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FLRC Newsletter - Jan 2004 |
| Honolulu Marathon, Hawaii: State #43 and DC Completed | |
On Wednesday, December 10, my 50 states running friend Cathy Troisi and I were on our way to Hawaii so we could participate in the Honolulu Marathon. We knew running the marathon would be the easiest part of the trip. Flying for over 11 hours and the 5 hour time change would be the most challenging part of the trip.
The trip to Hawaii was the first for both of us. A friend of Cathy's, who now lives in Honolulu, was most gracious and offered her place for us to stay at during our visit. The opportunity proved wonderful because it was midway between the start and the finish lines with each being over 1 mile away. As we woke each day the first sight we saw was Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head out our bedroom window.
Everyday was a perfect day in paradise. The temperatures ranged from a high of 83 degrees to a low of 69 degrees.
The first full day we toured the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. It is amazing to see oil bubbles still coming to the surface from the bombed battleship after all these years. The memorial is a white concrete and steel structure that spans the 106 by 608 foot hull of the sunken USS Arizona. From there we caught the shuttle to the largest shopping center to help the Hawaiian economy. During the evening our host took us to see all the Christmas lights in downtown Honolulu. My favorite was the Christmas Tree decorated with plastic shells, fish and seahorses.
Our second full day started with a climb up Diamond Head. Diamond Head was created by a volcanic eruption 2.5-3 million years ago. The next stop was at the Honolulu Zoo so Cathy could see her favorite animal the giraffe. The evening was busy with the marathon luau/dinner. This was attended by over 5 thousand runners and was held at the Waikiki Shell.
Saturday morning we returned to our third day of shopping at the marathon expo to once again help the Hawaiian economy. In the afternoon we visited the nearby Niketown to hear John Bingham speak. He is the author of the Penguin articles in Runners World. His best advice, which Cathy and I took to heart, was to carry money on the course. He stated you might want to stop by the ABC stores for something to drink or catch a bus ride at the end.
Our prerace pasta dinner was at the neighborhood "hole in the wall" restaurant. The restaurant had only 12 chairs and 4 tables but served the best pasta we had ever had. As soon as dinner was over we were headed to bed due to the early marathon start of 5 a.m.
The Honolulu marathon is the largest event on the Island and brings in over $81 million dollars for the economy. The runners consisted of 15 thousand Japanese runners, 5 thousand local runners and 5 thousand runners from the mainland or other countries. Cathy and I felt we were running the Japan Marathon with all the Japanese Runners and spectators yelling at the runners in Japanese.
3 a.m. came fast and we were up and out the door. Our warmup was a mile walk to the starting line with thousands of other runners. To start the marathon a cannon went off followed by a brilliant fireworks display. It was still dark as we started but the downtown city lights helped. The runners had to be very careful of city street reflectors, potholes and each other.
The course looped around and then headed to Diamond Head where there were no lights. I could not see runners but could hear their nearby foot steps in the darkness. While running up Diamond Head Hill the aroma of blossoming flowers was very strong in the air.
After 2 hours of running we watched the spectacular sunrise over the ocean. The beauty was just breathtaking. We continued along the ocean to see beautiful homes with a Mercedes parked in every yard. The course looped around again and we could see the leaders coming back.
The day became very warm when the sun came out. At mile 24 we once again had to climb Diamond Head followed by a long downhill into Kapiolani Park and at last the finish line. At the finish line a seashell necklace was draped around our necks. Each runner then had to proceed to the finishers T-shirt tent where you at last received your marathon T-shirt and finishers medal in the form of a key chain. A first-we could keep our timing chips which had a picture of a Hawaiian runner on it.
I was very happy with my finishing time of 4:28:54. With the money I carried along I bought a ticket back on the public bus to our place of residence instead of walking the mile and a half.
Cathy was happy to finish under 6 hours because she had recently completed a 100 mile race.
It was then a quick shower followed by the shuttle to the airport and the long, long flight back to Chicago. After talking with everyone at home we knew we could get back as far as Chicago and then did not know about the trip from Chicago to Syracuse with all the snow that had fallen while we were gone. The flights were all on time and we were back in Syracuse at 9 a.m. After seeing all of the snow we wished we were back laying on the beach of Waikiki in the warm sunshine.
January it is off to Clinton, Mississippi for state 44.
Happy Running,
Ruthie
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