23/50 Hawaii Big Island International Marathon

Aloha Friends!

Who doesn't love a good come-from-behind victory? The Big Island International Marathon turned out to be that small race thousands of miles away and thousands of dollars spent (you're welcome Hawaii tourism industry) that provided me with my first marathon win.

This was our first trip to Hawaii so we planned to do it right with 10 days between the Big Island and Kauai - B&Bs, Kona coffee IVs, no tops on our rental cars (even in the rain), picturesque hikes and runs, and due to our utter lack of time to do much planning, we went holoholo. "Holoholo" is the Hawaiian word for traveling for fun without destination, leisurely gallivanting, taking in life's pleasures, joy riding, and having a good time.

Quintessential Hawaii rainbow photo - Mahaulepu Heritage Trail in Kauai

The Painted Church in Captain Hook, HI (Master of Puppets album cover?)

While waiting for The Wife's flight to arrive in Kona on the Big Island, I made friends with the locals at Kona Brewing Company (www.konabrewingco.com). We get some of their beers on the mainland but they have a smattering of brewery-only seasonal beers worth checking out. After a night in Kona, we drove north along the coast and down the Kahala Mountain Road, taking in the coastal scenery that soon carved through a mountain range dotted with cattle farms and great views of the snowcapped summits of Mauna Kea (one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observations) and Mauna Loa (the world's largest volcano). We stopped for lunch at Merriman's (www.merrimanshawaii.com/waimea) for the Hawaiian staple of pork saimin (their take on ramen) and fish tacos before making it to Hilo for the race expo and a luau for its participants. Note to anyone who runs this race: skip the luau.

I sampled every malasada (Portuguese donut) I could get my hands on.

Mauna Kea - Who knew Hawaii had snow? Note the observatories.

That brings us to race morning. It's a 6am start for what is historically a rainy and humid race, but not this year; the forecast called for a high of 80F and no rain. Correction, it was 27C - even Hawaii loathes the imperial system and for that reason (along with others, I'm sure) has been involved in a secessionist movement longer than any other state! With a field of about 200 runners starting 15 minutes before the half marathon, I was able to pick out the likely leaders. This is a game The Wife and I often play before a race. Even with a small field size, there is always a ringer looking for a marathon win (see my post on the Vermont marathon about a runner I run into often who holds the world record for most marathon wins). They, however, probably never expected their competition to come from a guy wearing only a pair of hot pink, women's shorts he just bought at the expo the night before.

And for that reason, we went out fast...

The first 16 miles of the course were rather hilly before the remainder flattened out. I knew that and I had a sensible plan going into the race but that all changed when The Ghost's disappearing act was becoming inevitable. Who is The Ghost you ask? I had that same question during and after the race. I was getting updates from the locals along the course about how far ahead Billy, The Ghost, was. When I finished, Billy was the only name on many lips, and I had several people congratulate me for just beating Billy. Billy Barnett happens to be a Big Island resident who is well-known in ultra running circles, not only for his nearly inhuman abilities on the running trails, but also his introduction to the world through his role in the book, Born to Run, known therein as Billy "Bonehead" Barnett. He later received the nickname "The Ghost" by winning the 2010 Big Island International Marathon and then disappearing before anyone could congratulate him.

If the first 6 miles were a challenge to keep up with Billy and one other runner, the miles that followed became downright depressing. I was well-trained (averaging 72 miles / week for 12 weeks and doing Crossfit two nights per week) and I had no psychosomatic injuries at the start line (this was a first). You would think I would have been faster having just shaved my one-and-a-half-year-old, 5+ inch beard. So why did I feel horrible? It's interesting how one's perspective changes when hope disappears and then reappears. I went into this race knowing I had a chance to win it, a chance that dissipated as I fell further behind with each mile until I could no longer see The Ghost. However, something incredible happened just as I was ready to give up at mile 23: I saw him and I was closing in on his 4-5 minute lead. At this point, I told myself it was still possible to win and that I didn't come here not to try. I took the lead just after mile 25 and held it to the finish. The photographs show an exhausted and slightly bewildered me while The Wife looked as if she had just won the race herself! Even she had written me off early and was floored that I pulled it off in the final stretch...she had just told Billy,  "you've got this, no problem"! You can see how my splits began to fade and then pick for the last few miles here: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/720570424

What did I win, you ask? Various products like BioAstin (www.itakebioastin.com) (this stuff appears to be all the rage in Hawaii and with endurance athletes but curiously is not approved by the FDA), Kona coffee, and gift certificates from various local businesses: the botanical gardens (www.worldbotanicalgardens.com), the local running store (owned by a Chicago guy!) (www.bigislandrunningcompany.com), and Hawaii's equivalent of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (www.bigislandcandies.com/BIC). We were interviewed by the paper and decided to use the article as a means for announcing that we are expecting a son in August/September, our third child (three under the age of three) (http://westhawaiitoday.com/sports/local-sports/hilo-marathon-brunette-grabs-victory-out-thin-air). When the paper came out the next morning, our B&B brought it down for all the guests to see. The proprietor had joked when we checked in that I had better win the race so they could promote the B&B as a place that winners stay. Later at the beach, a woman recognized The Wife...and then me! 

The rather large photo and article that ran in the paper

There are two things you should take away from this post and our Hawaii visit: 1. Running, like everything else, really is an issue of mind over matter. With the right attitude, anything is possible. 2. Kona coffee is just coffee. It's good. But it does not, in any discernible way, justify the premium you'll pay for it. 

