I ran the Honolulu Marathon 2 weeks ago. Not my favorite race ever, but I guess one does it more for the sights along the way. I ran it with 25,000 other people, and let me tell you: Hawai'i's streets are
not capable of supporting this many runners at one time. The course bottlenecked constantly, and I was either in someone's heels or someone else was in mine. It's a popular race for people visiting from Asia (especially Japanese folks). In fact, it was so heavily populated with runners from Japan that the only language I heard was Japanese, including Japan's national anthem at the beginning. I kept hearing people shout a phrase at me that sounded like,
Heeeeey, nu-body. I have no idea what that means, but I decided to assume it meant "you look awesome, keep running." Ha. It was a breath of fresh air when (at mile 13) I finally found myself running next to an American/US Marine. We were happy to talk to each other for a mile or so. All the negative aspects were made up by the awesome sights along the way since it ran through downtown, Waikiki, along the beach for a while, around Diamonhead and out to Hawaii Kai's Bay with views of Koko Crater.
It was't my fastest run, but I ran a smart race. So I'll call it a success. I've now crossed the state of Hawai'i of my lifetime list of marathons/Ironmans. States crossed off so far: Florida (4 times), Ohio (3 or 4 times?), Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee. Hum...I've still got a long way to go, but a lifetime to do it!
Oh, if you were wondering: Horseback riding a few hours after running a marathon is a terrible idea. Turns out, chaffed areas match up precisely with saddle areas. Yikes!
Here are some pictures of the marathon. Mahalo for visiting!
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| Expo time the night before. |
Mile 17 and looking strong! (left) // Mile 20: caught me cleaning off some snot (trust me: this is not unpleasant compared to some of the things you see on a long course...endurance athletes have no shame or rules for decency)
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| Finishline! I'm on the far right of the photo. |
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| Happy to be finished! |
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| Best Christmas tree ornament ever! |
Did you have to wipe snot off your nose... or show off your abs to the camera??? I believe the latter is more accurate.
ReplyDeleteFay, don't discourage him...that's why we call him Washboard :o)
ReplyDelete~Smess
PS: Toph-Toph, I'm playing catch up at work, sorry for the lack of comments...I wanna try to catch up on yours and Dave's by the time I get off at 11...and I'm VERY behind on both :o)
Keep up the great job and I'll see you in a month-ish!!