Normally for my road trips, I would borrow my parents' Tesla with the longer range battery. However, they needed their car for the weekend, so I took mine. Since Las Vegas wasn't too far, the battery range really didn't matter. The kW rate was quite high at my usual Tesla Supercharger station in Barstow, so I opted to charge the car at EddieWorld. I pulled up to an empty Tesla Supercharger station in Yermo at about 8:30 am. After I plugged the car in for a charge, I went inside to use their restroom and to pass some time. It was pretty cool to see that besides snacks, they were also selling Funko Pops and some awesome lunch boxes!
Tesla Supercharger, Yermo, CA
When I went back to my car, pretty much all of the charging stalls were now occupied. The drive into Las Vegas took about 2 hours as I pulled in at just before 11 am. I headed straight over to Zippy's to get brunch. I was able to get an empty seat at the counter. After using their restroom, I ordered their Chili Moco with eggs sunny side up. With this place opening, I probably won't be going to one of the Cracker Barrels here in Las Vegas area.
Coffee
Chili Moco
After I was done with my meal, I drove over to the World Market Center Las Vegas to pick up my race packet. Once I got my bib, race shirt, and plastic gear bag, I made sure to stop at each of the vendors to get their special codes to build up my reward points.
World Market Center Las Vegas, Symphony Garage
Willie!
Bib chip check
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Goodie bag contents
My favorite post race food is...
Participants name wall
After I was done with the expo, I drove down to WorldMark Las Vegas Blvd to see if I could check into my unit a couple of hours early. Fortunately, my unit was ready. I was assigned to unit #402 in building 13. Once again, I was told to stop by the concierge to get my wristband room key. Of course that came with the invite to yet another useless owner update. At least this guy feigned his allegiance to the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club when he saw my hat. He pretty much was done talking to me the moment I committed to showing up on Sunday morning for a $100 Tango gift card. I hopped back in my car and drove over to my unit. The elevator was really slow. The room layout was the standard WorldMark studio unit. Everything was fine, but I did find that the door would not catch using standard force. I had to pull it quite hard in order for it to catch.
Check-in parking
Impersonal welcome letter
Check-in care bag with snacks and water
One slow ass elevator
View from my balcony
Murphy bed
I turned on the TV to watch some local news and caught a piece about a runner in the marathon tomorrow. His name was Derek Stefureac. He had multiple sclerosis and was hoping to run it in under 3:25 for a BQ. Nice! One day, I hope to train my body to that level. He quoted Confucius.
"We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one." - Confucius
At just before 5 pm, I went back out to eat an early dinner over at the nearby In-n-Out. I got the usual, 2 Double Doubles, both with onions. Usually, I would prefer to take them back to my room, but I decided to eat them there. When my food was ready, I was fortunate to find an open counter seat in the packed dining area inside.
Double Double with onions x2
Back at my room, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon and watched the usual WWE Friday Night SmackDown! The buildup in this episode was good leading up to the 2 nights of WrestleMania starting tomorrow night. I took a shower before calling it a night.
Flat runner
WWE Friday Night SmackDown!
Saturday 4/6
Since the horrible bussing experience at the last REVEL Big Bear race in November and then again at the Mesa Marathon in February, I made sure to get to the bus pick-up location extra early. I got ready and left the unit at about 2:45 am. I arrived at the Asurion Corporate Office parking lot at about 3:15 am and had pretty much my choice of any parking spot. I found a parking spot at the most southern end in case I decided to walk over after the race.
At about 4:20 am, my bus arrived at the start line area up at the Mt Charleston Lodge & Cabins. I made my way over to the more lighted area, closer to the long cache of portapotties. Some sections were a bit slippery with a little bit of black ice. I found my friend and pacer extraordinaire, Eddie, waiting underneath one of the heat lamps. We would be joined by my Canadian friend and fellow Marathon Maniac, Jack, who would be pacing the 4:20 group. Slowly, as more runners showed up, it got pretty crowded underneath the heat lamps. While waiting, I ended up chatting with a couple from Wyoming (bib #4387 and #2926). I never did catch their names, but it would turn out later that Facebook's creepy ass logarithm suggested one of her videos over on Instagram.
Under the heat lamp with Eddie
Weather at the start
Everyone trying to stay warm under one of the heat lamps
Sunrise! Time to shed the layers, check the gear bag, and run a marathon!
Deo's 557th marathon!
Beautiful snowcapped mountains in the background
Cold enough where I had to put the gloves back on!
Finish line!
1st Half: 2:04:26
2nd Half: 2:03:57
Finish: 4:08:23
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was quite content after crossing the finish line. I wasn't trying to beat my paltry personal best at the marathon, but I had beaten it by 1 minute and 19 seconds. I must say that after 250+ marathons, I had finally gotten a better grasp of proper pacing! Instead of the usual massive fade in the 2nd half, I was able to speed up a bit while passing a bunch of people. I must say that it felt great to run a negative split.
After getting my finisher medal and some post race food, I continued on through the finisher chute. I stopped by the Pinkbox tent to get a pink sprinkles doughnut. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but boy was that good after running a marathon! The line for the printed results was quite long, so I continued towards the gear bag area. Along the way, I looked through the beer garden area for my faster friends. I only managed to find one. After a brief chat, I went to go get my gear bag. I ended up chatting with an older gentleman named, John (bib #1170). I told him that I had followed him for a good stretch in the first half. He was a 71 year old that had run the Boston Marathon 25 times! Today was another BQ for him! Impressive!
