ET Full Moon Midnight half marathon recap-o-rama: Part 3!

This all makes sense because you read Part 1 and Part 2 here.  Love me, love my verbosity.

Are you happy to be here?  Because I'm happy to be here.  And I'm happy you're here too!

I should have taken pictures inside the Ale'Inn to document how utterly unremarkable it was, but I was busy being done racing and looking for food.  It was hilarious to be there and I soaked it up because I can't imagine what would ever take me out that way again, but it really is a tiny little portable building with some souvenirs and a bar inside.  In the dark I didn't see where people would actually *stay*, since it is an Inn, but I trust there's...something.  ? 

They did lay out a breakfast with several different items on offer, but of probably ten I'd say eight were bread, so I kind of walked by it.  Probably tons of fun if you want cinnamon rolls or biscuits and gravy after a race, or if you can eat that stuff without becoming homicidal.  You would not be talking about me.

So once we crunched through some veggies (and a bag of My Fave sour cream and cheddar ruffles I brought as a reward- nasty delicious little buggers), grabbed our bags that the bus dudes had brought to the end for us, changed, rested, been enmedalated-

What is the proper term for receiving a medal?  Been medallionized? Medationed?

we hopped back on the bus for a restful 2.5hr ride back to the strip.

...At least, it would have been restful, if we hadn't been sitting with the ONE GUY on our ENTIRE BUS who was just raring to go and HAD to spend the entire time between 5-8am talking.  He talked to everyone within eyeshot.  He talked to me when my eyes were closed.  When no one responded anymore, he got on the phone and called all his friends who apparently couldn't wait until after breakfast to hear about his amazing marathon experience.  Talky guy, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're a very nice man and I don't mean this in a harsh way, but please know that fuck you.  I was tired and achy and that ride kept bumping me out of my nap and I did not want to discuss the relative merits of my barefoot shoes or listen to you wake up your wife to update her.  If you are ever around people again, please expend some effort in reading the crowd. 



This looks like a clusterfuck but totally wasn't.

Other buses may not have had this man on them tho, so please don't hold it against the race.  The race was awesome and exactly as advertised- better, because everything was run so incredibly smoothly. We never waited more than a few minutes for anything (including port-a-potties and post-race food), there was enough staff/food/ water/aid/medals/transportation/everything for everyone, everyone seemed to know what was going on (*ahem* I'm talking to you, Disney *cough*), and it was all great.  The only thing I'd say about it all is that you might want to bring some earplugs and a really good FuckOff Face for the bus if you want to get some rest, and some sunglasses for the ride back.  If you can go for days without sleep and love chatting in the middle of the night, this may not apply to you.  Otherwise, that's my advice.  And- don't stay at the Hard Rock.

Speaking of our illustrious/nefarious hotel, it was super convenient to step off the bus and walk 50 feet to our elevator and waiting superfeatherbeds.  It was downright luxuriant, since we were pretty trashed from running and not sleeping etc, and since BLESSEDLY the pool-rave hadn't started back up again...I'm pretty sure I fell face-first from the doorway to asleep on my pillow.  That part was awesome.  Willing myself to sleep past 10am when the bass started back up though- not awesome. 



Srsly.

I also requested a late checkout when I booked the room, and was told I just needed to call the day of and make the request then.  For some reason, it took me like an hour to actually get through to the front desk, and when I did they told me it was $35 to extend my stay from 11a-2p.  Bollocks.  After a little snarking about the lack of Ecstasy to complete my in-room rave experience tho, they did extend our checkout and waive the fee.  Nice, but not nearly nice enough to make me go back.  At least, not on a trip where I *need* to sleep during the day.

Anyway, eventually rousted from our room, we decamped once again to Pink Taco- did I say already I *loved* it there?- for food and drinks.  I had the same thing I was in love with the day before, but James tried something else that was also amazing.  And also- drinks!!

I could not have been happier with this situation.

