Maui Half Marathon Sept 21, 2014

Kev has joined in with the race report - hurrah!  His words are in blue.  (Mine are not in pink).

Record heat but no vog, ah we must be in Hawaii.

The night before the race was stupid hot, I couldn't eat a thing in the morning and decided good old plain water was the order of the day.  The race kicks off at 5am which involves a very early wake up.  This was so we'd get a good portion of the running in before the sun rose and it got even hotter.  I entirely approve.

A good 5k followed by a fast 1 mile and the heat/humidity I struggled with in the 10k is all but forgotten.  I wake up the next day raring to hit the road and all the talk about having a fun slower run with Sue is brushed aside when she mentions not feeling the best and thinking of taking it easier than normal.

Sweaty before we start

Race time

The race starts in the pitch black, we head out from Whalers to the highway in a clump.  As we turn the corner I literally can't see a thing.  We are doing a stellar job of not tripping each other up.  There's a police car ahead to warn traffic of our impending arrival with lights flashing and we get an instant rave.    

The start is in pitch black and I cannot see my watch in the slightest, so I decide to run by feel and just try and stick with someone I feel is running a similar pace.

5k in and we’re on Front Street, it’s still really dark but hot as hell.  I begin to realize maintaining this pace is going to be hard.

We turn onto the Lahaina road at around 5k, I can hear roosters crowing.  It starts to get light as we pass through town, I've already had a couple of walk breaks by 7k.  That's okay, I am enjoying the scenery and the surprisingly vocal support we're getting (it's still very early in the morning).  

We exit Lahaina and I am horrified to see we are just about at 8k.  Is that it?  Oh dear.  We are heading up the road with the ocean to the side of us now, those beaches are so tempting.  Then something unusual - I see Kev on his way back and instead of yelling or high fiving he turns around and joins me. This can't be good.

Nearing the halfway point and it’s a struggle; the sun is out and humidity and having to run close to traffic is taking its toll.  As I’m heading back I have a crazy thought to scrap it all and turn around when I see Sue, finish the race with her and try and find enjoyment in it as we’d originally intended to.  Totally undecided then I see a familiar face and I do a quick 180, anticipating many questions.

I immediately have all the guilt that I must look bad and he's trying to support me but I can't persuade him to keep on the right way.  We originally planned to run this together and it turns out we are in fact now going to.  

We hit the turnaround (Kev for the second time) and enjoy the crap out of the hosepipes, juice and nibbles.   I feel really good for an entire few minutes.

Ah bless

This effect is soon ruined when Together pops into a portajohn leaving Since alone.  

The run is turning into a hot affair not helped by the lack of shade and proximity of traffic on what seems to be the only main road on the West coast of Maui.  The only saving grace is that on the opposite side of us from the traffic is a beautifully serene ocean vista.  Oh well time to get back to Lahaina, but first let us take a (sweaty) selfie.

With these sponges you are really spoiling us. 

Back to beautiful and increasingly hot sunny Lahaina. The market vendors are setting up for the day in Banyan Tree Park.  

Running past Banyan Tree Park I recall fond moments from the speedy 1 miler the day before.  It took place late afternoon so nearly the entire 1 mile was in the shade, no such luck this morning.

We are most tired, Willy has no sympathy whatsoever.  This is where the walk/run ratio starts going all to hell.  I saw a sign advertising kittens!  Let's go in there instead.  No?

The legendary spray mist tunnel, I pass through it twice just because I can.  JTB are out on the course with the loudest cheer station I have ever heard.  Poor Kev is going to be spending a lot more time on his feet than anticipated today as I unfortunately appear to be challenging my personal worst time.

I'm going slightly mad

We are back on the highway and it is an endless hot unforgiving slog.  The about-to-be marathon winner flies by.  I keep trying to run and feel so awful I end up walking.  Rinse, lather, repeat and finally we are turning onto the last piece of road.

Over the last 5k or so, Sue is struggling and it seems like I’m always thirsty but I’m also sick of carrying this bottle of water the whole damn day.

I'm not sure how this happens but Super Trouper has started on my IPod and I suddenly find the energy to sprint to the finish.  Like a crazy person.  Kev is entirely taken aback after my inability to achieve a respectable shuffle over the last 5k.  He has to work hard to catch me up.

As we finally approach the finish area out of the blue Sue is off and sprinting......

Oatmeal

Like this. Exactly.

With enormous joy we cross the finish line and stop moving.  We are handed all the medals.

I end up running a shade over 25k and I’m happy it is now over.  Despite the way things went today I’ve really enjoyed the event as a whole with the 1 mile being a real highlight, who knew that would be such a fun distance.

The beautiful vision of a shave ice truck appears but I just cannot and we find some shade to sit in instead.  Later on tonight we will be heading back to Lahaina for a feast at Bubba Gump.

Final time 2:52:33.  My overall standing in the Half Warrior Challenge is 17 out of 38 female finishers.  We had all the fun today.