What have you been up to?

If you blog, you ever have blog block? I did for over a month. I haven't been keeping up with my yelp reviews either!

However, I have been keeping up with my running and training for the Spartan Race! 

Here's a recap of what I have been up to:

The Neon Vibe at Aloha Stadium (January 3, 2014) #7

 

Spartan Race Training by SGX Hawaii at Aloha Stadium (January 5, 2014)

The Great Aloha Run (February 17, 2014) #8

 

This was taken before the race by my daughter who was nice to drop us off at 5:00am in downtown Honolulu.

Me going thru the tunnel over TWO HOURS later from the start time. I cramped badly by mile 7 (boo).

5 days later...

The Warrior Dash (February 22, 2014) #10

(Before the race)

(Jumping over fire)

(At the finish line. Note: calf sleeves and mud makes me look like I have thankles...thighs + ankles)

(After the race)

Not mine but my best friend who broke her ankle in three places attempting to slide down an obstacle.

One month later...

 

The Spartan Race at Aloha Stadium (March 23, 2014)!!! #11

 

My dad and youngest son did the Spartan Race too!

(At my prettiest)

(Those lava seats)

(Just passed through the over, under and through walls with cramps!)

(One of the best moments running to the finish line with my dad!)

 

And guess who just signed up for the Spartan Race Trifecta Weekend on August 16-17, 2014 at Kualoa Ranch? Me!

Upcoming events:

-Hapalua Half-marathon (April 13, 2014)

-Makahiki Challenge at Kualoa (May 24, 2014)

-Spartan Race Trifecta Weekend at Kualoa Ranch (August 16-17, 2014)

-Color Run (November 2014)

-Kawela Bay North Shore 5k (November 2014)

-Honolulu Marathon (December 2014)

-Jingle Rock Run by Make-a-Wish (December 2014)

4 of 9: Another Turkey Trot...North Shore Style

After signing up for the Turkey Trot at Kaneohe MCBH, I also noticed another run that looked interesting because I noticed it was on Thanksgiving Day.

See, at my household for our traditional Thanksgiving Day is that while I'm preparing the food, my husband and his friends from church will boogieboard (bodyboard) and return just in time to help with the carving of the turkey and eating. It's been like this for the past 15 years but I figured this year, I wanted to change it. Actually, I've been wanting to do this since last year because I never knew about turkey trots until I seen one of my friend's post last year.

Since I am a beginning runner, I didn't want to choose a time for a 10 miler! Plus, I've been paranoid about injuring myself before the Honolulu Marathon AND the Spartan Race. Anyhow, enters in the North Shore 5K Kawela Bay run presented by Oakley. When I noticed it was only a 5K and it was a trail run around Turtle Bay Resort / Kawela Bay, I was game. The price was reasonable as all other runs are for a 5K.

Our race packet pick-up was the day prior and on race day. Now, I have a confession to make before I go any further with this blog post. Ever since I've started on this fitness journey especially with training for the Spartan Race in mind, I have a thing for race shirts and race bibs. In all honesty, in my previous races when I really didn't take my health seriously or appreciated the races, it didn't dawn on me to hold on to my race bib or t-shirts (I wish I kept my 2002? 2003? and 2012 Great Aloha Run race bib and my 2012 Ford Island Bridge Run race bib!!!).

From the Spartan Race back in August, I've started to keep my race bibs and cutting my race shirts to muscle-T workout shirts that I can use while I run or workout. Well, I figured this turkey trot 5K was going to be the same but I was wrong. The t-shirt was already a workout shirt that I absolutely LOVED.

After picking up my race packet, I decided to stroll to the poolside because the race information shared that this would be the starting and finishing point for the 5K. It was a beautiful afternoon as you can see (NOTE: Why do people want to swim in the pool when there is a beautiful ocean right there beckoning to you?).

 

Evenings in Hawaii gets dark quickly around 6:00 and I decided it was best to head on back to the southwest side of the island because it was about an hour drive.

 

Since, I knew it would be an hour drive back home, I started planning on what time I would get up to head on out to North Shore. I knew there wouldn't be traffic except for the surfers and bodyboards who goes out on dawn patrol. After Thanksgiving service at church, I prepped all my stuff for the next day and went to be bed early.

Got up around 4:00am and left the house around 4:45am. Reached Pupukea around 5:30am and figured I better stop and eat a bagel to get my stomach settled because the run started at 7:30. I reached Turtle Bay Resort around 6:00am and sat in my car for awhile. As it got lighter, I decided to stretch out my legs for awhile by walking around.

One of the beautiful things about Hawaii and you're by the beach is watching the surfers paddle out. Seriously, you can't go wrong with this type of view.

Earlier that morning, it was raining and at first, it didn't seem like it would let up but the rain let up and the morning air was cool.

As I walked around to the poolside of the resort, more runners started trickling in to get themselves settled and ready for the morning run.






It was great seeing the enthusiasm of other runners especially the ones who was aimed to winning the best turkey trot costume. This group of individuals were nice enough to keep still as many of us asked if we could take a picture of them.

The announcer gave updates on how the race would start and where it would loop around. They also shared that there would be prizes for the different age groups and for best costumes. They then announced that men would go first and women would follow a minute after. This caught me off-guard but all right (not like I wanted to start sprinting). One thing I noticed though was that couples chose to run with eachother despite the lineup, which the men stayed next to their wife or girlfriend. How nice is that?

