We ran the Great Aloha Run yesterday morning! Leading up to February 21st, we hunkered down on lots of spaghetti and carbs! Two days before, we went to the Great Aloha Run Exhibition in Honolulu to retrieve our running numbers and a packet of information. We tested our grip strength, response time, balance, and body mass index. I won't go too into detail, but Pete's BMI must be below 4 percent because the machine errored three times! I didn't have that problem.... :)
Our day began at 3:45 a.m. (Did you notice the A.M.?? We set about ten alarms because we knew we'd sleep through the first five!) We woke up from a short night of rest and sleepily gathered what we'd laid out the night before. Essentials: water, banana, IPod, tennis shoes, running numbers. We left our lovely neighbors sleeping in our living room (we live in a commune, didn't you know?) and headed out into the darkness. We drove 20 minutes to the Aloha Stadium and parked there. We were transported by charter bus into the business district of Honolulu. Along our walk to the Aloha Towers (the start of the race) we stopped at the Alakea Starbucks to see our beautiful cousin Rebecca! We spent the next 2 hours making trips to the rows and rows of port-a-potties and stretching in the darkness amongst tall buildings and palm trees- oh, and 27,000 other runners. That's almost three times the population of the town I grew up in! We saw many people we know, crazy enough, and even ran into our good friend Emily! This girl can run like 15 miles so we knew she'd be flying past us in the race! People multiplied as the hour drew closer to 7:00a.m. A beautiful sunrise blessed us as we prepared to begin our run!
Pete's running number was 31750 and I was 11778. We signed up at the exact same time, so we don't know how we got such crazy-different numbers. Better yet, the race is color coded by whether you plan to walk or run. White and Yellow = Runners, Green = Runners/Walkers and Pink = Walkers/Strollers. Notice Pete's running number - it's PINK! I laughed hysterically when we first pulled our numbers out of their folders!
As the time drew near, the streets became so crowded we could barely move. There was entertainment, bands, dragons, balloons, and fireworks! When we heard the fireworks go off, we knew the race had begun. We were left standing there for a few minutes and then finally started walking at a slow pace. By the time we reached the START line, we were thinning out almost enough to do a steady paced walk. It was so crowded, it was unbelievable!
I looked ahead and saw what looked like bouncing balls- but it was just the heads of the people in front of us who had started running! In a few moments, we were able to take off in a jog. We passed sky scrapers with onlookers peering down from their balconies, cheering us on. We passed high school bands, radio station booths, police officers, leaving behind the business district of Honolulu. We were running on a highway that runs parallel to the ocean and there were people on both sides encouraging the mass of runners.
No matter how many times Pete and I went shi-shi before the race began, we still had to go by mile marker 2.5! We had successfully run 2 miles and then, dagnabbit, the old bladders kicked in.
I will not be shy in saying that we picked the WRONG line at the port-a-potty row. We got stuck behind a child and her mother- who were in there for about 10 minutes. We sadly watched thousands of people passing us by in the race as we waited to release our contents. We even began to see walkers and strollers making their appearance before we finally got back in it. We picked up where we left off, but about a mile behind, and proceeded to steadily jog the next 3 miles. At this point, we had to dart around the walkers and sidestep the strollers.
So we're at the 5 mile marker, and there are people on both sides of the highway holding water out to the runners and bands playing and onlookers cheering all the runners. We threw down some water and walked for a few minutes before picking up the pace again. Thank heavens for the overpasses that blocked the harsh sunlight from beating down on us! After a while, we left the comfort of the overpass and ran out into broad daylight, where the sun made running just a little worse. We trudged up a few hills, back down the hills, and reached the 6 mile marker. We walked for a few minutes to gain some strength so we could plow through the last miles of the race. At mile marker 7, we knew the stadium was just around the corner, and even though my brain was detaching from the feeling in my legs, I knew we were going to finish strong! We pumped it up a notch and ran our little hearts out and oh!- I can't even put into words how glorious the stadium looked when it came into view. There were tv stations and cameramen and loads of people encouraging us to finish strong. The last mile is really more like a mile and a half because we have to run AROUND the stadium before entering in, but who cares about specifics? :) When we finally turned the corner to begin the descent into the Aloha Stadium, Pete and I were so excited that we started sprinting past the people in front of us. We finally reached Heaven's Gate and burst through with our arms in the air and a big smile on our faces. We came right through the entrance you see in the picture, with hundreds of other people streaming in around us.
We finished the 8 mile run in 106 minutes- 1 hour and 49 minutes to be exact- but we never cared about how fast we did it. We just wanted to complete it! We both started training last October in hopes of being PAST the 8 mile marker, but unfortunately, our training got disrupted in the middle and we only picked it back up in the last few weeks. So to say that we only walked a few times is a big deal to us!
We plan to keep entering into races and charity runs just to keep ourselves in shape. It's good to be able to look forward to something. And it's so much fun to run with so many other people! It is a great experience, and one that I really enjoyed the first time around. Pete was a pro- he's done the Aloha Run a few times, and I have no doubt he could have run the whole thing and kept going! It was so fun to be able to run 8 miles with the one I love the most.
More adventures to come!
Mahalo nui loa from the Keizer Ohana!
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*I couldn't have possibly known this at the time, but 2 days after this race, I got EXTREMELY sick and stayed sick for almost a week and a half! This race was my last day of sunshine and my last day of fun and energy for 9 days. Thankfully, now I am back to being healthy, but this race already feels like months ago, due to the LONGGG days I spent laying in bed!
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