Honolulu Marathon Re-cap

I can't believe that a week ago I was STILL running in Hawaii :) It has been go, go, go since I got home on Monday night, including two 12+ hour days at work. I did pretty well with the sunscreen because I don't have any color for that bright yellow orb in the sky!

The run was great, but HARD! With absolutely no humidity during our training, and probably a high of 60 degrees on our long runs, the weather alone was a huge factor. I am proud to say though, I never though I couldn't or wouldn't finish. The thoughts of "why the H-E-double hockey sticks am I doing this" did cross my mind a few times. Here goes the re-cap....

Wake-up at 3 am (do people actually do this?) to be prepared for a 3:45 am meet time. Some yummy oatmeal and some G2 and I was ready to go. Met up with the team (in the dark) at the hotel for a few last minute tips from our coach Ellen, so chatter and a nice, loud GO TEAM! Then it was a hike walk to the START line. It was like being in a foreign country. There were 25,000 registered runners and 2/3 of them were from Japan. There were people of ALL ages...and a lot of young children. (Which I have a huge issue with a 4 year old running 26.2 miles!) At 5:00 am the fireworks went off over the Pacific Ocean and it was time to go! We ran through Downtown Honolulu, past the old palace and wrapped back around towards the start line. By the time we had clocked 1 mile, I was dripping in sweat! We needed a quick potty break (from the good hydrating we had done) so to the port-a-potties we went. Man, runners can be foul! Yep...you know what I mean. We hit the pots labeled "MEN" since there weren't any in sight and we needed to GO and didn't feel like waiting 15 minutes. Maybe that was the problem:) Perhaps the one labeled "WOMEN" smelled like roses, but I doubt it!

Back to the course we cruised passed our hotel and through Waikiki. The sun was starting to come up when we passed the Zoo, and started up Diamond Head. Along the way we met up with Coach Kevin, from Minnesota. Who couldn't love a coach in a coconut bra, grass skirt and a dinosaur hat!? He told us about the snow in Minnesota and how the dome had collapsed. Man, it sucks being in Hawaii! Soon the wheelchairs came roaring past us. Then we saw the Kenyans...yeah, they only had a mile left to run (we were 9 miles in). Although they looked amazing, they looked like they were HURTING.

Over Diamond Head we saw Erin and Coach Ellen. We were now running towards the highway out and back. (This was the part I feared!) Soon we ran into another TNT runner from Hawaii running her 1st marathon and a Coach. Chatter of energy was brought on and there were smarties given out. I love me some smarties....but passed, I can't eat just one! There were CRAZY costumes out there!

We were on the highway for quite awhile until we hit a loop. AKA the Costco loop. Our Inspiration Dinner speakers gave us the advice to remember our Costco cards for a clean bathroom, hot dogs and pizza along the way! At Mile 17 there were two men down. The ambulances were running like mad. I later heard that there were so many people needing assistance the ambulance would pick up one and still have 5 or 6 people in cots to come back to. Then it was back to the highway. Along the way we passed multiple Marines, in full gear. Talk about humbling!

Mile 22 brought us to the nice houses of Honolulu. They were BEAUTIFUL! We also saw the smarties coach....this time he was carrying a 25 pound bag of ice. Just to lighten the load we took a handful, mine went down my pants to ice my hip which was beginning to hurt like heck. All three of our feet were killing us. I was beginning to think that amputation would be a serious option. Mile 24 and we saw Coach Ellen again. Only 2 miles to go, we were going to finish this! All we had to do was get through Diamond Head, again.  Mile 25, Coach Kevin. We were HURTING.

We were walking, it hurt to run, but I knew we could finish STRONG. So I rallied K and T to run the rest of the way. We were pushing through pain and sweat.We could see the FINISH line, and we were about 30 seconds from the 7 hour (gun) mark. Turning to the girls I said "we don't want 7 hours on our finish photos...come on!" Those girls pulled it all out, and we finished with 6:59:54 on the gun time! Our "official" time was 6:33. (by Garmi....who doesn't count potty breaks ;) ) We left it ALL out on that course.

Kristy completed her first marathon and Tryna her 6th. I am so proud of these girls! It was so much fun to train with them, and then complete 26.2 miles of Hawaiian fun with them. The rest of my mentees finished also, and I am so proud of them. No one gave up. We were all heroes that day, finding a cure for cancer one mile at a time!