Race Report--Kauai Marathon: Marathon #24/State #23

Quick 'n dirty: Kauai Marathon, Sunday, Sept 2, 2012.  6:55:53, marathon #24, state #23

OMG. If you like hills, heat, hills, humidity, trade winds, hills, pop-up showers, beautiful scenery, hills, feral chickens, hills, Dean Karnazes, hills, counting smooshed frogs on the road, hula girls, tribal drummers, and big-ass friggin' HILLS, this is the race for you!

After doing tourist stuff in Honolulu (one island over, for those unfamiliar with Hawaiian geography,) wandering around Waimea Canyon, the Kauai Coffee plantation, Kilauea Point (not to be confused with the volcano on the Big Island,) and hanging out at beaches looking for sea turtles (saw 5 swimming around) and monk seals (saw one snoozing on the beach in the middle of dozens of people,) lunch with Maniacs, and dinner with Penguin/Dead Larry James and his wife, we had to take a break from honeymoonin' to get up and run a marathon (half-marathon for Ron. He's not as dumb as I am.) We were bused a couple of miles down to the shopping center that served as the start line. After standing around for a while (they had a great spread there: coffee, sports drink, water, bagles and shmear,) Ron and I separated to our respective places in the pack. I found one of the new Maniac/Fanatic friends I'd met the afternoon before at lunch, Maureen, who decided she would get me to the turnoff point, which was mile 10.8. Those miles went the fastest out of my whole day. Our first ginormous hill came between miles 5 and 6. Ron's Garmin said it was at 13% grade. We got our first of two rain showers of the day around the same time Maureen and I hit this hill. It rained moderately hard for about half an hour. Wet socks aren't fun for me. We went into the Tunnel of Trees, which would have been nice to block the sun if we had needed it. It kept a little bit of the rain off of us for a mile or so.

The next big hill I specifically remember was a bit after 10 miles. At about 10.5, Maureen, who chats with everyone when she runs, asked a random girl if she was doing the half or the full. The girl replied, "The half. We're ALL halfers--the full marathon turned off up the road." Ummm, NO. She insisted it was so. Luckily, I had stuffed a copy of the course map/directions in my waist pack, and it confirmed that I was still on course, after finding out what road I was on from a local. Panic receded, heart rate returned to normal. I sadly turned right as Maureen turned left at the split, and proceeded to climb another big ass hill that went on for about half a mile. I got to see the fast people, including the lead female, coming down the same hill as I was going up since this was part of the out-and-back (with a lollipop in the middle.) Everyone was awesome, giving us thumbs up. I mostly walked that hill. Had a nice downhill around mile 13ish, when I heard in front of me, "Go Maniac!! All right!!" It was Dean Karnazes, one of the race ambassadors. So I hollered, "Go Dean!! Wooo hooo!" because I am a dork :) Some more downhill, and then came Mile 15, the start of the lollipop section.

I honestly did not think I was going to make it up Mile 15, mentally or physically. It. Just. Kept. Going. Up. It was long. It was steep. It was painful. I gave up any pretense of running and walked up. I stopped a few times to stretch out my back and my hamstrings and calves. I squatted down a couple of times to stretch my quads and catch my breath. I ended up sitting on a guard rail for about 5 minutes, trying to regroup and convince myself that I COULD finish this marathon, that I HAD TO finish this marathon. I can't exactly just go back to Hawaii whenever, pick up another race. Failure was not an option. I had a little over 4 hours left. I took a hit of albuterol and pushed myself off the guard rail and continued to climb Mount Mile 15. I made it to mile 16. My mile split time: 23:52. At least I got to go down the way I came up. My legs were hurting kind of everywhere by mile 20, and by mile 21, I decided just to walk the rest of the course, testing a run every once in a while. Nope. Of course, then I had to climb another big uphill at mile 21. I just wanted to sit down again. There was no guard rail here along the side of the highway. At 21.5, I noticed an abandoned aid station. They had left Heed (nasty stuff that made me feel like I was going to barf every time I drank it before running,) on two folding chairs. I moved all the cups over to one chair and sat down for another 5 minutes or so. And then the second rain shower hit, this one for about 20 minutes or so. I wanted to cry. But the rain quit, and the sun came out full-force, and I got to the top of the hill, and before me lay the gorgeous Pacific Ocean in all its glory, and I felt like it was going to be all right after that. I asked 8 lb, 6 oz Baby Jesus (points for reference!) to help me finish the last f*&%ing 4.2 miles, and set off at a trot down the hill, which hurt like a mother, so I decided to just walk really fast. Support from the people driving the other way down the highway, honking and cheering out their windows, helped a LOT.

