Okay, I am now just finally starting to get caught up with the last couple weeks of my life and this post is part of that. While we were in Hawaii, I ran the Maui Christmas 10k Fun Run in Kahului.
A few months back I thought it would be fun to enter a race while we were away. The only race I could find was this one, and it was a fun run put on by the local run club – Valley Isle Road Runners – and was a bit of a year-end social it seemed. I emailed to see if they’d mind a Canadian taking part and all was good so I signed up. My friend’s, husband’s mom (who was also travelling with us) is also a runner, so she signed up too.
The race fell a full week into our trip, so by race day I had had plenty of time to eat tonnes, drink lots and imbibe in every way possible. Ha ha. I didn’t exactly eat light the night before, so I was a bit worried the old stomach monster might rear his head on race morning. I set my alarm for way-too-early-for-vacation and was up, showered and dressed while it was still dark. The race was about an hour away from Napili Bay where we were staying, so we had to leave at what felt like the ass-crack of dawn.
Just before we left, I was trying to release the parking break and accidentally popped the hood. While I was jumping out of the car to fix it, I jammed my left toe REALLY HARD into the bottom of the door. I was afraid to look down because I was pretty certain my toenail would be gone. Luckily it was still there, but not in great shape… It hurt really badly for most of the drive to Kahului and I was a bit worried I might not be able to run.
When we got to the park I put on my socks and runners and luckily the toe felt okay. Phew! We headed off to grab our race numbers and got ready to line up and start.
The race was pretty casual and the director (?) made a short announcement at the start to tell us which direction to go in when we started. The 5k went one direction, we went the other…
Luckily there were lots of nice shirtless men at this race so E and I had lots to look at before the gun went off. Maybe that’s just how they do it in Hawaii, but I certainly don’t see many hot shirtless guys at the races I usually go to! Thanks guys!
Anyhow, the gun went off and so did we. We started off down the road and pretty quickly I realized that we were at the very back of the pack. I mean, very last place! Ha ha. Other than during my training, I can’t say I’ve been in very last place too often. I think it’s a function of the race being made up of mostly club members and to be honest, they all looked like pretty good, fit, fast runners. I wasn’t worried, I like being the caboose!
Not far into the race it began to pour. Like Vancouver X100 kind of rain! I had to take my sunglasses off because I just couldn’t see. But it was still warm, so that was okay. It only lasted for a short while and then it cleared up and was dry the rest of the way. We wound our way around the airport mostly on bike/walking trails. Not much of a view considering we were right by the ocean, but a nice easy route nonetheless…
E and I had decided to take it easy for this race and that’s just what we did. We chatted a bit with other runners when they seemed willing and otherwise plodded along with no real goals in mind. This was the longest run E had done in awhile (since recovering from injury) and so I was really happy that she was able to do it and finish the race.
So here we are just after the race, pretty tired, but feeling good…
There haven’t been any results posted, but Garmin tells me we finished the run in 1:12:35. Definitely one of my slower 10k’s in the last while, but considering I was on holiday I was happy with it. Heck, I was just excited to do a run while we were away. One day I’d like to travel specifically for a race, so for now this will satisfy that craving. Ha ha.
This was also the race that where the photographer captured my awesome elephant legs. Yuck! But, the other race photos were pretty cool…
**Photo courtesy of Aubrey Hord
This is just a copy of a proof, so please excuse the large “o” across my chest.
Anyhow, it was a fun race and I’m glad i had the chance to take part. The running club hosted an awesome pot-luck afterwards so we had a quick nibble, chatted with a few other runners and then it was back off to vacation-land for us.
Thanks for the great race VIRR!
Okay, I am now just finally starting to get caught up with the last couple weeks of my life and this post is part of that. While we were in Hawaii, I ran the Maui Christmas 10k Fun Run in Kahului.
A few months back I thought it would be fun to enter a race while we were away. The only race I could find was this one, and it was a fun run put on by the local run club – Valley Isle Road Runners – and was a bit of a year-end social it seemed. I emailed to see if they’d mind a Canadian taking part and all was good so I signed up. My friend’s, husband’s mom (who was also travelling with us) is also a runner, so she signed up too.
The race fell a full week into our trip, so by race day I had had plenty of time to eat tonnes, drink lots and imbibe in every way possible. Ha ha. I didn’t exactly eat light the night before, so I was a bit worried the old stomach monster might rear his head on race morning. I set my alarm for way-too-early-for-vacation and was up, showered and dressed while it was still dark. The race was about an hour away from Napili Bay where we were staying, so we had to leave at what felt like the ass-crack of dawn.
Just before we left, I was trying to release the parking break and accidentally popped the hood. While I was jumping out of the car to fix it, I jammed my left toe REALLY HARD into the bottom of the door. I was afraid to look down because I was pretty certain my toenail would be gone. Luckily it was still there, but not in great shape… It hurt really badly for most of the drive to Kahului and I was a bit worried I might not be able to run.
When we got to the park I put on my socks and runners and luckily the toe felt okay. Phew! We headed off to grab our race numbers and got ready to line up and start.
Anyhow, the gun went off and so did we. We started off down the road and pretty quickly I realized that we were at the very back of the pack. I mean, very last place! Ha ha. Other than during my training, I can’t say I’ve been in very last place too often. I think it’s a function of the race being made up of mostly club members and to be honest, they all looked like pretty good, fit, fast runners. I wasn’t worried, I like being the caboose!
Not far into the race it began to pour. Like Vancouver X100 kind of rain! I had to take my sunglasses off because I just couldn’t see. But it was still warm, so that was okay. It only lasted for a short while and then it cleared up and was dry the rest of the way. We wound our way around the airport mostly on bike/walking trails. Not much of a view considering we were right by the ocean, but a nice easy route nonetheless…
So here we are just after the race, pretty tired, but feeling good…
This was also the race that where the photographer captured my awesome elephant legs. Yuck! But, the other race photos were pretty cool…
**Photo courtesy of Aubrey Hord
This is just a copy of a proof, so please excuse the large “o” across my chest.
Anyhow, it was a fun race and I’m glad i had the chance to take part. The running club hosted an awesome pot-luck afterwards so we had a quick nibble, chatted with a few other runners and then it was back off to vacation-land for us.
Thanks for the great race VIRR!