Event Name: 4th Annual The Dream 5K & 1 Mile Walk
Date: January 17, 2004
Time: 8AM
Distance: 5K
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Host: Las Vegas Running Team/ Southwest Airlines/ LV SATURN Dealer
Benefit: ? (I'd have to check)
Course Layout: Loop
Course Terrain: Urban steets; asphalt
Weather Conditions: 30-40F ?; sunny; clear skies
Sociological (Fashion, fighting, foolery, and food):
Fashion: from shorts and tee shirt to full sweat suits (Some folks
thought 40degrees was cold! 8^)
Fighting: none
Foolery: None (intentional)
Food: many different things from fruit to bakery to bacon and eggs!
Personal Time: 32:13
Personal Pace: 10:22
Personal Place Overall : 70 of 92
Personal Place Age Group (clydesdales): 9 out of 9
(males 45-49): 4 of 6 (if I had registered by
age)
(Ohioans): 1 of 1 8^)
# of participants completing the course: 92
Winning Time: 15:15 (Juan Robles) - 21:39 (Sherry Wulff) Last Finisher: 1:02:27 Results URL:
lasvegasrunningteam.comlasvegasrunningteam.comOpen ↗ lasvegasrunningteam.comdreamover.htmOpen ↗
Pictures: available thru ofoto (Kodak) (link on race page)
Preparation included online registeration and a couple calls to the race director. Since I was
unsure about have a rental car available, he kindly offered to pick me up. (First Wow!)
Okay, flew in the night before, met our friends and checked in, had a late snack and then bed. The
room was hot (even though outside was cool). keeping a window open wasn't an option since it
apparently was trash collection night. I had the keys to the rental car. A few hours later I was up
(even though the room alarm did not go off). Dressed in short sleeved shirt and shorts, with a CAV's
baseball hat to keep the sun out of my eyes.
I had no trouble finding the race site due to directions from mapquest. It's at a saturn car
dealership. I wondered around and realized it was colder than I expected (below 40F?). Thankfully I
put my underarmor long sleeve shirt in the car, so I put that on. I finally found the registration
and checked in. Glad I also had printed my on-line registration, otherwise I would have had to pay
again. (If you want to run this next year, register early on-line. It's a little cheaper too, $22
online versus $30 day of the race) I get the race packet and shirt. The shirt is a nice quality
sweatshirt. (Second Wow!) This is one of the best shirts I've gotten from a race, with a large race
logo on the front (see the web site for the race)
prerace, I talked to a couple guys from Georgia. (sorry I don't remember names) One is a pediatric
doctor that directs a race for children suffering cancer. In checking the preregistration sheet, I
noticed runners from Minnesota and a few other midwest states but no other Ohio runners.
The prerace ceremonies included boyscouts displaying the flag and leading the Pledge of Alligence, a
young female singer doing the national anthem, and a drill team presentation. The drill team and boy
scouts line up to send us off to the start line with cheers and applause. This confused some of us
into thinking the race was starting. Instead this was just the send off. The start was a little bit
down the road.
We waited briefly for all the runners to get to the start. I struck up a conversation with a woman
who obviously expected it to be much colder. She had on sweat shirt and sweat pants. We talked
during the first mile or so of the race about sites to see and things in that general neighborhood.
She had just been going to the LV running team practices for a few months and really enjoyed it. She
strongly recommended the Red Rock canyon as a place to see.
I had forgotten my watch so I just ran easily, talking during that first mile. We began to pick up
the pace a little (or others were slowing down) during the second mile. This part headed west and
the mountains were clearly visible straight ahead. We passed several other runners, one at a time.
We weren't trying to pass anyone at this point, it just happened. Just as we began to wonder out
loud where the 2mile marker was, we saw it. The road cone holding the marker flag was knocked over,
so I stood it back up.
Soon after that I saw one of the men ahead of us having trouble. I mentioned this saying, "that
guy's walking again, we can catch him." With that, together we picked up the pace. I was now in
hunt mode, looking for runners we/I could beat. It was about a half mile or more to the finish and
we were closing in and passing runners. The woman I talked with fell slightly behind and I decided
to just run ahead. She said later she thought she could stay up with me and really wasn't far
behind (20seconds at the finish).
Turning into the dealership toward the finish, the drill team was still offering cheers to runners.
(third Wow!) I passed a few more runners in ths last tenth of a mile, pushing hard both because the
finish was near and the cheering was great support!
I charged into the shoot, totally out of breath. I turned back to see my new friend finish. BTW her
name is Melinda.
We went back to the refreshments area. I grabbed a banana and water. I wondered around meeting a few
more people, including the runners from minnesota. I learned they have been coming to Las Vegas for
9 years for races, including all four years of this MLK weekend race. The guys from Georgia
mentioned what my per mile pace was, then told me the results were already printed and showed me the
table. I was disappointed with my time only slightly. I had planned on it being a "fun run", and I
had enjoy it. I can say I ran, but can't really say I raced the whole thing.
Melinda found out she was listed as a Filly and first place in that division. She informed one of
the organizers, who moved her name to her age division, where it turn out she also took first
place! This was her first time placing, so now she had something to show off. (Division prizes were
nice plaques.)
I was about to leave when they began the door prizes. I managed to win a $25 certificate to a local
running store. (I didn't manage to get to the store, so I have to figure out what to do with this).
Melinda had won the top prize last year, two tickets from Southwest Airlines. (one more Wow!)
Overall, I have to say this was an impressive event. Why the attendance is so low surprises me. If
you are looking for trophy hardware, this may be the race for you. Even if you don't race, you might
get a good door prize (there were a lot of them.)
I may have to go back there next year! I really enjoyed it!
Ed Prochak