Marathon to travel different course

Race to move mile north, pay respects

The Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon will move its start line away from Mandalay Bay to 1 mile north, beginning adjacent to New Yorknew York.

The marathon, which will take place Nov. 12, will keep the same finish line in front of The Mirage.

Details for the new pre-race concert, which was supposed to take place at Las Vegas Village, the site of the Oct. 1 mass shooting that left 58 dead and more than 500 injured, will be released in the coming weeks.

“We’ve kept everything, for lack of a better word, within the same envelope just so we didn’t have to disrupt any more than we did from the road closures and the openings and shutdowns, so by moving it a mile north, we were able to remove some of the section on the north end of the course,” Josh Furlow, president of the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon Series, said.

For the first 2½ miles of the race, there will be no music along the course as runners run south past the site of the shooting and around the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign and back as an oncourse tribute.

“We want it to be a memorable experience but at the same time paying respects to everyone who was involved in that situation,” Furlow said.

A donation page will be set up

MARATHON

next two weeks more in love than ever with each other and with life.

“After the shooting, they heard from all of the people they cared about most. They were so happy,” said Brooke, 20. “The last two weeks of their lives were really just spent living in the moment.”

But on the night of Oct. 16, the couple’s younger daughter, 16-yearold Madison Carver, heard a loud bang outside her window. When she ran down the street and rounded the corner, a familiar vehicle engulfed in flames came into view. Dennis, 52, and Lorraine, 53, had died together less than half a mile from their home.

According to the Riverside County Fire Department, their vehicle crashed into a metal gate outside their community at 10:50 p.m. on the 20000 block of Avenida De Arboles. It took firefighters nearly an hour to completely put out the fire, the department said in a statement.

‘Little pieces of them’

Where others see a tragedy, the couple’s daughters see a show of love.

If they had to lose both their parents at the same time, they said they’re thankful it happened so close to the time of the Las Vegas massacre.

“We were so relieved when they got out of the shooting alive,” Brooke said. “But I also think we’ve been given little pieces of them that we would’ve never gotten if the shooting hadn’t happened right before they died.”

Their father was strong and independent and always put the people he loved first. Their mother was humble and generous and appreciated the simple things in life — like a hearty laugh or a colorful flower arrangement.

Three days after the shooting, Brooke said she was on the phone with her father. They asked about each other’s days and their plans for the weekend.

“Hey, you think I should get roses or different flowers for your mom?” her dad asked her.

There was no special occasion — no birthday, no anniversary.

“He just wanted to give my mom a reason to smile after the shooting,” she said. “I swear they were more in love those two weeks than the last 20 years.”

Nearly a month later, she said, not a single petal had fallen from the dried-up roses.

“It’s almost as if they’re frozen in time,” her sister added. “We’re so lucky we have those flowers to remind us of them.”

A week after the fatal crash, another item carrying memories of their 52-year-old father showed up on their doorstep. During the confusion

‘Just the four of us’

The couple had been together for 22 years but waited until their daughters were older to get married. They wanted to share the special day with their girls.

On Aug. 9, 2010, they tied the knot at the Little White Chapel on the north end of the Strip. Their two daughters were the only witnesses.

“It’s always been just the four of us,” Brooke said. “But it never felt lonely because they loved us so much. They were always so happy and full of life.”

Now they’re down to two, but the daughters say they plan to honor their parents’ memory by living by their family motto: We do as we do and we be happy.

“We’ve found some peace in knowing that our parents just loved each other so much that they had to go at the same time,” Madison said. “They couldn’t live without each other.”

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.