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December 12, 2004

Gokouun o inorimasu (good luck)

3am ready for the race

Ganbatte Akiramenaide (come on, keep trying)

well today was a very interesting day. got up this morning about 245am to head down to the honolulu zoo. from there i caught a transport to the starting line of the marathon. as soon i was off the bus i knew this was going to be an interesting day. 25 thousand people were getting ready to run the 32nd annual honolulu marathon. 15thousand flew here from japan just to race. the remaining were americans, folks from austria, findland, kenya, russia and smaller numbers from random places. 2 out of 3 people were japanese. JAL (japanese airlines), Konami (japanese gaming company), Nike, Amino Aide and several other japanese companies all sponsored the massive event. i've never seen so many people wearing costumes to run. from geshias, sumos, pandas, japanese cartoon characters, bees, halloween styled outfits, judo robes, yoda look alikes, and many other crazy well thought out costumes. so many friendly people. happy and upbeat about the punishment about to be sent down to them. i've done my fair share of competitions and NEVER has it been more supportive and fun to have people cheering for you who have no idea who you are. let alone cheering for you in another language.

when i made my way over to the starting line there was thousands of people all lined up and spread out in a grid performing exercises to an announcer. WAY to many video cameras to keep track off. (another advantage the japanese have on americans is that they are much more gadet adavanced then we could ever hope to be here in the states)

as for the race it was a cool morning, light breezes, wide open roads and lots off mileage t be covered.
ye was so good she kept popping up here and there along the way. wearing a bright pink dress and a purple wig made it easy for me to pick here out. not to mention she was on the scooter and always seemed to be dodging the cops and getting into more noticable parts of the race course.
as for pace, over all i ran most of the race at 7minute pace.
Mile mark 9

Mile 14

Sunrise mile mark 15

hit the 20mile mark at 2hours and 20minutes. stoked! i was happy about this considering the shoty training i've had this fall. then all hell broke loose: figured i could stop and pound a few several cups of water at an aide station, stretch and then hammer home the last 6 miles.
followed the first part of this rather well. then started to stretch.....bam. right ham locked up. honestly felt like someone had took a hammer to the back of my leg. quickly bent my left leg to compensate for the hell of the right one..bam. left ham curled into a ball. the remaining 6 miles turned into a fight against keeping the legs from cramping and trying to get them loose.
ah well. it was fun anyhow and finished will a smile on my face. about 3hours and 15minutes giver or take.

after a big breakfast and a long nap. i'm looking forward to a little massage therapy in about an hour. until then i'm just gimping around and laughing at all the fun people i meet today.
alohas!
The Masses

more of the masses

2 new course records as well today. the mens category was Kenyan: Jimmy Muindi at 2:11:12 and the womens category was Russian: Lyubov Morgunova at 2:27:33.

HURTING @ the finish

Heading home with a view of Diamond Head

Posted by Single Fin at December 12, 2004 04:37 PM

Comments

Posted by: ja at December 12, 2004 07:57 PM

Posted by: alvin at December 13, 2004 04:44 AM

Posted by: panda bebe at December 13, 2004 11:26 AM

Posted by: summer at December 14, 2004 09:09 PM

Posted by: rw at December 19, 2004 12:16 PM