More than a mere marathon

Story and Photographs Tiffany Brown

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

Story and Photographs By Tiffany Brown

In Sunday morning's darkness runners emerge and gather, walking briskly, rubbing their arms to keep warm in the parking lot of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. They wear sweat suits from Goodwill that will be shed as they begin to run, and garbage bags with holes ripped to pull over heads, arms mummy-like inside in an attempt to keep warm.

Instead of shooting from designated media vantage points for coverage of this year's Zappos.com Las Vegas Marathon and Half-Marathon, I ditched my professional gear and opted for a small point-and-shoot camera and running shoes to cover the event from the masses, with the more than 8,000 runners on the half-marathon course.

As the first glimpse of light appears on the horizon toward Lake Mead, runners line up on South Las Vegas Boulevard, facing north. The start draws near and runners bust through a loose fence to make it into the starting corrals for the 13.1 and 26.2 mile races. Then, with the sound of air horns and a fireworks show that would make locals think a building was about to be imploded, the race is on.

The party gets under way. The sights, mostly the more than 200 running Elvises, a new world record of gathered Kings doing anything, and couples getting married - 56 in all - induce smiles over and over again. Runners feel the freedom of taking over the Strip from end to end on foot.

According to organizers, for the first time in the race's three-year history there were more Nevadans than Californians running.

The company of striding strangers lends inspiration.

Tracy Hough, 29, of Chicago, made the trip to raise money and awareness for AIDS research through the National AIDS Marathon Training Program.

Brent Hatch, 42, formerly of Vegas and now living in St. Francis, Minn., started marathoning four years ago. Hatch, a leukemia patient in chemotherapy, said, "I run to forget sometimes, and it's a stress reducer. Running helps my body run more efficiently, especially my liver with all the drugs." Sunday was his 10th marathon, and he finished in 3 hours, 4 minutes.

And the youngest runner - and dressed as Elvis no less - was Sayge Waldron, 7, of Riverside, Calif., who ran with her father, Reese, and finished the half-marathon in just over 2 1/2 hours.