What the heck was I thinking planning to do a marathon in 85 degree heat and a billion percent humidity?! That was miserable... but a lot of fun all at the same time. I MADE IT.... so, so much slower than I planned... It wasn't pretty, but I made it. I'm officially a marathoner! I can put a 26.2 sticker on my car now! (And not one of those ones that say 26.2- The amount of Oreos I can eat in one sitting. A legit 26.2 miles sticker!)
So, here's the whole story... Ready? It'll be a long one...
I didn't sleep very well but I slept a lot better than I thought I would. I got up at 3am and my awesome husband got up with me to help me get ready and make sure I was covered in sunscreen. I KT Taped both of my feet and ankles while he found a YouTube video on how to KT Tape my hip. Figured it didn't hurt to try. Completed my ensemble with plantar sleeves, compression sleeves, and my toe socks. I also used a stick of body glide everywhere my bra touched to prevent chaffing. I was supposed to meet Tracy from Canada, Susanne from Australia, and Christina from Alaska outside my hotel at 4am to walk the mile to the start line. I was running out of time so I was braiding my hair while my husband fed me oatmeal. I got a good luck kiss and was out the door with my coffee and a banana.
We walked along in the already humid heat of an early Honolulu morning and chatted about our time goals. I said I wanted to finish in 6 hours. Canada and Alaska were hoping to finish in 5 1/2 to 6. And Australia's goal was 4 1/2 hours. Canada said she'd stick with me the whole time no matter what and we said goodbye to Australia after a quick photo at the start line so she could move further up the line.
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| Me, Canada, Australia, Alaska |
Canada and Alaska needed to use the porta-potties and the line was so long I had time to do a little yoga in the grass and take a "I'm freaking out" selfie...
And then the start line fireworks started. They were really pretty but I just couldn't get a good pic. Especially because I was trying to NOT get the line of porta-potties in the photo.
We got in the huge start line with about 30,000 other people and listened to someone singing the National Anthem. And then the start line opened... and we still didn't really move. We walked slowly along until we could see the actual start line banner, and saw some porta-potties with no line so I jumped over there real quick and then got back in line. (Nerves!)
We crossed the starting mat about 20-25 minutes after the start line opened and I was excited to finally start moving. But there were so many people it wasn't really possible to run. We jogged along very slowly attempting to zig-zag around people. Our plan was 5 minute run/90 second walk. Alaska's plan was 3 minute run/1 minute walk. So we played leap frog with her for maybe a mile or two and then she took off and we never saw her again. (She totally made her goal! Australia did too!) It was already so hot and the sun wasn't even out yet. It was humid and sticky. Sweat was just dripping down my face. It was disgusting. We picked up speed a little and jogged through downtown Honolulu with a quick stop to take photos of the Christmas lights.
The sun started coming up when we made it to Waikiki. Here we are at a water stop...
We kept our 5 minute run/90 second walk plan going for a few miles and then stopped at the next set of porta-potties around mile 7. Then we were off again. As we were heading out, we watched the winner run past us and to the finish line. A guy from Kenya finished the marathon in 2:11. And here we were at mile 7 only starting about a half hour after him. Crazy. We started up a pretty big hill and we were basically forced to walk. It was down to one lane up and one lane back down so it was really narrow and it was hard to dodge around the walkers. So we walked up high-fiving all the volunteers on our way up and watching these crazy fast Kenyans head down to the finish on the other side. It was full of energy and screaming and cheering.
Canada decided we needed to start taking selfies with the volunteers....
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| This guy. lol. |
We made it up the hill and as we were heading back down I was trying to take a pic of how much sweat was on my face. Gross.
I told Canada that I was worried about the hills that were going to be around Diamond Head. She looked at me like I was nuts and said, "We just finished those hills." So I turned around and sure enough, Diamond Head was behind us. I was so excited I started jumping and running faster. Haha.
