Determined to give myself the best possible chance of a pleasant race, I embarked on a training plan at the beginning of January. For the first time in a long time I actually followed the plan, missing only a handful of runs due to either illness, unfavourable weather or other commitments. No surprise, the usual injury niggles were there like familiar running buddies, however with a bit of RockTape and self-management I didn't let them disrupt me too much.
I felt pretty confident ahead of the half marathon. My half marathon PB stands at 1:57:48 and was set back in 2013, however with the uncertainty of how I'd handle the heat I didn't want to get excited thinking I could break it. I had to chuckle to myself when my training plan went into 'race simulation' phase, suggesting I should do my long run wearing the kit I was planning to wear on race day. I had in fact treated myself to a new pair of shorts and a vest for the race, it also happened to be on a weekend when we had a fresh covering of snow! It was at that point I realised there was no point pinning any expectations on my race performance and I should just go and enjoy the experience.
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| The last long run |
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| The Flitch Way |
When out in Hawaii, we met up with Julie who runs the Oahu Trail Run Club. Paul had been speaking with Julie ahead of our trip so we could meet the group and go on a few runs whilst visiting. After a couple of days acclimatising (it took 30 hours travel time to get to Oahu!) Julie kindly came and picked us up for a run. We drove a short while inland to the Makiki Arboretum Trail. As we began walking up to the start of the trail Julie casually mentions that this is where the HURT 100 (100 mile endurance race organised by the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team) is staged and that we would be running on part of the course. Paul and I were well aware of the race prior to our trip, we'd seen the race video trailer on the HURT 100 website (check it out, it's gnarly). The 100 miles is run over 5 laps in semi-tropical rain forest and covers 24,000 ft of elevation. Being in the rain forest there are a lot of tree roots, rocks, mud, exposed ridges, narrow trails and several streams to cross. It's an extremely technical trail. Being conscious of trying to pack light I had only bought the shoes I'd be running the half marathon in, these are road shoes - idiot.
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| The view from the trail |
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| Walking another hill! |
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| Scrambling my way down |
The Sunday before the half marathon I managed to squeeze in one final run with the Oahu Trail Run Club on some trails around Waimanalo. We started out on road running through a quiet neighbourhood as we headed out to pick up the trail. I was totally in awe of the scenery, all around you could see rocky mountain ridges carved out by nature. In the days preceding there had been quite a bit of rain, this made the trail was really boggy in places. Again regretful of not bringing any trail shoes I had to make do with my Brooks Ghost and hope they kept me upright. This trail had less elevation which meant I was able to continuously run, still taking it a little easy whilst nursing the ankle back to strength. We covered 11 km in total which was perfect as my last run before the half marathon. Our trainers on the other hand were fully covered in mud, thank goodness we were staying in an Airbnb where we had an outdoor sink where we could give them a good clean!
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| The views on the way to the trail |
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| Mud! |
After the run it was suggested that we check out Dave's ice cream, we didn't need telling twice. Keeping it local, Paul opted for ube flavour which is purple yam! Whilst sounding a little strange, it did actually work. My choice was macadamia nut, I was trying to get my fix of mac nut as much as possible as they're hard to come by in the UK. After the ice cream Julie asked if we fancied going for a swim at Lanikai beach. I felt a million miles away from my run at home the previous Sunday battling through the wind and snow with a coffee and hot bath as my post run reward! We're really grateful to Julie and the Oahu Trail Run Club for welcoming us like ohana (family) and showing us some beautiful places that we wouldn't have known existed. Experiences like this are what truly make a holiday memorable!
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| This is not Dave's ice cream, it's Paul's! |
With a week to go before the half marathon the ankle fortunately healed well and the swelling settled. With the focus being on my Sister's wedding I didn't have time for surfing/hiking/running/mischief so rested well. Once the wedding was over our holiday properly began, I hired a surfboard for the remainder of our stay and surfed everyday! In the crowded line-up of Waikiki Beach I managed to avoid potentially dangerous collisions with other surfers. I am however a hazard to myself and managed to catch my calf on the fin of my surfboard. Anyone who knows surfboards will know just how lethal fins can be. This encounter left me with a pretty epic bruise and an indentation in the muscle. Luckily this didn't seem to cause any problems and my calf, although painful it felt OK to run on.
Race day arrived, we had to be up pretty early as the race started at 6 am. I necked a bowl of cereal and walked to the start line. Whilst everyone in their hotels slept, 7000+ runners gathered along the iconic Waikiki beach front. I was quite excited to see how the race differed to any half marathon I had done back home. In fairness it wasn't a whole lot different, there were still queues for the portaloos! It felt strange that it was still dark as we waited for the start of the race. The chatter of the crowd fell silent as a young singer belted out the American National Anthem - this was a novel experience as I don't recall singing God Save the Queen at any half marathon I have ever done! With the formalities done the race started and we filtered our way through to the start line.
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| At the start line |
The Hapalua Half Marathon does not have a cut off time, this means it attracts runners of all abilities as well as walkers. This is my only criticism of the race, there was no organisation of the field, this meant I spent the first 5-7 km of the race weaving around walkers (some of which were having chats with family via FaceTime - I kid you not!) and slower runners. This didn't kill my pace as much as I expected it would, however it did mean I clocked up an additional 0.7 km over the race distance which confused my pacing towards the end of the race. The race is an out and back along the closed streets of Honolulu with the final 6 km running around the outside of the Diamond Head State Monument. I began to understand why the entrance fee for the race was so extortionate as every intersection was manned by police officers and a what appeared to be the local motorcycle club.