Finisher medal
Finish line with Eddie
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
Post race Pinkbox doughnut
Results
Before catching a bus ride back to my car, I stopped by to say hi to my friend who had run the half marathon and to use a nearby portapotty. I had to make sure that I got on the correct bus as one of them was headed to the Strip.
Gabe!
Catching a shuttle ride back to my car
When I got back to my car, the battery was down to about 6%. The car warned me that with lower temperatures that I would be getting less energy and advised that I recharge soon. Thankfully, the Tesla Supercharger station that I had planned to visit was nearby. However, because it wasn't very far away, the car didn't have enough time to pre-condition the battery for a quicker charge. Once I parked and plugged the car in for a charge, I walked over to the Starbucks to get a drink and to pass the time. On the mobile app, I ordered a grande salted caramel cream cold brew.
Tesla Supercharger, Craig Rd
Grande salted caramel cream cold brew
Starbucks and finisher medal
Back at my room, I vegged out for a while before hopping into the shower to get cleaned up. Just prior to the start of night one of WrestleMania XL, I placed an order on the Zippy's app and then drove over to pick it up. As a reward for joining the Zipster Rewards program, I was given a free regular portion of their chili with rice. I ordered a regular Zip Pac to go with it. My food was ready when I arrived. However, the dude did not close the lid tightly for the chili. It ended up spilling on the first turn that I made when exiting the parking lot. About a third of the chili spilled. I thought that I would just clean the floor mat when I got back to the timeshare, but it was then that I learned that my car didn't have floor mats. I used the napkins to clean up the spill. Then I went up to my room to get some water and dishwashing liquid to clean up the rest of the mess. I then enjoyed my food while watching some WrestleMania.
Free regular chili with rice and regular Zip Pac
Wrestlemania XL night 1, Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso
Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair, and Naomi
The Final Boss!
Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns & The Final Boss
Sunday 4/7
I got up early to get ready and pack up my stuff before heading down for the owner update. I always make sure to do that as they will almost always keep me there for longer than that obligated 60 minutes. I got some snacks and water while I waited for my assigned rep. This lady was a clueless, ineffective, and one of the worst that I've met since becoming an owner. It was the same old tactics, but she was having difficulties making a connection with me. For some reason, she was saying that I only had less than 5,000 credits left on my account with it being early in the year. I assumed it was a lead into getting me to purchase more credits. I knew my balance was around 60k since I hadn't booked much since my ownership anniversary back in November. That got me into a mood where I was letting her know that the current website was horrible and inexcusable for the amount of maintenance fees that they continued to collect. They must had seen her struggling, so they tapped her out. The next person was someone that had run a half marathon before. Perhaps he could connect with me since I came in with my marathon medal. He was definitely much easier to talk to and he understood that I wasn't planning on making another purchase. I was just there for the 1 hour to fulfill my obligation. Their supervisor wasn't about to give up on me, so he tagged himself in to try and get me to buy. His angle was that he knew that I was a UCSD alum. His son was just recruited to their basketball team. Apparently his son was a high school standout. I made a comment that I'll have to remember his son's name in case he makes it to the pros. He was quick to respond, "oh, he will." I understand that parents should be proud and supportive of their kids, but he came off as quite pretentious. Uh, if your son was that great, he wouldn't be playing for UCSD. He tried to offer me a "special" UCSD deal for those with at least a 650 FICO score. I told him that the reason I have a 800+ FICO score was because I'm able to decline such offers when I don't have the means to pay for it. Boy, was he quick to do an about-face and stopped being my best friend. These people here were your stereotypical slimy used-car salesmen type. No wonder, I had avoided staying at this property in the past. Going forward, I will need to up my requirements for attending these useless owner updates especially at locations such as this one. Due to the recent high inflation and Biden-economics, they're going to have to start offering me at least $500 for me to attend one. A $100 gift card just isn't going to cut it anymore.
Honestly, that experience really left a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't stop my mind from formulating a scathing response to the survey that they'll send out after each of my stays at a Wyndham property. I went back to my room to get my bags and dropped off the room keys at the front desk before heading out. It would turn out that they were doing express checkout at the gatehouse while handing out water bottles. A nice small gesture, but nowhere near enough. They'll need to do better than that!
I stopped at the Zippy's for one last meal before heading home. Once again, I sat at one of the seats at the counter. I wanted their garlic rib steak, but unfortunately, they were out. I settled for their Loco Moco with eggs sunny side up and coffee. My waitress apologized for serving the coffee in a paper cup as they weren't done washing the regular cups. I didn't mind.
Brunch at Zippy's
Loco moco
I was wanting to charge the car at Barstow, but once again the price per kW was just too high at that location so I opted for the one in Yermo. As I was exiting the freeway, I noticed that the screen was telling me that there would be a wait for an open charging stall. However at my arrival, I found that a few spots were open. Once I plugged the car in, I went inside EddieWorld to use their restroom. Once I had enough charge to get me home with about 25% to spare, I unplugged and continued my drive home. The remainder took about 2 hours and 15 minutes to cover.
Tesla Supercharger, Yermo, CA
Lakers shrine at EddieWorld
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