To the Wall and Beyond (the Vanity Struggles of a Marathon)

I am pretty sure I am not the only one who cringes at photos that are taken at the marathon of you along the course.

There is that woman (or man too) that has a vain streak that rises up when they see themselves at their worst especially when the pictures makes you look bigger than normal or it is a reality check that you still have a long ways to go in your fitness journey.

Well, this blog is dedicated to all the runners who have experienced their vanity ugly moments because I had mine at the Honolulu marathon (I'll disregard the Great Aloha Run 2012 because they only took one ugly photo of me that is still online).

The beginning
As you are standing at the starting line, you're stretching, warming up and preening as you have your picture taken by another runner because hey...it's a great moment that you want to remember, right?

The first stretch (0-6 miles)
You're on top of the world especially if you're pacing yourself and it's morning still.

The second stretch (6-13 miles)
Mid-morning and you got this-ain't no stopping you!

The third stretch (13-20 miles)
Wait...it's lunchtime and there's other runners and walkers pulling to the side eating...You begin to wonder if you should have brought something more than gel chews and sports beans...

Congratulations! You've hit the wall (20-23 miles)

You're stomach is rumbling and you're remembering those extra toilet paper advice. Porta-potties are out of the question especially after seeing someone's underpants discarded. Thank goodness for the Chevron staff that were allowing runners to use their restroom!

Going beyond the wall (24-25 miles)
After buying pretzels from Chevron and filling up your water bottle and gatorade bottles, you feel somewhat better, right? 

Keep going (24-25miles)
Your mind starts playing mind games with you, "Did they stretch out the last two miles? Are they sure they measured the distance correctly?!"

Last stretch knowing Diamond Head is coming up within the last mile. One more sport beans left to down with zipfizz for that last energy to start running...

Homestretch
From 5:00am...you've ran the first mile then walked all the way till the 25th mile marker...

So crank up the iPod and let those epic movie score from Transformers, "No Sacrifice, No Victory" play as you are running down to Kapiolani Park to the finish line...

All you're thinking is, "I want my medal and shirt! Thank God the finish line is right here and I'm not cramping over! Just don't let me trip and fall!"

Legs on fire as "Girl on Fire" starts blasting in your ears while the volunteers are directing you to stand and pose (even if you are in pain and you feel as if your legs will pop off at any moment) 

You wait anxiousky for almost two weeks to view the marathon photos. After viewing them and buying those ugly photos, this makes you want to run the Honolulu Marathon again with makeup and to make sure that you're smiling at the end (Note: Being under the sun for 10 hours must have addled the brains to think such a thing).

But, as you sit back and think, you remember that quote on Pinterest, "If you are still pretty at the end of your run (workout), you didn't run (workout) hard enough." 

Guess I did a good job, yes?

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.