Usually, one finds their expectations exceed an anticipated event, or their expectations are blown away; Las Vegas was the latter one.

When I wrote the post about not being able to head to LV due to work, I wasn’t lying. I couldn’t get the time off, so I gave up on my goal of running a 2^nd full in 2010 and the idea of a mini birthday vacation to Sin City.

However, two weeks ago, and after extensive emails with HR, I got 1 day off (pulled from my 2011 vacation), which meant Vegas Baby! A few girls from my running group were already going, as well as a couple of bloggers (oh.em.gee Internet friendz!), and as it fell on my 26^th birthday weekend? It was a done deal.

Except there was one problem; I hadn’t been training for a full marathon. Actually, I had hardly even run since my full marathon on October 10^th.  The max distance my legs had carried me was 10 miles (or 16k) a couple of times, so I decided to run the half marathon (13.1 miles / 21.1k), and run it as a ‘fun run’ (i.e. take it slow, enjoy the scenery, take photos).

So I booked my flights, booked my hotel, emailed friends, and signed up for the 2010 Rock n’ Roll, Las Vegas Half Marathon.  ‘Half’ being the key word.

The day (my birthday!) finally arrived, and after work I headed to the airport to board a plane, with my friends, and head west to Las Vegas. To be honest, I’ve never had any desire to go to Las Vegas, as I just assumed it would end up being a feel-bad-about-yourself-trip-because-look-at-all-the-skinny-hot-girls-everywhere, one of which I’m not.

But oh how wrong I was.  Vegas was one of the first times in my life, I can honestly say I felt really good about myself, my life and my body. (WHA? Who’da thought?)

I checked into my hotel, The Bellagio, and as fate would have it, the guy who checked me in thought a single girl, alone on her birthday, deserved an upgraded room (and who am I to say no?) so I ventured up to the 28^th floor to an absolutely gorgeous suite, equipped with Las Vegas view, soaker tub, Belgium chocolates, slippers, etc.  So far, it had been an excellent birthday.

Ben and I had planned to meet that Friday evening, and to say I was nervous would be a huge understatement.  I made the poor guy wait 20 minutes for me, as I stared at myself in the mirror from several different angles making sure I looked good (whatever, I know all girls do this) I never liked what I saw, but eventually I had to go and meet him.

OMFG.

Firstly, if you don’t know who Ben is, see this video, or his blog, or google his name.  And secondly, despite being in contact with each other over the last 2 years, he was still somebody from the Internet abyss, which scares me (a lot), more so because I sincerely believe my blog makes me seem way cooler than I am, as well as better looking and skinnier, so I was slightly freaking out that Ben would meet me, and not like me at all. (I know the thought about whether I’d like him should have crossed my mind, but it honestly didn’t, which is kind of pretty sad on my part).

But obviously, because Ben is not an asshole, and because I am an idiot, I was wrong (I think, or at least Ben is a good actor)…

I was super nervous, you can tell from my stance, and Ben kept calling me out on it. But for reals, I was literally shaking.

We both liked this one, because we looked “skinny,” we’re shallow like that. And let it be known, I told Ben to hold the camera up high to get rid of my extra chin, because apparently, “guys don’t do that.”

 My fav.

The rest of the night was a little surreal.  Super cool to be in Las Vegas, on my birthday, and finally meet Ben.