Las Vegas Marathon Blog

What I want for my birthday is to run eight miles successfully, and that’s exactly what I got! Although I would have liked my pacing to be better, I have to admit I did pretty well. Patrick and I were only supposed to run seven miles. We felt so motivated, we went ahead and ran an extra mile.

We ran around Murphysboro Lake this morning around 7:45. The lake was beautiful. There was mist coming off the water and all I could hear were sounds of nature and my feet hitting the pavement. Unlike running close to my house, there were no foul odors from dead animals. I think it’s because I was in a state park. And there was hardly any trash. Just about a case of Keystone Light was sporadically tossed out someone’s window. Other than that and a couple of small items, there was no litter. It was refreshing to be a part of nature without seeing it destroyed.

There were many steep hills on the course. Take a look:

Another hard part of the course was getting away from all the bugs. I had several following me and some of them bit me. Many were bees. I must have squished about five of them. But whenever I could smell something sweet, like flowers, they weren’t there. I guess I don’t smell as sweet as a flower. While running, that’s a good thing!

Because it was my birthday, I was in a very happy mood. I finished running about four minutes before Patrick and felt great running ahead. When I was done, I felt like I could run another four miles around the park. Of course, now that a few hours have passed, I’m glad we stopped when we did.

After our run, we drove around the park to look at the lily-pads one more time. They were so beautiful.

I’m a bit bummed about next week. We are only supposed to run five miles and work our way back up to nine in a few weeks. I want to run 10. I’m ready to go, I feel strong, and I’m excited to get going!

Tonight is special because it’s our cheat meal/my birthday meal! We are going to Fujiyama Steakhouse in Carbondale.

The chefs do these really neat tricks at the hibachi tables:

Patrick and I both got the Surf & Turf special which included lobster tail and filet mignon. Patrick just got hooked on lobster last weekend, and now it’s one of his favorites. I really enjoyed the unique taste. Usually lobster tastes like butter, but this time, it was much different:

And at the very end of the night, I was surprised with a grand ice cream desert and everyone sang a Japanese birthday song for me and hit the gong. It was such a wonderful night!