Honolulu Marathon 2013

I apologize, Marathonfoto Corporation, but I really can't afford spending $75 to purchase these photos of me you took.  

December 8, 2013

4:15 am: I wake up, attach running gear to my personage, eat a bowl of broccoli I prepared the night before, and aunt Becky readies the car for start-line transport.  

4:50 am: Start Line.  Holy shit, this is a ton of people.  (26,000, roughly).  

5:00 am:  Bang!  Fireworks!  Go!

5:21 am:  5k checkpoint.  Everything's going pretty well.  Stopped at two aid-stations for water, and maintained a sub-7 minute mile pace.  Okay, this is sustainable…

6:00 am:  Just crossed the seventh mile mark.  Oh, god, I'm bonking.  My shirt drenched with water generated by me, and a few cups of cold water tossed upon my head.  Watch says "74˚F," too fucking hot.

6:46 am:  Half-marathon checkpoint.  Shit.  Losing it.  There's still a lot of space around, which means I'm doing kind of ok.  Might still finish in 3:45'00.

7:00 am:  Sun rises.  FUCK!  I'm stopping, I'm stopping.  Knee is giving out.  It's a stab of fire on each foot strike.  Watch says 78˚F.  Real estate, gone! 

8:00 am:  Mile 17.  Walking every five minutes, "running" every ten; this is not part of the plan.

8:30 am:  Mile 20.  Damn it, that Diamond Head Hill will be brutal.  Soldier zooms past toward the incline and his calf-muscles contract.  He falls off his knees and I ask whether he's okay.  Out of earshot before hearing a response.

9:00 am:  Mile 24.  Thinking; PBR. PBR. PBR.  Power-walking now.  Still uphill.  

9:15 am:  <1 km to go!  Running again.  Ahh, homestretch, finally!  

9:18 am:  Finish Line.  I'm on motherfucking Kapiolani Park - wahoo! 

9:30 am:  Walking to Rainbow Cafe to have aunt Becky pick me up.  Shit is like a mile away.  Fuck me!

9:45 am:  At Rainbow Cafe, I'm pretty sure this is no longer Waikiki.  Aunt Becky isn't arriving for another half-hour, therefore, on the grass I pass out.

10:15 am:  Aunt Becky pulls in, hands me a change of clothes and we head to Big City Diner.

10:30 am:  PBR! PBR! PBR!  I'm tired as shit but here I am, having a beer.  Honolulu Marathon, 

nailed!

For the record, on what little training I was able to apply leading up to the marathon, the weather had always been below freezing.  Viz. 12˚f when I left Seattle.  86˚f when I arrived on Honolulu.  Failure, justified!