A weekend in Hawaii for a quick run

After a 5 ½ hour flight, Team Phoenix arrived at Honolulu. During the landing announcements, the flight attendant recognized all teams on the plane. We, of course, were the loudest. We stayed at the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach and several of us spent the first evening at Duke’s Canoe Club having a drink and enjoying the beachside view. Ahhh….the beach. I had to walk along it before crashing for the night.

Saturday 7a while the team had a quick 20 minute practice, Coach Josh opened his ‘sidewalk café’ and made a pancake breakfast. It seems some tourists thought he was really selling them and started to line up! After breakfast, Rhonda and I went parasailing. The coaches told us to stay off our feet – so we did, just 100 or so feet in the air :D Neither of us had ever gone before and we both can’t wait to go again! It was wonderful – peaceful and beautiful. That night was the TTES pasta party. There were 7 teams for the marathon – Phoenix, Denver, Boston, Seattle and 3 California teams. Awards were given for top fundraising and the “Lifestyle Change Award.” I am honored to say I took away the Lifestyle Change Award for Phoenix. This award is given by the coaches for really embracing the program and changing my life for the better. Lights out at 8pm this night.

Sunday 2:15a (yes, that’s AM) I head to the coaches room after being greeted by my now decorated door. We put on our TTES tattoos, wrote our names on our arms, and checked to ensure our bib numbers, timing chips and name tags were on correctly. As a team we walked to the starting area, warmed up then merged into the masses to wait for the start. There were 24,643 runners waiting for the start. The energy was great! I couldn’t believe the number of people in costume, carrying cell phones and cameras, etc. At 5a the fireworks went off and the race was on. Our official time is recorded as we cross the actual start line and the timing chip registers. Starting before sunrise was great – the Christmas lights were on downtown making it festive. We passed several Santas along the route – some leaving the bars! Rhonda and I stuck together. We decided ‘woo-hoo!’ was universal and kept people around us smiling. Another TTES member said we were the loudest people on the course. Thanks! We passed a TTES support group in Waikiki – their cheering was invigorating.
Diamond Head Road was our only hill – twice, once out and once back. We saw the leaders already on their last leg as we made our way up the first time. At the top we were greeted by a sign “Coast Guard Salutes the Marathoners.” On our left was Diamond Head and on the right incredible views out over the ocean. I wished several times during the route I had a camera with me. Coming down Diamond Head my knee started to complain and I dropped back to a speed walk keeping on target. Between mile 13 & 14 Rhonda’s knee didn’t want to play either. We alleviated these issues by stuffing the ice cold sponges handed out in our knee braces. Instant ice packs! We saw Coach Eric at mile 14 and again at 19. Coach Josh cheered us at mile 11 and walked with us at mile 22.
As we headed back up Diamond Head we stirred up the runners by shouting “Come on everyone, it’s just a little hill!” We found Jamin between mile 24 & 25 and he walked with us till the 1k marker. Turning down the last 1k was exciting as finishers and spectators cheered us on. With the finish line in sight, we picked up to a jog. I moved into a sprint for the last few hundred feet having a strong finish of 7:23:26.
We made our way to get our t-shirts and medals then to the TTES tent to sign out. After some peanut butter sandwiches, ice baths and showers, the teams headed to the victory celebration. Believe it or not most of us got up and danced! A few of us left early and headed to back to the hotel for drinks at Duke’s. Before crashing I once again walked the beach then sat, listened to the waves and enjoyed my accomplishment.

Monday I headed to Pearl Harbor – had to get some tourist stuff done before I left. The USS Arizona memorial is moving. There are ‘teardrops’ at the site – the ship is still leaking oil. I saw an oil bubble come to the surface and it does look like a black tear. The sight gave me chills. I also toured the USS Missouri. It was a great tour – all 1.5 miles of it – complete with stairs/ladders. I was moving slowly, as was another marathoner on the tour. After the tours Rhonda and I headed out to get our Finisher Certificates. We’d like to say we took our time taking pictures, shopping and enjoying the scenery however a round trip walk of barely a mile took us 3 hours. Sore muscles and knees were the main contributors to our time. Eh, we were on island time :D Back at the hotel we sat on the beach watching the sunset and waiting for the airport shuttle. A red-eye flight direct back to Phoenix allowed for a few hours sleep.