 

We first looped around the hotel, which I regretted using my vibram sprydion. I made a mental note that I could have used my running shoes for this run. But, as soon as we hit the trail after the golf course, I was glad that I wore my vibrams because some areas were muddy and sandy. As I ran back towards the resort, we passed the stables to our right, which I held my breath because I didn't want to start gagging at the smell of manure (weakling, I tell you).

 

As I reached the curve to head to the finish line at the pool, there were other runners cheering everyone coming in. I love it! Right after the finish line, there was volunteer waiting to give us our turkey leg that smelled heavenly but all I wanted to do was head on home to check on the turkey that my daughter placed in the roaster oven for me. As I drove away, I couldn't help but smile because the best thing about this 5K run was my timing. From January of this year to present, I improved my pace from 21 minutes down to 14 minutes. Granted, this may be slow to some but as I shared on my Instagram account...Slow progress IS progress.

¡Dos Mas! Two more added before the Spartan Race 2014

My posts will be confusing by the numbers because I just added two more runs to the list that I posted previously. First, I added the Turkey Trot at Kaneohe MCBH but I also decided to add the North Shore 5K at Turtle Bay / Kawela Bay "Turkey Trot" run.

 

 

 Not only did I add those runs, but I am now registered for the Neon Vibe as my first run of 2014 because my cousins decided it would be a great fun run to do as a family after I shared about the runs I've been doing because of my training for the upcoming Spartan Race.

 

So, what's adding two more runs before the Spartan Race in 2014? To other runners and sports enthusiasts, it's probably no big deal. In fact, I am pretty sure there are more seasoned runners and sports enthusiasts who have signed up for more runs than I have throughout a 12 month period.

But, as I shared in my previous posts...this is a first for me. This is the most runs I've ever done and God willing, I'm looking forward to many more.

 

(North Shore 5k Kawela Bay photo courtesy of www.oakridgevisitor.com)

(Neon Vibe photo courtesy of North Shore Kawela Bay facebook page)

(Running Quotes photo courtesy of http://extrememarathonguide.com)

 

 

2 of 8: Dawn of the Dead Dash (Training for the Spartan Race)

 

THREE runs in November and I'm laughing at myself because seriously, what am I thinking? Can't I just train without signing up for additional races?

Well, I could do that but here is my reasoning of signing up for races in between now to the Spartan Race. It keeps me consistent on staying with my training for the Spartan. See, I'm trying to maintain and right now this is my plan of action. A nutty plan of action but I have to do what I believe I need to do that will help me be prepared.

Anyhow! This is my 2nd race of November and it's a fun run, of course. I signed up in August or September when someone posted this race as an upcoming event. I figured it would be fun considering it was at night. 

However, we would not know where it was going to be held until the week of the event. We were emailed that race packet (bib and shirt) was to be picked up at Lulu's in Waikiki (Our headquarters for the race) the day before and on the day of the event. I chose to go the day before, so I can redesign my shirt.

We were given instructions that our starting point was Kapiolani Park bandstand along with signing a waiver that we would not hold them liable if we got injured on course because no roads were closed because it was an urban event. This made me think what if those zombies looked hideous and scarey like those characters from Haunted Plantation? Can you imagine how scared all of us would be? I know I would be! Dan decided to stay in the car and just watch everyone run around like crazy as I got out of the car when it was 7:00pm (meeting/briefing began at 7:15pm). As I got closer to the bandstand, I noticed that there wasn't that much people at first AND the participants that was roaming around was around my kids age. I honestly thought that I would be the only old lady running around with a bunch of kids.

 

 

But, as 7:15pm approached, I was happy to see that were people who were older than me showing up in costumes or running gear. I was relieved!

 

When 7:15pm came around, all the participants stood around looking at eachother wondering who was going to distribute the glow collars as well as give us instructions. The lady at Lulu's showed up with an assistant who started distributing the collars. Right after we all placed the collar around our neck, she laid out the rules:

 

1) We will be given a code to enter onto their website that will give us our first checkpoint. *At each checkpoint, there will be a code that will give us the location of the next checkpoints (there were three in all with headquarters as the last place to show up).

2) No cheating-if we die, we die. And when we die, we enter the code number of being dead. Once dead, we turn into zombies and will have to chase other runners to get their glow collars. And we could not tag from the front. We had to tag from the back.

3) No hitting or slapping the zombies

4) Have fun-after all, it was only a 5k and it wasn't for time.

 

After the rules, she gave us our code. Talk about a mad scramble because as soon as we entered the code, the google map showed up and it pointed to our first checkpoint. Majority of us ran across the road to get as far away from the zombies.

 

Of course, you see the picture below me. First, it shows that we are cleared to start running. After the first checkpoint and catching our breath, we could also post on Twitter or Facebook what we were up to in our run.

 

I was killed by the little girl in this picture because I was trying to run away from her zombie mom! Boo! But, I entered in my dead code and decided to run the rest of the course, which was hilarious because the third checkpoint was difficult since the zombies were surrounding the area that had the code for all the runners that weren't infected yet.

 

After running to the third checkpoint, I ran back to Lulu's Waikiki, where I was able to take pictures with the little girl zombies.



If you never did do a zombie fun run, try it. It's hilarious because it's like playing tag at night and it's a FUN RUN. However, I would recommend that you run with a group of friends or family because it makes it more hilarious and memorable especially when a particular checkpoint is surrounded by zombies and you'll eye eachother up wondering who will be the one that will have to sacrifice themselves for the rest of you to make it through the checkpoint.