30th Windward Half Marathon

Yesterday we completed another half-marathon.  It was "Holokiki O 'Alele" - the 30th Windward Half Marathon to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii - Windward Clubhouse.  It is a relatively small race with 325 finishers this year.  We're not sure of the meaning of the Hawaiian phase since none of our reliable dictionaries could come up with a definition.

Since the race was in Kailua we decided to bike the 2.5 miles to the start line.  It's not often that we get the chance to wake up an hour before the race, get dressed, "park", and are able to wander to the start line five minutes before the gun.

The course started and ended at Kailua Intermediate School and took us through familiar neighborhoods around Kailua.  In true Hawaiian fashion (meaning some things are a little different here than the mainland) we weren't really sure where the actual start was (when should we start our watches?), volunteers needed to point us to key turns or else we would surely go the wrong direction, the runners would sporadically cross the street en masse way before a turn in the route (distance runners are like lemmings), and there was no water for the first few miles but at some points there were two water stops within 1 mile.  Oh, and R's GPS said the course was 13.25 miles, if she assumed the correct start line.

Due to the lack training, A started to feel pretty lousy by mile 5 and finished the race by shuffling along.  He still finished the race in a respectable (but not to him) 1:58.  R felt pretty good throughout the race and as usual found some folks to chat with along the way.  She finished in 2:14 (for 13.25 miles, she would argue, not 13.1!).

The reward was yummy fluffy pancakes and a veggie frittata at our favorite breakfast place - Moke's.

And then a slow bike ride back home.