The first 15 km of the race felt good. My pace wasn't far off my target of 5:30/km, with some fluctuation due to crowds or water stops. Once I headed back in towards Waikiki I started to feel the heat and it became a struggle to maintain my pace. Almost ready to walk I spotted my Mum who had headed out shortly before the start to watch the race. This kept me going and boosted me knowing that there was just 6 km until the finish. It had been an almost completely flat run to this point, then the race threw a huge curve ball. We hit the first hill which lasted 2 km! I did my best to run up as much of that hill as I could, then my legs naturally slowed to a walk. I needed to catch my breath and regulate my body temperature as I could feel the heat and humidity starting to take its toll. I walked for a bit then spotted a water stop, I think I also got a handful of jelly beans from somewhere but I have to admit everything had become a bit of a blur. The Lululemon store were out in support with high-fives and motivational signs which read "Run now, beer later", "Your badass-ness is showing" and "Your legs hurt because you're kicking ass-phalt". Their support really embodied the aloha spirit which is something I came to love about Hawaii. Feeling rejuvenated I kicked on and started to run again knowing that I didn't have much further and needed to get the job done.
A nice little section of downhill followed which was a welcome break but no sooner were we running up hill again. This did me in, I was hot, tired and feeling a bit funky at this point. Although a little overcast, the temperature was 27 degrees celcius. I'd not trained for the heat, all of my training had been done over the course of what felt like the longest and coldest winter ever! At this point I could see that any hopes of a PB had gone, this didn't bother me in the slightest. I looked over to my left and could see over the cliff edge the ocean, hey I was in Hawaii running a half marathon on my birthday, that's pretty cool, right?! Then I could hear music, the beating of drums - an awesome group of Japanese kodo drummers were playing, I looked at my watch which suggested the finish was close, my pace picked up again. Unfortunately I mistimed my sprint finish as I was of course out by 0.7 km. I knew I was going to be over the 2 hour mark so just put one foot in front of the other until I saw the finish line. I spotted Paul (he'd already finished) and my Mum cheering at the side of the road and then as I approached the finish line heard the announcer call my name. I crossed the finish line in 2:02:57 and was handed the prettiest medal in my collection yet!
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| Captured by Paul just before crossing the finish |
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| Finishers medal and t-shirt |
I rejoined Mum and Paul and queued for my post race goodies of shaved ice and fresh pineapple juice which we're both welcome and extremely refreshing. I could have had a malasada (donut) but I didn't want to spoil my second breakfast! After a couple of victory photo's we headed back to our apartment for a shower and to get ready for the rest of the day.
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| Shaved ice and epic medal |
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| 1st Brits home! |
Little did I know at the time of finishing the race that Paul was the first British athlete home and I was the first female. I know what you're thinking and no, we were not the only ones! Turns out there were 6 of us who were representing!
I ended up having the BEST birthday spent with my family doing all my favourite things. After the run we headed out for second breakfast. I sat outside eating my Banan bowl (more about this in a bit) gazing at Monserat Avenue which is the scene of that first hill that tried to sabotage my race. I was reflecting on the race and how I felt, whilst of course it would have been nice to have gotten a new PB it didn't matter at all as I had run for the enjoyment of it, even the elite runners were 4 minutes off their PB times that day. I also finished the race with a smile on my face and didn't trash myself which can only be a good thing. After a suitable refuel we headed to the beach and I surfed the rest of the day away whilst the family relaxed on the beach. That evening we went to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for their famous Mai Tai cocktail before heading out to dinner. We were lucky enough to gate crash some kind of conference and got some free evening entertainment courtesy of a Korean boy band and fire dancers as we drank our cocktails. I didn't want anything fancy for dinner so suggested we headed to a sports bar which had a good vegetarian selection and a lot of beer from all over the world (although I stuck to beer from the Hawaiian islands). As birthday's go it was pretty epic, it's going to hard to top!
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| Re-hydration solution |
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| Birthday deep fried cheese curds |
I just wanted to give a quick nod to some notable food outlets from our visit to Oahu as after all this blog is about food too!
Banan
Dairy-free soft whip made from bananas served in a bowl stuffed with fruit and other goodies such as puffed quinoa. All sourced locally working in partnership with local farms. We also found their Waikiki beach shack and became addicted to their smoothies. They were great post surf!
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| Birthday 2nd breakfast |
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| I could eat this every day! |
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| Post surf protein smoothie |
What it Dough
Vegan artisan pizza, possibly the best pizza I have tasted! The toppings were always interesting and a breath of fresh air compared to the usual veggie offerings. Their homemade seitan was pretty epic. If pizza this good was available at home I would be vegan. I tried veganism once before but pizza broke me.
Ruffage Natural Foods
Getting a wholesome lunch was sometimes a problem when in Waikiki. However, we discovered Ruffage on our previous trip and they do proper sandwiches with great fillings. Our personal favourite was the sunflower special: cheese, alfalfa sprouts, mayo and sunflower seeds.
Hawaii was awesome and I could have happily stayed for the people, trails and the food. Sadly just as we were settling in to life in Hawaii it was time to come home. Once home the jet-lag was pretty horrific, however I put waking up at 5 am and the lighter mornings to good use and went out for a few runs to tick over until I start my next block of training began. Next up the Braintree 5 and Hatfield Broad Oak 10k...
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