My Honolulu Marathon Journey
I never imagined I would run a marathon, last Sunday I completed the Honolulu Marathon! After crossing the finish line, I realized that anyone can do it! It takes setting a goal, motivation, training, enduring sore legs & muscles, blisters, tolerance of heat and the ups and downs of training for the grueling run. There were many days I did not feel like running, but I kept my goal and did it! During the 26.2 mile journey, which I mostly ran independently, I had A LOT of time to think about WHY I decided to run this distance.
Why put your body through a marathon? Here’s the background. Summer of 2018, Suzie, my friend from PDX put the idea in my head, she said, “Jill, join me in the Honolulu Marathon in Dec 2019”! 2019 marked her 25th anniversary of running this marathon. I contemplated for months and eventually said YES. The year 2019 in Chinese astrology is the YEAR OF THE PIG. I am a PIG, so is Blake, Suzie and her husband James. We HAD to run together THIS YEAR! Then Alex wanted to run it, Suzie’s son Jacob, Alex’s buddy from Portland wanted to run it too. The only person who had no interest in running the Honolulu Marathon was Andrew. He knew better and we signed him up for the 10K race. He placed 7th overall for his age group, way to go Andrew!
Finally Friday Dec 6th arrived, the 4 of us left Tokyo at 8:45 PM on a direct flight to Honolulu. It was the longest day. In Tokyo we had a full day: boys went to school all day, Blake went to work a half day, I had a Christmas secret Santa party for moms. After a 6 1/2 hour flight, we arrived in Honolulu the same Friday at 8:15 AM, ready to relive the day a second time! We immediately got picked up by my parents, had brunch, shopped for all our essentials we miss in Tokyo, had lunch with both Blake and my parents and grandma and then finally met up with Suzie, James and Jacob at our hotel. We made it to the Honolulu Marathon Expo by 5 PM, saw my friend Blair (Foot Traffic Women’s Academy running friend) and her husband from Portland at the Expo. We had dinner and went to bed around 10:30 PM. It was the longest FRIDAY ever.
Saturday was our fuel and rest day- which is easy to do in Honolulu by lounging around the hotel and beach and eating carbs!!! My parents hosted a carb heavy dinner and we tried to sleep by 10 PM. We tossed and turned most of the night in anticipation of the 3:30 AM alarm. It was a rough night for all!
Once the alarm went off, the adrenaline started to kick in, I was UP! The excitement started to settle in and I didn’t feel tired. We met thousands of people leaving the hotels to walk to the start line, it was getting really exciting. The Honolulu Marathon has 2 races- 10K (Start to Park) and full marathon. Approximately 6500 people signed up for the 10K and around 19,000+ people for the full marathon.
The excitement filled the air as it got closer to 5 AM. The starting gun went off followed by fireworks to Katy Perry’s Fireworks song, it got you going at 5 AM. We left the Ala Moana park and started heading towards downtown Honolulu. The first 6 miles were in the dark with holiday Christmas lights around the city. We ran up Kalakaua Avenue, but unfortunately couldn’t see the ocean, too dark. Once the 10K runners ended their race, the ascent up Diamond head began and the sun started to rise. Miles 7 and 8 were mostly uphill, through Diamond Head on the oceanside and up pass KCC (Kapiolani Community College). The gorgeous views motivated me to continue up the hills with little effort. Once you hit the peak near KCC it was a nice downhill reward towards the ocean.
After the downhill, you make your way towards the highway (Kalanianaole highway), the sun is fully out and you are literally running on the asphalt highway. This was the boring part of the course- an out and back on asphalt with no views of the ocean. I was feeling great until the midpoint around 13 miles, fueling with GU at miles 7 and then again at 13. I had to walk a short time when I saw Suzie and James! Once we all met up we energized each other, I started running again and felt good. Around the turnaround, near mile 16, I saw Blake. That energized me to continue running until mile 20. Mile 20 was when my blisters on my pinky toes were really bothering me. It is amazing how sore tiny blisters can be. Around the 20 mile mark, I needed to walk a bit since my pinky toe blisters were very sore with each step. The Hawaiian sun was now directly beating down and I could feel the energy draining from me. By this time, there were so many spectators along the route passing out candy, pretzels, oranges, bananas, onigiri, anything you can image to help the runners. I grabbed some pretzels and later a slice of orange. It tasted so good compared to the toasted marshmallow Gu that I had with me.
Around mile 22, I got a second wind and decided to start running again. I realized that I only had 4 miles left and I dug deep to start running through the pain with my blisters. I was thinking one thing… I will finish this race. Around mile 23-24 is when the course begins the last incline up Diamond heads towards Waikiki along the ocean. Over the past few miles, I had started seeing the same people- some passed me, then I passed them. It became a dance of back of forth. For those who ran Hood to Coast (HTC) the 199 mile relay race in Oregon may know the term “Roadkill”. Basically, when you run your leg of HTC, anyone you pass while running is considered “Roadkill”. Everyone kept track of their “Roadkill” on the van. As I continued to mile 25, the concept of “Roadkill” kept me motivated, even though people were still passing me. I finally made it to mile 25 and it was mostly downhill to the finish line. Even though the last mile was downhill, it was the longest and toughest mile toward to finish line. As I approached the finish line, I was focused on the end, then I heard my mom call “Jill” on my right side. I was able to find her and wave. Yay, I did it, I completed my first marathon.
I received a shell necklace and then my race medal and I remember raising both of my arms over my head with my index finger extended… #1! Once I crossed the finish line, all I could think about was FOOD and the malasadas they had. I was very hungry!!!
Of the 6 of us who ran the marathon, I came in second, so I had some time to eat, stretch and relax as Blake, Alex, Suzie and James crossed the finish line. What an experience. I wanted to cherish the feeling of accomplishment, then soon the soreness and stiffness followed. By the time we were ready to head back to the hotel, I was doing the hobbling waddle, ouch!!! Pain, pain, pain!
I hope I encouraged YOU to try to run a marathon! You can do it! I can be your advocate and motivator. It’s been exactly a week since I ran my first marathon, and I have to say, I forgot how painful it was and I possibly may run another one. Call me crazy! Yes you have to be sort of crazy to run it at my age.