Hawaii running experience

stats of the fortnight: run 82km

Watching Honolulu Marathon was a very special experience as this is a really unusual event. Imagine that you'll have half of the participating 20,000 runners behind you when you finish after 6 hours! Official marathon terms assure that the finish will close not before the last runner has arrived. He did after more than 14 hours.
 

A further speciality is that there is no age limit for young runners. Japanese runners could be seen not older than around 10 years! There is even a separate age group for 15 to 17 that was won by a 15-year-old Japanese boy in 3:00:02 hours.

See Top 20 photos at picasa

Las Vegas Heli Roulette

stats of the week: run 40km, gym 2hrs

Regards from my journey to the Las Vegas Marathon that showed typical development: The full distance went down from 5,000 to 3,700 runners, while the half marathon growed from 20,000 to 33,000! However, the organizers were not prepared to handle the masses. Big problems at the start to get through to the right pens, later slow half runners blocked fast marathon runners. It's a fancy race but recommended just for those who don't take it seriously. 

Las Vegas strip is quite an experience for European souls. Gambling 24 hrs and an artificial world inside the hotels:

My special experience followed. After I enjoyed a helicopter flight to Grand Canyon on Monday I heard the news that just 2 days later a heli of the same company on the same route crashed near Hoover Dam with all 5 passengers perishing. That's what I ever said. Getting old is just luck.