The Journey – 390.0 Miles: 
Today, the A2B Route started its run through some of the more touristy parts of Las Vegas. Turning on to Las Vegas Blvd, the first tourist “run-by” was the Neon Museum. Las Vegas has been shining bright, flashing neon lights since the 1930s. The Neon Museum was founded to preserve and exhibit the iconic neon signs from casinos past. These casinos, motels and stores make the primary components that have shaped the cultural heritage and history of Sin City. So, The Neon Museum is kind of a cool place! Still under some construction, the museum has its grand opening on October 27, 2012. It is still fun for a quick run-by, though. Many of the larger signs are outside. So, they can be seen from the road.
The Run:
In spite of a lengthy pre-run stretch, my legs felt heavy as I started my run. I took the first mile very easy hoping that my legs would loosen up. However, there was not much improvement. Even so, I decided to increase my pace a bit. For the rest of the run, I never reached a point where it felt good. But, I am at least glad that I was able to maintain pace all the way through.
The Mind:
On runs, like today’s, the “quit-noise” in my head gets unusually loud. It seems to amplify the perceived fatigue in my body. Call it pride, but I do not like to stop running. I have a small handful of tools and tricks that I use when running. For example, today I switched to running in continual increments. What that means is that I pick some landmark that is in my line of sight. It might be an intersection or stoplight a few hundred yards ahead. Or it might be a mailbox that is half way up a hill. Once identified, I run toward it. I only think about running to that spot and nothing else. I do not think about continuing to run after I reach it. At same time, I do not allow myself to consider “resting” once I get there. I just focus on getting there. Then, once I reach the spot, I immediately pick another landmark and play the whole game over again.
It may seem goofy. But when I am having one of “those” runs, this works more often than not.
Another thing I do whenever occasion calls is to replay the voice of Joey Howe, my junior high school cross-country team captain, telling me that I have good endurance. Again, I do not know why that works. It just does.
There are others things that I use to help me get through a hard run. These are just the two that I used today.
Happily exhausted, I finished todays run. I think I will give myself a rest tomorrow.
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