Every Wednesday is Nike Run Club at the Las Vegas Niketown store. I’d been in earlier in the week to find out the start time and try on some new trainers; 6pm kick off but no trainers in my size – saved me a bit of cash.
Niketown is in the Forum Shops, which is attached to our hotel, Caesars Palace. It’s a bit like having the Trafford Centre in your hotel. I turned up on time and had to fill in some forms to indemnify Nike in the event of my death. I got a free keyring, not quite as good as a free pair of trainers but it’s a start. There was only one other person there so I chatted to him for a while; he attended every week and filled me in on what to expect. Everybody else seemed to be Niketown employees and it was, apparently, a very low turn out – it had been ridiculously hot though so it probably put people off.
Just after 6pm we all walked out through the shops and exited via a rear door in the casino. We ended up at the back of the Coliseum (Caesar’s Palace big arena), it was in the shade so it was quite comfortable. I wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen next but a young lady took charge and asked who was new to Run Club – unsurprisingly just my hand went up. She gave me the option of running 1, 3 or 5 miles. I opted for the 3 mile run which was a run up the Strip to the Circus Circus sign and back again.
Halfway there!
Once we had the intro everyone just stood around and then suddenly, as if their minds were synchronised, they stood in a circle and put in their right hands with their hands in a fist. I looked a bit surprised and the young lady looked a bit embarrassed and explained that this ritual is practiced at every Run Club: she would shout ‘JUST’ and we would then shout ‘DO IT!’ three times followed by ‘RUN CLUB SWOOSH!’. As we were stood outside the Coliseum, the phrase ‘When in Rome…..’ came to mind, so I mumbled the words ‘do it’ 3 times and actually gave ‘Run Club Swoosh’ a miss as I’m English and do have some shame. As soon as they had finished shouting all the locals turned around and ran off to the Strip leaving me stood there with my right arm outstretched looking a bit of a lemon.
I caught the majority of people by the Mirage and jogged along with them all until Treasure Island, you had to cross the road by a footbridge and the rest of the runners went up the escalator (honestly) whilst I ran up the stairs. Once over the road and by Fashion Show Mall, Circus Circus did seem to be a long way away and whilst the sun was low it was very very warm and sweaty. One of the super fit Niketown guys had managed to get to Circus Circus and was running back, much to the delight of the rest of the runners who were high fiving him for his efforts – I just slipped him a couple of cheeky V’s as nobody likes a show off!
As we got nearer the turning point the tourist in me came out and I got out my camera and took a few snaps, I did get some funny looks by everyone running past me. I managed to catch them all up again though and once we had turned I overtook most of them on the return to Caesars. I had misjudged it a bit though as I put my foot down a little too early and the hotel wasn’t as close as I imagined. I passed Michael Jackson on my way back (to quote one of my fellow runners, ‘one of many’) and also passed a lot of confused tourists who didn’t understand why loads of nutters were jogging up and down the Strip, particularly in the heat.
Jacko on his way to work
Back at the TI footbridge I also opted for the escalator as I was knackered and had really misjudged the distance, I did contemplate getting the lift. I ended up walking past the Pirate ships but picked it up again when the Forum shops came in sight and I got a sprint finish up to the Coliseum to finish ahead of the rest of the pack – a couple of super fits had finished before me but were nowhere to be seen. I politely declined the high fives of the runners after me and settled for a subdued shake of the hand and headed back to the room for a cold bath and cold shower.
I enjoyed the run, it was the hottest I had run in and was soaking when I finished. I’m glad I didn’t opt for the 5 miler though as 3 miles was enough. Dodging the pedestrians on the Strip was a bit difficult at times but all in all I would recommend to anyone staying in Vegas on a Wednesday evening – to quote my new running buddies ‘ JUST DO IT!’.
