Honolulu Marathon - RunMarathon

When the starting gun went off at 5am, it took us about a minute to cross the starting line and luckily I remembered to start my watch. There was a huge fireworks show, but I tried to ignore it and focus on weaving through the people in front of us who were barely jogging. I stuck with one of the pacers for the first 5 miles or so, but as I looked at my splits, I knew we were going out too fast. I pulled back and ran my own race.
I felt great the first 7 miles, where we encountered our first major hill. It wasn't that bad except for the fact that the area we had to run up this hill was only one car lane wide, and it was shoulder to shoulder action for about 8 minutes. There was a guy yelling "slow people on the right"...but I was thinking, WTF are you doing behind us after 7 miles. Not our fault you started too slow.
It was about mile 11 when the sun started to come up and the field started to space out on the wider roads. I was making good time, hitting my splits pretty well, just trying to run an even race. It wasn't till about mile 14 did I start to tire. I didn't feel the need to slow down yet, but I couldn't imagine holding a 9 minute pace for 12.2 more miles. Mile 16 comes and now I'm starting to use effort to keep the same pace.
At mile 18 was when I really started to have doubts. I notice that my last mile was 20 seconds slower than the previous...but I push through and get back to my desired splits. Mile 20 comes along. I'm affraid of the wall. But it's more just muscle tightness and soreness than anything else. At this point I catch up to the other 4 hour pacer. He keeps me motivated as we come up to the hardest part of the marathon....mile 23. At this point I'm struggling. I'm keeping pace, but it's taking everything I got. Mile 23-24 is a slight up hill run..and mile 24-25 is just plain uphill. I'm swearing under my breath, I'm gritting my teeth, but somehow I only lose about 25 seconds off my pace in those 2 miles.
Coming back downhill to the finish, I feel like I'm supposed to be home free. But I used so much energy, it seems that running downhill and on the flat to the finish is just as hard as when I was running uphill. With .5 miles left, I try to pick up the pace, but my body does not respond at all. I realize that the only way I'm going to run faster is to sprint. About .2 miles out, I break into a sprint. People are cheering me on...but of course it only lasts for about 30 seconds. I slow down to my normal pace for about 30 seconds, then sprint to the finish. I knew by my watch that I was going to be under 4 hours on my chip time, but as I approach the finish, I notice I have a shot at finishing under 4 hours for the gun time. I cross at 3:59:56 gun time...3:58:32 chip time.

More miles during training...slow easy miles to build endurance.

Walked around and waited for friends. Three of my training partners came down to cheer us on, so I met up with them. Two got injured during training, and one simply was training with us and never planned to race. They were nice to see at mile 20...I didn't expect them to be there. Walked back to my car...but forgot where my coworkers house was...so we walked an extra half mile looking for it.


Needed about 2 months more base before the training program. But I ran to my potential given the time I had to train.


Well run race...but honestly, I was expecting more. This is one of the top 10 marathons in the world as far as # of runners. There was lots of volunteers, but I would have thought you'd get more after you finish. I knew it was just gatorade and water during the race...so cookies and apples after was a little lame. The medal didn't even come with a ribbon and the shirt is so bright I'll never wear it. Oh well...I didn't run it for the stuff I would get...just sayin...