12.11.06
2006 Honolulu Marathon Finisher!!
I DID IT! Yesterday I completely my very first marathon! I woke up at 1am after not sleeping very much all night. We got on the bus to take us to the starting line. The starting line area was insane! I wouldn’t even know how to explain it. So many people! There were a lot of groups raising money for causes like how I got involved in this. There were Japanese people that ran the whole thing in costumes! Wait til you see the costumes!! Everything from Minnie Mouse, to wedding dresses, to Yoda!! Our group was so chatting we attracting the attention of a TV station from Japan! They ask us do a little cheer for them. So if anyone has JapanTV keep an eye out for me!! I don’t know what was so fascinating about our group, but we had at least a dozen Japanese people come up to us and ask to get their picture taking with us. It was a lot of fun. So much energy.
The starting gun was accompanied by a lot of fireworks. We had lined up according to the time we thought it would take us to run, so it took us about 15 minutes to cross the starting line. It made it easy to watch all of the fireworks!
The group I was running with I have bee running with during the training process for 6 months. Around mile 5 we started seeing more and more people cheering from the side of the road. I saw my friends, Dan and Gigi, yelling and cheering from the opposite side of the street. How they ever saw me, I will never know! There were over 28,000 people running this thing and by mile 5 is was still very very thick with runners. Our group all had family and friends along for support, but Dan and Gigi where the first ones that we saw. Our pace picked up because everyone was so excited to see their loved ones.
We started our climb up Diamond Head right at sunrise. It was an amazing view. I didn’t have my camera with, but a lot of other runners stop to take pictures. Our group stayed together until about mile 13. Then we kind of broke off into our own paces. I ran the back half of the marathon with my new friend Mara from Chicago. We both were having a tough time around mile 17 and 18, but we were able to push each other through it. I am glad I had someone to run with. It made the tough miles much easier to do.
My first goal of the marathon was to finish. Check. My second goal was to do it in 5 and a half hours. I ran across the finish at 5 hours, 46 minutes and 42 seconds. Not quite my goal, but I was very happy with it. The 26 miles that I ran in training wasn’t completely until 6 hours and 20 minutes. So… almost an hour faster. I came in 12,620 out of 28, 635 runners. 4,763 out of 13,425 female runners and 954 out of 2, 576 female runners age 25 - 29.
I am not too sore today. I will probably lose a toenail or two. My legs don’t hurt, just my back and shoulders. Nothing the hot tub won’t fix! I have to pack up and get ready to go to the airport to head to Maui where I am spending a week there on vacation with Dan and Gigi. I will try to post photos later this week! Aloha!