We kept up our run/walks for a bit longer after that but it was just so freaking hot. My sunscreen was beading up on my sweat covered skin. Our runs got shorter and our walks got longer. My husband and kids passed us in the car on the other side of the road trying to get to mile 13 to cheer us on. That was a little pick-me-up. And I decided to FaceTime with my BFF to pass the time a little. Canada FaceTime'd with her sister too.
We stopped to see my husband and kids a little after the half marathon mark. He re-applied some sunscreen for both of us, I got some kisses from the kids and we were off again. It was awesome to know that it would only be 7 miles until I saw them again for another pick-me-up.
It was so hot. Did I mention it was so hot? It was just stifling out. I know that Canada wanted to run more and she kept trying to motivate me to jog but.... ugh. It was so hot. I felt bad and told her she could ditch me anytime she wanted. I did what I could but there was no way I was running for 5 minutes at a time. So she changed her watch to 3 minute run/ 90 second walks. We tried that for a while. The aid station around mile 15 had ice cold sponges. Ahh. Heaven.
And then at almost mile 16, I found a VK Sista' from Honolulu that I haven't met yet. She was awesome. She had berries, cheese, a granola bar, gatorade... it was fabulous to meet her. I told her I was disappointed it was taking so long and she reassured me, and said we were doing awesome. She said this heat is no joke and she has a friend who does it every year in about 9 hours and her goal each year isn't to do it faster, but to cry less. I said I hadn't cried yet so I must be doing ok!
The people who live along the race route were amazing. So many people out in their yards spraying people with their hose (Reminded me of the STP!) and handing out candy, pretzels, popcorn... One family had orange trees in their yard and cut up fresh slices. It was the best orange I've ever had in my life.
There was a lot of ambulances and people stopped on the ground along the way, and the medic tents were full of people. We just decided we wouldn't give up no matter what. We'd drink as much water and gatorade as we could, and if we needed to walk, we'd walk. We were going to make the best of it and have fun. We took more selfies with volunteers.
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| This one with the hose was the best! |
My iPod died at mile 18 which was a bummer but Canada and I just walked along and chatted. Found my cheer squad again at mile 20...
They had a little less than a mile walk back to their car so they could get to the finish line and my daughter wanted to run with me. Okay kiddo, 20 miles in and I'll run with you.
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| Beautiful view |
Heading back the other direction and seeing all the walkers on the other side of the street was pretty great.
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| Many, many Japanese teams out there. This one had rainbow wigs |
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| And I thought I was hot.. |
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| This guy was crazy! |
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| This woman was playing Christmas music on her accordion. I guess she's there every year. |
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| The furthest I'd ever been sign. Eek! ... and it just got worse and worse from here. |
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| I do love how many people were out there with us. No way we were coming in last place or anything. |
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| Mile 22. The miles were going by so slow. We started running to a cone and walking to a cone. Seems we made up a little time but not much. And then we'd walk two cones, and run to one cone... and then we started walking again. |
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| I stopped to stretch and laid back in the grass for a quick "I'm dying" selfie. |
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| The "I want to jump in the ocean" selfie |
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| One more K to go!!!! |
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| Sweat on my pants. Reminded me of the STP.
Aaaaahhh! My Garmin said 26.2 before I got to the finish line. A lot of people around me were saying the same thing. As far as I was concerned, I was done. 2 1/2 hours after my goal time, but I did it. Still had to cross the finish line though. Ugh.
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| Here's mile 26... |
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| There's my support team over there.
The husband and kiddos walked about a mile from the finish line to meet up with me which was actually a really bad idea. Seeing them at the finish was my only motivation to keep going. So when they surprised me early, it kind of sucked. Especially since my son walked only a mile and was whining and complaining. "I'm hot, I'm tired, I'm thirsty." Kid, I love you but I'm going to kill you. And then there was my daughter, "Let's run mommy!" Um, no. No no no. Go away. I know my husband had good intentions and I would have done the same thing in his shoes... but bad plan. I liked them over there on the other side of the fence at the finish.
