Marathon #13 - Kona, Hawaii 6-24-18

Marathon #13 for me.  Yep, I haven't done as many marathons as half marathons.  Know why?  Cause halfs are more fun. :>)  I've done 3 times as many halfs as fulls.  A full marathon to me is dedication in training, a mental state to pull through the difficult times (usually from mile 20+), and a whole lot of perseverance.  :>)  

With all that being said, I will say that this marathon for me was HARD.   It was the hardest one I've done.  Maybe if I had not been dealing with Plantar Fasciitis and did not run 4 weeks prior to the marathon, I might feel a tad different.  However, even my friends I ran with that had no foot issues and had been running constantly.... some had even just did a full in April, said this marathon was HARD.  :>)

 I still can't believe we had such a good group of ladies get to Hawaii for this race.  Hawaii is not CHEAP!  So all of us had planned anywhere from 1-2 years for this race.  We meet up on Saturday to take a group picture before going into the expo.  We wore our pineapple shirts that we planned to wear on race day.  We figured it would be easier to get a picture before the race than on race day because some would finish before others and we may not all find each other.  Here are a few pictures of the group. 

Getting ready to JUMP 

JUMP
Candy, Megan, Claire, Ashley, Michelle, Laura, Me, Jane, Penny, Ann, & Penny's mom

Erin (my daughter), Me & Katelyn ... I talked them into doing the 5K :>) 

Awesome doing races with my daughter!

Me in front of the banner at the expo

A whole year in planning this trip!  Yes, I was EXCITED... 

Trying to get our Hawaii hand signal right. 

Picture was taken at the Hilton village where we all stayed.  It's FABULOUS!! Just look at that clear water! I've got to do a separate blog post on vacation time in Hawaii & the resort.

So back to the race.....  I write this post so I can look back and remember what the heck happen.   I probably only have 2-3 people that read this blog so it's more for me than anything. :>)  

Crappy time!!! Worst marathon time I've had! All of mine are between 4:30 - 5:30 except for Disney which was 6:24 only because we stopped at tons of characters to take pictures and even stopped and rode a roll a coaster.  My time was 6 hours and 50 minutes :><)  (I remember glancing at my watch right before I crossed the finish time and shaking my head) AND I forgot to stop my Garmin when I crossed the finish line.  I walked around to meet my friends and went to get water & food.  Which they only had bananas and chips.  Boy was I disappointed.  Not till we went to take a group picture did I realize I forgot to stop my watch! LOL  I was too concerned about finishing.  

This was posted on instagram after the race.  A lady at the finish line asked to take the " runcation - pineapples" picture.  Everyone LOVED our shirts.  We got so many compliments on them during the race.  This is not the whole group.  Some of the girls (our daughters) did the 5K and Jane did the half marathon.  She's working on halfs in 50 states. :>) 

My shirt also had 26.2 on it... so you know I had to do the 25.2 :>) 

So why was the race hard besides the fact that I hadn't ran in 4 weeks??? Let me just list the reasons for you :>) 

1.  Trade Winds!  At times you could barely stand up.  The wind was awful.  There was no break from it.  It didn't matter if you were running out or coming back to the village..... You fought the wind the whole time! One lady on the tram after the race said she had done the race like 10 years in a row and the winds were really bad this year... so guess we just hit a bad year..  But if not, I'm just in awe of those that go and do the Ironman race in Kona! My hat goes off to them! I can't imagine biking 112 miles and running 26.2 afterwards in those winds! And I did hear one Hawaii person say that the week before the winds were nice and gentle and had picked up harshly the weekend of the race. ... Not good for us.. ha

2.  Hawaii is not flat. :>)  I knew in my head there would be hills, but these were more gradual, slow climbs that took like a mile to get to where you'd finally feel you were going down a little .... then right back up.  

3.  It was 85 degrees.... so when my body heated up that extra 15 degrees from running... let's just say I was HOT and soaking WET!

4.  Time on Feet!  Almost 7 hours is a LONG time to be on your feet for a marathon!  They say your body starts to shut down after about 4-5 hours.  My feet were on FIRE.  It wasn't just my bad foot that hurt after mile 13,

it was my whole body!  Even my arms ached.  I guess from fighting the wind.  Not even all the 100s of miles on my bike recently prepared me for this marathon! 

At the half way point, 13.1 miles, my time was 2 hours and 25 minutes.  I kind of hoped that I could maintain that pace and finish around 5 hours, but that did not happen.  :(  I walked the last 6 miles just to finish.  It was the LONGEST walk ever and I thought of all kinds of things.  I imagined the pain Jesus went through on the cross and told myself that my pain was nothing compared to his so suck it up and finish.  I felt prayers from friends and had a couple of text from some dear friends during the race and that helped me to keep pushing forward.  Because I'll be honest... I wanted to QUIT.... but I'm also HARD HEADED. 

A couple of times golf carts passed me and I almost flagged them down to get them to carry me to the finish line..... BUT my hard head would not allow it.  I was determined.  They say you hit a wall around mile 20

during a marathon and you better be prepared mentally to push you forward those last 6 miles.  Well, I hit that wall HARD!  And honestly, I don't think I've ever hit that wall at mile 20 except for 1 time when I got bad cramps during the New York marathon.  AND, one year I was doing an Ultra (31 miles)... I really didn't like those last 6 miles either.. ha    So this was kind of new to me to struggle so much.  I honestly believe my faith, my friends, and my coach pushed me to that finish line.  So if I can offer a small piece of advise, before you do a marathon... prepare yourself mentally.... dig deep into your faith...and let your friends pray for you during the race. :>) 

Maybe if I had known the half and full racers got the same medal... I just might of turned at the half.. ha

Going back into the resort... we were a hot mess, but so glad to be done!

My bib and medal.

and even though my time really sucked.... I finished 11th in my age group... looks like only a couple were really fast in that wind. :>) 

50 - 54 Female            
 ==============        

   1 Tomomi Yamada                       Nagoya-City Mizuho-ku  3:48:28   08:43
   2 Ferdinando Sorrentino               Suzhou, Cn             4:26:40   10:10
   3 Linda Sedillo                       Albuquerque, NM        4:35:10   10:30
   4 Naomi Funada                        Jp                     4:55:54   11:17
   5 Diana Covert Hughes                 Mequon, WI             5:05:12   11:38
   6 Tsao-Chuen Ku                       Austin, TX             5:17:32   12:07
   7 Stacey Eggers                       Windsor, MO            5:46:11   13:12
   8 Rebecca Rich                        Salt Lake city, UT     6:09:12   14:05
   9 Marie Zornes                        Gig Harbor, WA         6:09:20   14:05
  10 Yumiko Takahashi                    Tokyo, Jp              6:14:23   14:17
  11 Deleica Clayton                     Ellisville, MS         6:50:59   15:41
  12 Paula Boone                         Humble, TX             6:53:20   15:46
  13 Miae Kim                            Tokyo, Jp              7:14:15   16:34

HAPPY RUNNING  I THINK NEXT TIME I GO TO HAWAII...IT BE FOR FUN ONLY. !D