Honolulu

The Honolulu marathon was a great exercise in humility today.  I seeded smoothly enough but as soon as the fireworks started things I felt myself working too hard.  I saw a bunch of familiar faces through the downtown loop and settled into something near 6:30 pace by the return to Ala Moana.  The stretch through Waikiki and around Kapiolani park seemed to take a big toll, I felt tired well before mile 10 was in sight.  Then, just when I began harboring some real doubt, the headwinds kicked in on Kalanianaole.  I'm not sure why but this wound up coinciding with a few stretches of "I feel good" so I somehow managed to get out to the turnaround only about a minute behind Mark and Joel, two local residents both on pace for a 2:50 finish.

Manoa Falls without much water

The loop in Hawaii Kai was a welcome relief as headwind turned into tailwind and running quickly became much easier.  The stretch home, however, seemed to coincide with a few fluctuations, sometimes I felt like I could push, other times I felt a struggle to hold it all together.

Nuuanu overlook at the end of Pauoa Flats trail

 The final climb up Diamond Head was a big challenge.  I was gu'd up but somehow I couldn't get the wheels to turn very well and it seemed to take a long time to reach the top.

The Goddess named this banyon the "banging tree"

 The downhill and final kilometer to the finish went by reasonably smoothly.  I picked it up a bit but wound up a second or two behind a marine who deservedly got all of the glory at the tape.

Kanikapila

The rest of the day was spent helping Ikaika in his quest to down 26 beers to celebrate his 2nd marathon.  We are off to the shack to finish off the 26/26 challenge.

NOTE:  The photos have absolutely nothing to do with the race but are from the trip so far.