Getting lei'd at the awards ceremony

Hawaii - The Wife's Perspective

We weren’t even supposed to go to Hawaii this year. We had talked about, dreamed about, and even invited another couple to go with us to Alaska over the summer for the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon. Polar opposite destinations, right? It’s our five year anniversary this year so we wanted to do something big and Alaska was calling. But then I found out that we could expect to welcome a third little person into our world in August and all of a sudden a trip to nowhere to hike two months before delivery sounded like a very bad idea. Especially since I have a habit of going into labor early. So we did some research and quickly determined that there happened to be a marathon on the Big Island when I’d only be a few months along and much more comfortable. We promised Grandma that our days of asking for overnight babysitting were numbered, since she had already made it clear that if we ever had three watching them all would be out of the question, and she agreed to one last hurrah. Grandmas are The. Best.

We decided to do the marathon first, rather than as the end of our trip, so we flew into to the Big Island. We were on different flights (the consequence of using miles to book one of them) so Mike had a few hours to get to know the lay of the land before he had to pick me up. I was totally jealous. We flew into Kailua-Kona, so on Saturday we had to make the trip to Hilo, on the other side of the island, for packet pick-up. We took the long (and very beautiful) route, getting to the expo just in time for Mike to get his packet and pick up a pair of pink ladies’ running shorts. Because why not? Mike vacillated a bit on them but I encouraged him to go for it and stand out.

We stayed, as we usually try to, at a small B&B (http://www.halekaihawaii.com/). It was just a few miles from the Start/Finish and actually almost on the route itself. We had a little suite with our own lanai overlooking the harbor where you could almost always see one or more humpback whales surfacing and playing. It was wonderful.

When we got to the Start, Mike sized up the field, as usual. He immediately identified a youngish guy with dark hair as his only competition. I wrote him off because he was carrying water (you almost never see serious marathoners carry water). After the runners took off, I jumped into my car to find some much-needed coffee. According to Yelp there was a single coffee shop open (http://www.justcruisincoffee.com/), so it was easy to decide where to go. And then I headed straight up the road to approximately Mile 6. I had planned to go in to the 4 Mile Scenic Route a bit further, but when I started the drive I realized that it’s quite tight and it would be easier and more comfortable to keep the car on the main road. I didn’t want to have to end up parking somewhere where I’d be in the way of any runners. Already by Mile 6, Mike was in second place, almost 40 seconds behind the guy in the lead. Who was, of course, the guy carrying water who Mike had pointed out (turns out he’s an ultramarathoner, and those guys often DO carry water given that, well, they usually go so much farther). My spot also allowed me to see the runners after they turned around at the botanical gardens and started heading south again (about Mile 9.5), which made it quite an easy and comfortable spectating spot. There was also a rooster in the next yard to join in on my cheering for everyone who passed, which I loved.

From there I jumped into the car and drove a few miles down the road, to about Mile 14, then on to Mile 19.5, which was also Mile 22 after another turnaround. For spectating purposes, I love, love, love these small races that don’t shut down all the local roads (though I know it can be frustrating and sometimes scary as a runner). I vastly prefer marathons like this one, where you can more or less drive ahead of your runner the entire time, pull off, and see him as many times as you have the patience (and lungs) for. Of course, the trade-off for the runners is that there are far fewer people out there to cheer you on, but I saw at least another person or two every time I stopped, which was encouraging.

At Mile 19.5 I clocked that the first place runner was over 4 ½ minutes ahead of Mike, which is just a tremendous lead. At Mile 22 I even congratulated him and told him he had it. When Mike ran past a few minutes later I pointed out that he could just see #1 off in the distance, but he was pretty far down the road. 

There was nothing left to do but head to the Finish. At around 2:45 in, I started watching the clock, and at 2:50 I started getting really nervous. Mike had hoped to finish by 2:50, and I still hadn’t seen the first place guy yet! Finally I saw the bike pacer coming down the road… and right behind him I could see bright pink shorts! I never would have recognized Mike so early if he hadn’t been wearing them. At that point, I kind of lost my mind. I couldn’t see #1 but I assumed they had to be sprinting together for the finish, and that Mike could lose his lead at any second as he came down the Finish. I just know I was jumping and screaming and making a general complete idiot of myself. But I didn’t care. At all. In the picture right after Mike finished (which took up ½ of the whole Sports page), I look completely shocked, even more so than Mike. But to be fair, he had had a few miles to get used to the idea that somehow #1 (who we quickly learned was Billy, as better described in Mike’s post) had dropped off and he had caught up; I had had merely moments to process this information. It was, without exaggerating, one of the most exhilarating and emotional moments of my life. It was second only, I think, to the doctor announcing that my second child was a girl, when I had in my heart just known I was having another boy.

We stayed in Hawaii for another week, between the Big Island and Kauai, and we did lots of things and lots of nothing. You really can’t go wrong in Hawaii, no matter what you do. Or don’t do. Looking back now, having been home for two weeks, my sharpest memories are certainly of the marathon. Other things were really great, too, of course – seeing all the stars at night on Mauna Kea, taking a helicopter over the lava flow on the Big Island, the various hikes we took, exploring cliffs, hitting the beach, eating tons and tons of papaya, Mike’s speeding ticket (ok, maybe that one wasn’t so great)… I could go on. But you really only came here for the running story anyway ;)