I pushed more at the start partly because I started in the back and there were people already walking on the first hill. So I wanted to make sure that I was away from them when the track went the single route. I had run the first 5-6 miles before so kinda had an idea of what was in store. The real surprise was when I got to the next valley and it was huge. I was regretting the faster starting pace at this moment. There was WAY more climbing and steeper ascents. It was a killer. I just tried to maintain forward movement as much as possible. At one point the guy in front of me slipped off the side and was hanging on a tree trunk. I had to give him my hand to get him back up on the trail before he fell the rest of the way. After that there was an incredibly slippery downhill section that lasted for awhile. People were slipping all over and that caused a slowdown/pileup. They had ropes on some of the steep descents to help. It took a while to get to a spot where I could bolt around the pile up and take off. When I had the chance I just broke brush and ran to the side of the trail on the foliage where traction was better and I could go around. A pack of other runners followed. The only drawback to this was the burrs that attached to the right side of my body. I was covered in these things. Oh well. It helped to get away from the non-traction group. I enjoyed this difficult area way more than the roads that we ended up on every now and then. I didn't do too well on the roads. I wore my New Balance Minimus and kinda regretted that call. The bottoms of my feet were taking a beating and then got wet when we ran through the creeks. I was running out of gas in the last 2 miles and just tried to hang on. I had a very strong sprint to the finish and they did a good job at the finish line.

This is just simply a lack of dedication and training. I am not in as good of shape as I was last year, but my drive is still strong.

Walked around and drank plenty of liquids. I was spent. Didn't want to think about stretching or taking my shoes off. I was afraid of what I would find. HNL Marathon next weekend. We'll see how I recover.


Training and a few pile ups.


This was the best organized race I have been too. They delayed the race due to traffic still trying to get in. This allowed alot of people the chance to race in spite of HPD mistakes.