I managed to power walk my way to the aid station at mile 25.5ish, got high-fives from the medical staff, and promptly got a charley horse-type cramp in my right hamstring, just above the knee. I'm pretty sure I dropped an F-Bomb or three as I tried to walk. Really?? Less than a mile from the finish and THIS?? I tried to stretch it out, and it hurt more. A medical person ran over t see if I was okay. She pushed and massaged the back of my thigh until I felt like I could walk again without feeling like a hot knife was being shoved into my leg. They offered me a bag of ice, but I declined. I just wanted to be done. Lost another 3-5 minutes messing with that. I limped on down the road, stopping to take a picture of some pretty yellow hibiscus flowers, turned down a road indicated to me by the most adorable little boy (I asked for a high-five, and he took a running start and JUMPED into it, lol,) and Behold! The finish line!! The ocean was to my right, and some beach-goers were very supportive (Ohmigosh! You're soooo close! How are you feeling?" "I feel like I'm gonna barf." "Go ahead and barf--you've earned it!!") In front of the finish line, I see Ron and my Fanatic friends Maureen and Eric, who are waiting for me and another Maniac friend, Ed, who was about half an hour behind me. Ron wants a finishing picture, so I stuck my tongue out at him :)  Some local high school cheerleaders are dancing and cheering, so I danced with them for a few seconds and got even more high fives. Got my medal, a cold wash rag, and a bottle of water, and collapsed in the shade.

By far the hardest course I've done, but one of the most beautiful.

And I lost count of the smooshed frogs (bufo) on the course at 33 :-P

This has GOTTA be some kind of record

It's October 16, and I'm already burned out on Christmas music :-P They set up all the Christmas stuff at work last night after I left.

It's gonna be a looooooong holiday season.

In other news, I'm running Mount Desert Island Marathon in Maine this weekend. I'm leaving for the airport at about 4:45 AM. If I go to bed right this second, I'll get about four hours of sleep :)

RR: Mardi Gras Marathon

Friday, 2/22 - Flew into New Orleans Friday afternoon. Kay got in a bit before me, so she waited for me at the airport, and we rode over to the hotel. Headed to the expo, which was about 1/2 mile from our hotel, and wandered around there for a while. We met Mary, Dudley's wife, but Dud wasn't there yet. We wandered around a bit and I spent WAY too much money, including on this cute little guy:

Then we headed off to the French Quarter. We took a carriage ride, which was cool, and very informative.

We wandered around Bourbon Street for a while, then we decided to find something to eat. We were basically dragged into an Italian restaurant called Tony Moran's, which had excellent food, so it was all good. We saw people walking around with these huge drinks called Handgrenades. Kay asked someone what was in it, but all they could tell us was it was melon-y tasting and really strong. I decided that I would have one after the marathon. We wandered around a bit more, then headed back to the hotel.

Saturday, 2/23 - Kay and I hung around the hotel most of the morning. Jan from Mississippi and her daughter Caroline, who were staying in the same hotel, dropped in on us for a few minutes, then they went to their room. Kay and I headed back to the expo to meet up with Dud for our group tour. We finally met Dud, and ran into Mary again, and Geri and Moose, so we chatted with them for a while. Then Dud, Jan, Caroline, Jan's other daughter and her hubby, one of Jan's friends from Joy of Running and her daughter, Kay and I took off for lunch. We went to a place called Mother's; the line was pretty long, but it was worth it. The food was FAB-U-LOUS. I had a debris po'boy. Sooooo delicious! After some bread pudding, we went on our Dudley-led tour of the French Quarter.

