What a weekend! Les and I each had a race which meant early mornings both days. I ran my first official 10k race Saturday morning - the 19th Annual Ford Island Bridge 10k.
Ford Island was the epicenter of the attack on December 7, 1941. Its seaplane base had
dozens of long-range PBY patrol bombers capable of locating the Japanese fleet after the attack. Along her coast were moored seven of the Pearl Harbor fleet’s nine battleships. It is still an active military base today. It is in the middle of the harbor.
I left Hawaii Kai around 5:30 Saturday morning. Parking was at Aloha Stadium and I wasn't really sure where I was going. I was parked and at the meeting area by 6:15, which gave me plenty of time to hang out, use the port-o-potty, etc. Les left before I did and rode his bike to the start. The bridge was open to traffic until about 6:30, so we all hung out in a field. I made sure I was on the outside edge of the group so I could see Les when he rolled in. About 6:50, there he was.
As I was waiting for the start, one of Les' co-workers, Harris, stepped in front of me. He is one of those naturals who never trains but is always way faster than me. He usually trains about 3 weeks for the Honolulu Marathon! Don't you just love people like that?
At promptly 7:00 the gun was off and away we went over the Ford Island Bridge. This was a double climb that helped spread the runners out. My legs felt good and my one hope was sub 1 hour.
I wore my fuel belt, but only carried one 8 ounce bottle instead of two and that was a mistake! The sun was beating down the entire time and there was no breeze. There were water stops at mile 2 and mile 4, I hadn't planned on stopping, but I had to. I walked through both water stops. The heat definitely affected me, I felt slightly nauseated a couple of times so I took short walk breaks. My average heart rate was 156 with a max of 167, that's high for me!
I hit the 6 mile mark at 59:36, so I knew I wouldn't have a sub 1 hour, but I pressed on back up and over the bridge and finished strong across the finish line.
Gun time 1:01:40, chip time 1:01:25. 9:53 pace, 11/65 in age group and 632/1750 overall.
I've read this several places, and completely agree, the 10k is a tough race! You really have to manage your pace because it is just long enough to really hurt. I can honestly say that I did not train for this race. I've been running and cycling, but I haven't done any speed work or focused at all on this distance. So I'm very happy with my time. Les had a water bottle at the finish line for me, after a couple of drinks, I poured the rest on my head.
The race organizers did a great job with post race refreshments - water, chocolate milk, yogurt, bananas, orange slices, Popsicles, Starbucks, and Red Bull.
I was up even earlier on Sunday morning for the
40th Annual Tantalus Time Trial.
It was my turn to volunteer/cheer and Les' turn to race! I worked the registration table and it was crazy. We had 83 people registered as of Saturday night and ended up with 92. Those nine people made for a crazy 45 minutes at the registration table along with about 30 racers who hadn't picked up their bibs the day before.
It was pitch black when I got there at 5:00 a.m. but our race director, Atomman, had us covered. I wore a headlamp and had several battery operated lanterns. When I finally looked up from the table, I realized the sun had come up. Les was rider number 52. The race started at 7:00, with riders going out every 30 seconds.
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| Before... |
The race ended at the top of Tantalus and the riders rode down the Round Top side, so there was no way I could see Les. I hung out with the volunteers, taking pictures. We decided this stray dog would be the new Tradewinds Cycling Team mascot.
Les rode the
4.5 mile segment, with 1,400' elevation gain in 26:46. This was two and half minutes faster than his previous best! He was 7/16 in his age group and 43/87 overall.
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| After! |
Atomman and his wife, Karen, provided a great spread for the post race celebration - fresh bread and bagels, oranges, chocolate milk, water and they even had a cake since it was the 40th edition of the race. Atomman also had party favors and they took some fun group shots.
And now we're looking forward to a weekend with no races!
Does your spouse/significant other run with you or do any kind of races? How do you support each other and make it work on race weekends? Do you ever volunteer for events that you're not racing?
