COVID test to see if I was still positive. The test came back negative, so the road trip to the Vegas area was on. My very first bout of COVID last week during a work conference involved coughing up a ton of phlegm. It finally had cleared up for the most part where I actually felt like running a half marathon was doable.
Negative COVID test
During the drive, I encountered the usual heavy congestion while driving through the Cajon Pass. With the longer battery range in my current Tesla, I was able to get all the way up to the Tesla Supercharger station in Baker with no range anxiety at all.
Baker, CA
I thought about waiting until I rolled into Las Vegas to charge the car again, but I decided to pull off in Primm to get a charge at the Tesla Supercharger station while I got dinner at McDonald's. I saw that they had added in 2 rows of charging stalls. The newer stalls were pretty packed, so I opted for the original row of stalls that was closer to McDonald's. After plugging in the car, I walked over and used the usual mobile app deal to buy 2 Quarter pounders with cheese for the price of 1. Once I was done with my 2 burgers, I went back to my car to wait for my car to finish charging.
Primm, NV
Quarter pounder with cheese x2
From there, I then drove up to La Quinta Inn Red Rock on W Sahara Ave to check into my room. I was assigned room #318. After I got my room keys, I went back to my car to get my bags. On the way up to my room, the lady that checked me in stopped me to give me a care package (bag of Cheetos and a bottle of water) for being a Wyndham Rewards diamond member. The layout of my room was a bit awkward, but it did have a small kitchen. What was hard to use was the very shallow bathroom sink.
Care bag for being a Wyndham Rewards diamond member
Thursday 11/24
One thing new with this race was the race director sending out emails informing us that there will be no race parking at the Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino. We were instead directed to Veterans' Memorial Park. We would park there and then take a shuttle to the start/finish area. I'm guessing that the race wasn't generating enough business for the hotel. The shuttle dropped us off at the Lake Mead Visitor Center.
Race parking map
Shuttle ride
There wasn't any signage to let us know where to go after being dropped off, but most of us just walked down towards the finish line area. I picked up my bib and race shirt before heading over to the building next to the portapotties to get out of the wind. I was assigned a pretty cool race number as the number 8 sounds like the Chinese word (發) for prosperity. Since I didn't have my car nearby, I had to carry that race shirt with me for the duration of the race. Eventually, other race participants showed up and joined me, trying to stay out of the wind.
Lucky bib number
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
At about 7 am, I used the portapotties one last time before heading up to the start line. I looked around to see if I could see any familiar faces. Originally, I was supposed to meet up with my local friend at this race, but she also caught COVID. We'll have to try again some other time to meet up. Eventually, I was spotted by Marathon Mitch. He had double booked on Thanksgiving races. I was for certain that he would opt to run his local races instead, but here he was.
Start line
Marathon Mitch
Start line pic from Mitch
Almost time to run!
Where's the water?
So dry!
Finish: 2:33:57
Click here for my Garmin data.
I tried to run that first mile just as I had prior to COVID. However, I found it hard to breathe as if I was running at altitude. It was also very crowded and windy once I got to the Historic Railroad Hiking trail and the tunnels. It ended up taking about 40 minutes longer to finish this race than the other 2 times that I've run this course. Thanks COVID. Mitch waited for me at the finish line. In addition to the finisher medal and a bottle of water, I grabbed a bag of Funyuns. We walked over to catch a shuttle ride back to our cars. After getting back to my car and getting everything in order, I drove over to the nearby Tesla Supercharger station to charge up the car.
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
Railroad Pass Hotel
On the drive back to my hotel, I stopped by Jollibee to pick up lunch. I got my usual Palabok fiesta with 1 pc Chickenjoy, pineapple quencher, and a peach mango pie.
Palabok fiesta with 1 pc Chickenjoy, pineapple quencher, and a peach mango pie
I ate my lunch while watching the Brazil v. Serbia World Cup match. I hadn't even taken a shower yet when the fire alarm was blaring. I went downstairs to the lobby and found the hotel staff trying to turn off the alarm. Apparently, someone in one of the suites was cooking and set off the alarm. They knew that it was a false alarm. Thank goodness it happened in the afternoon and not during the evening when everyone was trying to sleep.
Later that evening, I was pretty wiped out and really didn't feel like going out to get dinner. Luckily I ate a big enough lunch, so I just ate my bag of Funyuns and called it a night.
Friday 11/25
I watched some World Cup matches while I got ready to check out of my room. I checked out pretty early since I wanted to get breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. I also wanted to hit the road right around the England v. USA match so there wouldn't be as much traffic on the freeway. I ordered the usual country boy breakfast with sirloin and a coffee. I got the hash brown casserole and grits as my 2 sides.
Country boy breakfast
After paying my bill and using the restroom, I hopped in the car to start my drive home. I exited the freeway at Primm to get a full charge. It would turn out that charging was free before 10 am. Even though I went beyond 10 am, the entire charging session was free. They have a lot more charging stalls here now with trash cans, but they seem to have an issue with the disposal of the trash. It was everywhere! It looked to be a combination of strong winds and crows.
Primm, NV
Free charging
Garbage problem
Those uphill climbs really ate into the Tesla's battery charge. I didn't think that I would have enough charge to get all the way home, so I pull off at Barstow to get a quick charge at the Tesla Supercharger station.
Barstow, CA
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