It's just not Vegas without the drinks. And drinks you feel no guilt about, because you earned them running?  The Best!  I had a horchata colada, which- bear with me- tasted *exactly* like sunscreen, in the best possible way.  Love.  How have people not thought of this before?!  I followed that up with a Chupacabra, which was equally delicious but in a totally different way.  Savory vs sweet I guess, or 2nd-drink-satisfying vs 1st-drink-giddy.  Or it was the alcohol.



Again, Yes. Please.



Yay!

I think we had slightly overestimated our capacity for post-race fun, because by this point, at 4pm, we didn't want to do much beyond sit in one place and we still had five hours before our flight back to Phoenix.  I lobbied for a foot rub, because that is one of my top five joys in life, and because I'd spotted a place right next to the CVS.  Jaime might have, but I didn't care that it looked like this:

Yikes.  Side note: that is a piece of my awesome matching luggage set right there. 
Only ever seen one other like it!  Don't pick it up off the carousel, it's mine!



If I have to ring the bell at the massage place, do I want to know what you're doing in there-?

It definitely looked a little freaky, but then doesn't everything? It's Vegas.  The inside was pretty nice:

And here is where I spent the next hour, having all my crankiness removed.

It really didn't suck.  The place was called Angel Hands or something and had about half good reviews on yelp; for my money, it was a little pricey for the hour but pretty good thai massage (read: clothed and with joint manipulation- can you tell I'm like a massage connoisseur?) and not creepy on the inside, just the outside.

We managed the trek back inside the hotel but couldn't bring ourselves to venture to the strip, so we spent our remaining time in the bar on the casino floor, just people-watching. The Hard Rock is a great place to do this, especially if you are into virtually-naked girls; if my camera had a silent mode I would have surreptitiously taken a picture of the one who sauntered in literally in just her underwear.  There were a lot of bathing suits and bikinis and, again, it's Vegas, but this was literally underwear.  And not a lot of it.  I understand I sound a bit curmudgeonly, but for reals- ass. on. seat.  They should probably put those toilet-seat protector dispensers out at the bar because otherwise..there's just no point.

So that was the weekend. Not much else to report, except that I talked to even more random people on the way home.  Like I said, the small size and probably stunt-like nature of this race seemed to bring out the friendly in everyone we met on the adventure...but also, wearing my medal around afterward I had several people stop to ask or tell about the race.  I always wear my medal for the rest of race day, because seriously, when else do you get to do this?  It's fun.  And when I get home, it's going on the wall for the rest of eternity, never to be worn again, so shouldn't it get a little air time-?  I think so.  But usually people don't ask me about it much- maybe because there are forty thousand other people nearby wearing the same thing, it seems more obvious?  This trip, a guy physically stopped us in the airport to ask about the logistics, because he'd heard of the race and wanted to go, and I wound up talking to some guy on the plane for half an hour about various races once he'd seen the medal too.  It was really pretty cool; I'm not the world's friendliest stranger, so it was nice to have a basis for some random conversations that I was actually interested in.  (Translation: if you see me out somewhere, definitely say hi, but make sure you're amusing and/or flattering for best results.  ;) )

(...or wearing a costume.  or bearing drinks.)

So, would I do ET again?  Maybe.  I don't really feel like I need to, as I feel like I Had The Experience... and I don't see a way to minimize the logistics to spend more time actually racing and recreating; it's a lot of flying/driving/luggage-schleping/in-checking/out-checking for only a few hours of "event".  You definitely have to bring your sense of humor for that.  If I went again, I'd *definitely stay somewhere else*, maybe fly out early instead of hanging around homeless after hotel checkout...or stay a day or so longer so recovery can actually happen before playtime starts.  I'd consider staying out in Rachel, just to be able to make that drive earlier in the day and settle in, instead of taking a long ride right before starting to run; I'm sure it's pretty quiet out there so you could actually rest sans dancing fools!  Otherwise, it was a great run filled with fun people, and well-organized-- a unique and ridiculous experience worth having!