We went to Jackson Square,



we saw the Faulkner house, which is now a bookstore,

some awesome architecture,


the Lafitte Blacksmith Shop, which is one of the oldest buildings in New Orleans,


and we visited a voodoo temple. Dudley did a great job; if you ever get a chance to tour New Orleans with him, jump at it! We finished up with beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde. Yummmm. Everybody else took off back to their hotels, but Kay, Dudley, and I walked over to the Mississippi River and walked along it for a while. We walked over to the Riverwalk Mall, bummed around for a bit, then we dropped Dud back at the Hilton, and Kay and I went back to our hotel.

Sunday, 2/24 - Race day! We met Jan and Caroline in the lobby and walked over to the start at the Superdome. We ran into Dud and then lined up to start.

We spotted Moose and Geri, but couldn't get to them easily. I ran with Kay for the first five minutes, then sent her on her way. I planned on quite a few more walk breaks than she would be doing ;) I caught up with Moose and Geri and ran with them for nine or ten miles. They told me about their Mardi Gras parties and their Katrina stories, and about the sights on the course. They're so much fun to hang with. And running with Moose is like running with a rock star! Everybody yelling out his name at water stops and such. He even stopped for a martini on the course. He's quite the crowd favorite! I couldn't keep up with their run pace any longer, so I let them go on just before the halfway point.




I started walking more than I should, but it got me through. I met a Maniac and a 50 Stater once we got into City Park, and hung with them for a while. Both very nice people. I really should become more active on those lists, especially the 50 States list. I stopped to get my picture taken with the local Hashers in red dresses, who offered me my choice of beer or water (I took the water--still had about 7 miles to go.)


I picked up a guy who had run Cowtown in Fort Worth the DAY BEFORE. And he had driven down from South Bend, IN, to do it. He's usually a 3:30 marathoner, so he was having a REAL bad day. He eventually dropped back, and wound up finishing about 10 minutes behind me.


I managed to pass a few people in the last few miles, and I finished in 6:28:47. It was a nice course. The weather was cool and overcast for the first hour and a half or so, then it warmed up and the sun came out, and the back half of the course wasn't too shady. I got a hellacious sunburn because I forgot my Holy Grail sunblock at home and just had some inferior stuff. Won't make THAT mistake again! I'm also thinking of trying a visor to shield at least the top part of my face from the sun.

(No, I'm not drunk. Just loopy from 26.2 miles...)

Shirt and medal. BLING!!

Sunday night - After a shower and a nap, Kay and I headed back to Bourbon Street. We found a steak house, and I found a Handgrenade. For recovery purposes only, of course ;) Quite tasty, but very strong.

We wandered up and down the French Quarter (working out the lactic acid,) and I got my palm and tarot cards read. Interesting....Then it was back to the hotel to crash, and we flew back home on Monday morning.

Monday was my mom's birthday, so since it was just us, I got a small cake. Tuesday it was back to school, Wednesday back to work, and Thursday I got The Plague :-P I currently have a sore throat and practically NO voice. But otherwise, I feel fine.

Cheers!

Got Delaware?

I don't. But I will by the end of the year. Thanks to Nancy, I've got my fifth marathon on the schedule for 2008. That is, it'll be my fifth provided that, A) Bar Harbor actually happens--the girl I'm planning on going with has been MIA for the past month; and B) I actually finish the four marathons I have on tap before Delaware. You know, without dying and all...

So I put a feeler out to Kay, who's also collecting the states. We'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, I guess I should be worrying about Mardi Gras, which is but three short weeks away. That one's going to be fun, anyway. I *heart* New Orleans, and we're staying an extra day beforehand to do some sightseeing. We'll get to meet some Penguins, eat some awesome food, and run on an historic race course that's flat flat flat. Can't wait!