Holualoa Tucson Marathon - RunMarathon

Well I had decided to go out with the 3:10 group since I had no watch and there was no 3:15 group. As we get into the second mile I really feel as though I am working too hard but I decide to stay with it and see if it gets better. It did not but I knew from talking to others that the first 4 miles were hilly and then it was a slight downhill grade so I made the decision to hang on until mile 4 and see how I felt. At mile 4 I was able to get into a rhythm and things started to feel better so I ran with the 3:10 group up to mile 8. From mile 8-12 you do an out and back that is like a roller coaster. As we turned off to do this loop, I decided to back it down b/c I still felt like I was working too hard for a marathon. Off they went and I settled into my own world. After the out and back we came back onto the main highway which would start our 8 mile downhill segment. I passed my first person for the 3:10 group at this point so it made me feel like I had made the right decision to back off a little. I got into a really good groove and was passing a few people. I really tried to just focus a little ways in front of me b/c you could see forever. As we ran, I did notice that the 3:10 group was still in site and that I seemed to be making up ground on them but that was not my goal and I did not focus on that too much. This one guy who had fell out of the 3:10 group latched on to me and started yo-yoing. I just maintained my pace but I was clearly getting frustrated with this guy after a couple of miles. The one good thing is that at this point since this yahoo was around I figured I would ask him our pace since I saw he was keeping track of it at the mile markers. So I ask him at what I thought was mile 17...what was that mile? He said 7:05 pace. I thought that was pretty good and that I could slow down a little, so at the next mile marker I asked the same thing and his response was 7:11 pace and we are 2:17:xx into the marathon. So I started doing some calculating. If we just past mile 18, we have 8 miles left and the time was 2:17:xx. So if I ran 7:00/mile pace that would be about 58 minutes or 3:15:xx. I am thinking now that there is no way I can run 7:00/mile pace for the last 8 so I am pretty bummed out at this point b/c now I am wondering if I will even PR!! I quickly just determined to not think about it and just pass as many people as I could. I never saw the yo-yo again after he give me that split...I guess it was good I asked him when I did. I started really catching people at mile 20 but no longer could see the 3:10 pacer so that was a real bummer. I had heard that last year that same pace group had come in at 3:08:00 and was hoping they had taken them out too fast this year as well. As I kept passing people, I realized that I was passing a lot of people in the 3:10:00 group but still saw no sign of the pacer. At mile 22-23 I had thoughts of turning it up one more notch but then decided that if I was not going to BQ then there was no need to waste the effort so I just kept steady passing left and right. The mile from 22-24 seemed like they took forever but I never stopped even though my legs were really hurting.....otherwise I felt okay. Finally I saw the 25 and knew there was no way I was going to slow up. I passed one last girl that had been in the 3:10:00 with in this last mile and thought that I really had ran a good race no matter my time. At this point, I can finally see the 26 mile marker but the course is really narrow for the last 1/3 of the race. As I pass the 26 mile marker, I hear a spectator say 3:10:40....WHAT!!! I could not believe it. I am 1/10 of a mile from the finish and realize only now that I am going to BQ!!! Needless to say, I was sooo excited!! I turned the corner to see 3:11:xx and crossed in 3:11:34!! What an awesome feeling!!

Obvious the yo-yo guy gave me the wrong information at mile 18 or we were at 19!!

Bring another watch!! I think I could have had a shot at 3:10 had I had a watch b/c I felt pretty good at mile 22 but was unwilling to risk anything for a mere 3:19:xx or so!!

The legs were hurting!! So I just walked around and signed up for a massage but the wait was so long I ended up bypassing the massage. A lot of half marathoners were getting massages. I felt like there should have been a separate area for the half and full runners getting massages. No offense but the marathoners probably need a massage worse than the half marathoners. Just a bad set-up!!


A watch and not enough training. I did less training leading up to this marathon as far as overall weeks but it worked out pretty well. I might have found something here so I will tinker with it a little bit.


This race was pretty boring!! Not much to keep the mind occupied and the race is fairly small...only 1000 marathoners. There was no clocks on the whole course....not even at the halfway point. Also, the post race stuff sucked. They handed me water at the finish.....water!! I think I need a little more than water at this point. Plus there was no gatorade, powerade, or soft drinks after the race. They had like vitamin water and stuff like that. I need a lot more sugar and calories than that stuff can provide. I was pretty disappointed with the post race. However the course is fast and there are plenty of aid stations!! So the race itself was well managed. That's the only reason I would recommend the race but next year I hear the race is moving downtown so it might not be quite as fast!!