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LAS VEGAS -- A 42-year-old runner dressed as Elvis won the Las Vegas Rock `n Roll Marathon on Sunday night, setting a record for the fastest marathon run by someone dressed as The King.Michael Wardian of Arlington, Virginia, finished in 2 hours, 38 minutes and 4 seconds late Sunday -- a feat he accomplished while wearing a black wig in an Elvis-style pompadour, gold sunglasses and a white Elvis jumpsuit with gold sequins.I wasnt sure how the suit would be, but the suit was actually pretty awesome, Wardian said. You get this sucker wet, it just stays cool.With his finish, Wardian broke a Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon run by someone dressed as Elvis.The previous record was set by his friend Ian Sharman in 2009. Sharman completed a Seattle marathon while dressed as Elvis in 2 hours, 42 minutes and 52 seconds.Wardian told The Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/2frocuK ) that he felt like he was in good shape halfway through and then had some fatigue. He took the lead around mile 22 or 23.With two miles to go I was pretty confident, Wardian said. And then I was just trying to run to win and then also to make sure I got the record.A number of other runners dressed as Elvis and other characters, including Spider-Man, dinosaurs and Forrest Gump.It was the 50th running of a race that evolved from a flat, wind-swept desert event in 1967 to a glitzy and music-filled attraction for tens of thousands of participants.Organizers said more than 45,000 runners from every U.S. state and 83 foreign countries registered for this years evening marathon and half-marathon on the neon-lit Las Vegas Strip.Chelsey Leighton of Lewiston, Idaho, won the womens marathon in 3:12:11.William Kibor and Elvin Kibet, both of Kenya, won the mens and womens half-marathons.Cheap Blue Jays Jerseys . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Toronto Blue Jays Gear . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/ . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Blue Jays Jerseys 2019 . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night. Blue Jays Jerseys 2020 . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators.ESPNs Buster Olney is on vacation this week, but hes still compiling roundups. View Tuesdays roundup here.Needless to say, this was not why I got into politics.It has been a strange year, to be sure. In my career, I have covered three presidential elections, five conventions and countless other major moments in politics, and its safe to say it has never felt this nasty, this uninspiring.As Ive said numerous times on CNN during this election cycle, just wake me when its over.In this year of fear and loathing, politics, for the first time, feels like a job to me. There was a time when politics was just a hobby and sports was actually my job. ??I grew up outside of Boston. When I was 7 years old, my dad took me to Fenway, and I got a photo next to a Wade Boggs cutout and an autograph from first baseman Carlos Quintana -- future Caribbean Baseball Hall of Famer. I was friends with the batting coachs daughter, who lived in my apartment complex. The Red Sox were religion. Thirty years later, I married a Red Sox fan from Rhode Island.But the Mets ... the Mets made me a baseball fan.In the late 90s, I was in college in upstate New York. I dated a guy from Queens who was a devout Mets fan, and I got hooked. It helped that the Mets were good then, which Sports Illustrated hyped by putting Rey Ordonez, Robin Ventura, John Olerud and Edgardo Alfonzo on its cover: Best Infield Ever?The answer was yes, but shhhh! It was too late -- the 2000 Subway Series against the Yankees was officially cursed.I moved to New York and eventually got a dream job. I worked at The New York Times in a department called the Index. I spent all day reading the sports section and writing abstracts for each story. I got health insurance, a 401(k) and every Wednesday off. During the season, I spent every one of those Wednesdays in the cheap seats at Shea. This job was, like, stupid good.Before politics, I became a sports fanatic. The Mets, NASCAR, the Green Bay Packers -- they all got more of my attention than the sequester (the what?), the Hill or the Donald. I wrote my masters thesis on the devotional practices of sports fans. My favorite television show was Stump the Schwab. My greatest accomplishment was getting Bill Simmons to answer one of my mailbag questions.Eventually, I got writing jobs on the side. I wrote a couple columns for NASCAR.com, and at one time, I had a regular online column for Sports Illustrated. I was in heavven.ddddddddddddBut in the years following 9/11, my passion for politics gradually grew into an obsession. Suddenly, I was skipping Shea and volunteering on a city campaign or writing think pieces for conservative publications.Just as I had cobbled together a little career in sports, over a couple years, I cobbled together a little career in politics. Neither has ever felt like a job.Until now, of course. Its just a garbage year for politics, a mechanism I genuinely believe can be good and useful -- and should be -- when exercised properly and can produce something worthy of our great republic. But nobody roots for garbage, in sports or politics. Who would have become a Mets fan in 1962, when they posted a 40-120 record, one of the worst in the history of baseball?Likewise, who would want to get into politics right now?What I do know is this election has made me miss baseball more than ever. The baseball gods must have sensed this because last fall they delivered a postseason gift to me in the form of a New York Mets World Series appearance.Watching the playoffs for the first time in years, all the old emotions flooded back: the exhilaration of a surprise 3-2 series win against the Dodgers in the NLDS, the cautious hope after dispatching the Cubs (a little too easily) in the NLCS, the familiar sinking feeling of knowing its going to end badly when Alcides Escobar hit an inside-the-park home run on Matt Harveys first pitch of the first game of the World Series against the Royals. I was right back in it, only this time, I was watching alongside my 10-month-old son.In those hours, politics didnt matter. Baseball was life. Baseball made the world right again. Baseball wasnt yelling at me or calling me names. Baseball wasnt lying or making promises it could not keep. It wasnt telling me what I wanted to hear. It wasnt pandering or pretending.Baseball was the best of us: hard work, sportsmanship, community and, above all else, faith -- ya gotta believe.I havent gotten to watch much baseball this season, unfortunately. But I know its there and that its more than just a necessary distraction from my life in politics -- its a huge comfort. Maybe after November Ill take a year off, go find some cheap seats at Citi Field (if those exist) and remember what its like to be a fan. ' ' '