When I could see the finish line, I heard a couple of ladies screaming and cheering, "Vanderkitten!!" on the sidelines. They yelled, "We're Vanderkittens too! We just don't have our gear on! Good job! Keep it up! You're almost there!!" It was pretty amazing and unexpected. If I wasn't so focused on putting one foot in front of the other and finishing, I would have thought to stop for a photo with them.
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| There it is! |
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| A tiny surge of energy to run into the finish |
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| And we got a shell necklace and our medals! |
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| Hobbled over to the finisher photo area |
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| YAY! |
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| I love this one.
I stopped to eat a malasada. (It's like a giant Hawaiian donut hole) OMG it was the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. I also grabbed a banana, and then stopped at the finisher shirt booth. They were out of women's size large so I had to get an XL. Grr. It doesn't fit. I'm going to need to hem it or something. That sucks. I bought so many other shirts at the expo though, it doesn't matter much. Bragging rights for days!!
And then I hobbled to the ocean. I handed my phone, shoes, and socks to my husband and walked in. I turned over to swim and every vertebrae cracked all the way up my spine. It was amazing. I floated there a little while cooling off. It was hard to get in and out because I was so tired the waves were knocking me over.
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And then I started the couple block journey with no shoes back to where my husband parked the car. There was a small patch of grass right outside of a Starbucks and I decided it looked lovely, and I just couldn't walk anymore. I needed a break. I had yet to sit down after I'd finished. This was a good place to stop for my banana.
As I was sitting there, all my muscles started feeling tighter and tighter. They were all seized up and spasming. It was so painful. Everything from my toes to my shoulders were screaming at me. And I started feeling really tingly all over. Like my whole body was asleep with pins and needles and it hurt to move. I laid back in the grass and I started shivering. My teeth were chattering and I was breathing really short breaths and I felt awful. My husband got worried and decided to ask the policeman directing traffic on the corner to call a medic over. He said he'd call an ambulance. I kept telling him no, I don't need an ambulance, I'm fine. I just need a few minutes. But he called one over anyway. Although they had to stop for another runner on the side of the road and it took them a long time to get to me. I wasn't shivering anymore and I felt a lot better by the time they arrived.
They asked me all sorts of questions like how much I had stayed hydrated during the run. (I did! I drank a cup of gatorade and water at every stop.) And then checked my blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and blood sugar. Then checked my blood pressure again after I sat up. Everything checked out mostly normal. I think my body was just really mad at me for jumping in the ocean when it was so hot. It was a shock to the system. So, don't do that!
They let Justin park illegally to pick me up so that I didn't have to walk any further to the car and let me go. I felt much better after that and made it just fine up to the hotel room, took the longest shower on the planet, and went down for dinner. I had a giant beer and a kale quinoa salad with blueberries, strawberries, and feta cheese. (Yep, I'm crazy. I love salads after a run.) My garmin said 30 miles exactly by the time I crawled into bed.
I think the best part of this whole experience was how many words of encouragement I got from friends and family. My Facebook blew up and I had so many texts on my phone. It was amazing. Better than my birthday! I made some collages...
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| This last one is all texts from BFF. She kept me laughing. |
The next day was spent drinking Mai Tais by the pool. Oh yeah, THIS is why I chose to do this in Hawaii.
So, now what? I planned to do one marathon and never do another one ever again. Training for a marathon took so much of my time. I'm not going to know what to do with myself anymore. At the same time though, I'm pretty disappointed in my 8 1/2 hour time. Think about how fast I could do this in 50 degree weather and without injuries. I could PR by HOURS. But... I'm still going with no. I'd rather PR my Half Marathon time. And do a sub 30 5K. I think those are my goals for next year. Until then, short runs, get back on my bike, back to the gym, and enjoy the holidays.
