NSS: Completed the Honolulu Marathon

[guiseppewv]

Last weekend I completed the Honolulu marathon! I did not run the race as fast as I had wanted to but it was a good experience. It took me ~5.75 hrs. I was hoping to at least run it under 5 hrs but the torrential downpours that we had during the race (one of them ~20 min into the race) really slowed me down. My feet were pretty raw running in soaking wet socks and shoes. I had to walk a significant portion of the marathon because my feet were blistered and killing me.

One of the other things that slowed me down was the terrible design/layout of the course. At one point the course was 6 lanes wide and then it quickly narrowed to 3 lanes and then it narrowed to 1 lane on an uphill. The pace during that one mile was about 4 mph and there was no way to get around the huge mass of people. There were quite a few areas where the course was too narrow for the 27+ thousand people in the race.

I did have some fuel in the tank when I reached the finish line. After walking a few miles, I ran the last mile at about an 8 or 9 min/mile pace. My feet were on fire by the time I reached the finish line.

All-in-all it was a very good experience but I am not sure if it is one that I will ever repeat.

[OneKidOneDogMom]

Congratulations! That is an awesome accomplishment - no matter how you finished it....

Good Job!

[chrissy]

OH wow!

Congrats! Now take care of those feet! They are the only ones you have!

I know how that feels - kinda. I didn't get blisters, but I got a couple tender spots that could have become blisters if I didn't use the right bandaids and body glide. At the end of the day, your feet are just screaming for you to stop! And your feet were wet on top of that! OUCH!

(counting my blessings that I wasn't timed and had rest areas to care for my toes and feet)

[uncledaddy]

Congrats on your accomplishment.

[guiseppewv]

Thanks, everyone!

I know how that feels - kinda. I didn't get blisters, but I got a couple tender spots that could have become blisters if I didn't use the right bandaids and body glide.

I used tons of body glide on my feet b/c I knew that the rain would cause blisters. It didn't matter it rained enough to wash most of that away. I didn't have any blisters from any of my training runs and I did not use the body glide on my feet for those runs, so I was surprised at how bad it was. It felt like they were on fire. I was glad they handed out some vaseline a few times on the course because I would have had some chafing in quite a few other places that the body glide was rinsed off by the rain. The downpours of rain really made things more difficult. At least I didn't get any sunburn!

[kimchicowboy]

great job man! at least the weather was pretty decent!

but thanks for the traffic too. it was a pain getting to hawaii kai.

[guiseppewv]

great job man! at least the weather was pretty decent!

but thanks for the traffic too. it was a pain getting to hawaii kai.

I am sure it was almost impossible! I complain about the traffic in Waikiki when we have parades every weekend. Well, it seems like it is every weekend.

[Napoleon54]

Props!!

[Jeffbx]

Way to go, man! Just finishing is something to be proud of.

Now get out there & start training for next year! Go!