3 + miles in and still smiling… and with a shirt on

look there’s the guy… stud

11 miles in and still smiling

20 +… where’s the smile muscle man?

there it is

Hurray!!!

pretty sure if I had passed through that walk away I would have been transported to some Japanese bizzarro universe.

Officially I ran 26.2 miles in 4:57.42.  According to my Garmin I ran 26.74 miles in 4:58.35.  The real point is that I’ll never do either again, at least not in one day.  If you’re lucky you may catch me running a half marathon or home town 5k race to cure this or feed them.  Running the race was a great big check mark for me.  It was a huge part of my “Don’t just turn 30, kick its ass campaign.”  Running a marathon is something I think everyone should go after at least once.  To be completely honest it is also something that anyone can do.  I did it without training for it; Dustin got through it and trained less, Eliza pulled one off while on deployment in Iraq, and what seemed like thousands of untrained Japanese people finished the race dressed as their favorite Nintendo characters (not to mention I saw an elderly gentleman running it barefoot in traditional Hawaiian attire – spear in hand).  On that note, I kicked both Mario and Luigi’s asses.  Which in my opinion, is pretty good considering all that those two have been through in their quest to rid the Mushroom Kingdom of the nasty likes of Bowser.  

I had many experiences both positive and negative during my 26.2 (or 26.7, but who’s counting) trek across the southern coast of Oahu.  The most positive came in my final accent up Diamond Head.  Somewhere between mile 24 and 25 I was feeling pretty beat and in the middle of my run walk challenge to just finish.  While walking a female spectator, sitting in a lawn chair with a beer in hand shouted, “Go get it muscle man, finish hard.”  I couldn’t let her down and took off on a good run.  Thanks lady, whoever you were. 

In general the spectators were awesome.  They handed out fruit, passed on words of encouragement, and kept the race positive.  Whenever I had the chance I high fived whoever I could and tried to feed into their positive energy.  If not for the support of strangers throughout the race I would have come in around 6 hours – nowhere near under 5. 

I think the most negative aspect of the race was the course itself.  It was flat, not too much scenery, and generally pretty boring.  If you don’t live in Hawaii don’t go out of your way to schedule a vacation around running this particular Marathon with the idea that you are going to stumble upon some great views.  There were some pretty cool moments; a dark and quiet downtown, watching the fog come off the mountains in Hawaii Kai, and even glancing for a moment at the top of Diamond Head to catch some surfers in the Pacific.  The scenery was ok, not what you’d expect Hawaii to deliver. 

Will I ever run a Marathon again?  Probably not, but they also say to never say never.  My wife and son seem to motivate me to do silly things daily.  Should you run one?  Yes, if you haven’t done if before.  If you are a little afraid do it anyway.  If you think you are untrained do it anyway.  Sign up 8 months ahead while the early bird rates are available and throw caution into the wind.  What the worst that could happen?