You ran in the inaugural New Las Vegas Marathon last year. Your thoughts about the race and the experience?
The experience was pretty unique. The Strip, Fremont [Street]; running Elvi; Run Through Wedding Chapel was hysterical, really. Very Vegas. Honestly—it was a good, well-run race.
What makes a great marathon?
Just like people run for all different reasons, "great" is in the eye of the beholder. For most though, "great" is reserved for the big five: London, Berlin, New York, Boston and Chicago. For those, it's a combination of tradition, history, destination and the quality of the elite field.
For most recreational runners, "great" could come down to the value you provide for their investment, such as an interesting course, on-course amenities like entertainment, the number of water/sports-drink stations, the number of Port-o-Potties, aid stations, medical tents and post-race amenities like complimentary massage, great food, more entertainment, family greeting zones. Running 26.2 [miles] is hard. Those races who do the best at taking care of their customers, like Elite Racing's Rock and Roll marathons and half marathons, have swelled with repeat runners.
Can the LV marathon get to the level of its counterparts in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles?
I think so. Each of those races are seeing the size of their fields grow every year. The La Salle Bank Chicago Marathon has exploded. It's a flat, very fast loop course with large amounts of hotel rooms at the start/finish, two things LV has.
One goal of LV marathon organizers is to make the marathon the world's largest destination race, bigger than London's, Berlin's and Amsterdam's. Handicap the chances.
The largest marathons in order are: New York, London, Chicago, Berlin and Paris, with 37,000 in NYC and 30,000 in Paris. So, what was it, 12,000 last year? World's largest is a little ambitious at this stage. Two things that those races have that LV doesn't right now is 1) a world-class, elite field; and 2) community involvement. Since there is one thing the hospitality industry in Vegas knows something about—attracting world-class talent—my guess is that elites will be attracted to Vegas eventually. We're only on Year 2 of the LVM. Eventually the community will come out to support the runners. The ones who do now are enthusiastic. More is always better. It'll take a little time.
An added wrinkle to this year's event is more entertainment along the race route, particularly the last one-third. Good idea or no?
Why do you say wrinkle? It's Vegas. It's a great idea. Look, marathoning is a great metaphor for life: You get out of it what you put into it. You may have done all the training, put in all the hard work; regardless, the last 6 miles of a marathon is the dark side of the moon. You never really know what to expect. One thing is almost certain. It can be a very difficult place. The more light you can add, the more fun you can have, the better. I think it's very smart of the organizers.
Running is a huge sport, filled with recreational enthusiasts and elite competitors, national associations and conventions, high school cross-country dynasties and magazines like yours. Why doesn't it get more mainstream press?
For the first time in the history of the U.S. population, the life expectancy of newborns are now getting shorter. We have an epidemic of obesity, of heart disease and of Type II diabetes on our hands because of inactivity and poor diet. That said, the prevailing attitude, I think, in America is to be healthier, to be fit. The challenge we face is converting that attitude to behavior. I think we have a fighting chance. Right now the community of runners is over 23 million in the U.S. and growing double digits each year. If we have more people running, moving, making the right fitness and dietary choices, as a society, that's more important to any of us than media coverage.
Is this truly a runner's world?
It's looking more and more like it every day. One of our contributing writers, John Bingham, wrote, "The miracle isn't that I finished, it's that I had the courage to start." That's the kind of attitude that makes anyone successful. It's the attitude Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas had after he was told that if he didn't lose 100 pounds, he would be in the last decade of his life. He changed his behavior, lost the weight and has [been] such an inspiration to his state [that] the growth of childhood obesity has stopped ...
As I mentioned, running is about as positive, as democratic and inclusive an activity there is. That's a pretty nice world, eh?