2022 Year End Review

For as long as I’ve had this blog, I’ve published a list of goals at the beginning of each year.  At the end of the year, I review how I did.  This year, my results were mixed.  I didn’t feel like writing this post, but part of being goal-oriented is following up on your progress (or lack thereof).

Heal from Injuries

At the beginning of the year, I was healing from two injuries.  The first was a knee injury I suffered in the summer 2020.  I continued with an ambitious race schedule, and by the end of 2020 my knee was chronically inflamed.  For most of 2021, I couldn’t run, so I pivoted to race-walking.  By the end of 2021, I was able to run marathons again, but the knee still bothered me.

I’m happy to say that this injury is now completely healed.  It took half the year before I could run a marathon and not have any soreness in my knee the next day.  I’m continuing to do the exercises that helped me heal from this injury, but it hasn’t bothered me in the last six months.

The other injury I had at the start of the year was discomfort on the right side of my lower back that sometimes extended into my right leg.  At the beginning of the year, I had not seen the doctor yet.  I assumed at the time that this was an acute injury, such as a disk protrusion or possibly a herniation.  It turns out that it’s a chronic condition.  My lower back muscles are sometimes so tight that they pinch my sciatic nerve, which runs down the right leg.

This injury has plagued me all year.  At first, I was afraid to do any serious race-walk training.  After about two months of physical therapy, I improved enough that I was ready to begin training for the National Senior Games, where I was completing in two race-walk events.  That went well (more on that below).

While my sciatica got better, it never went away completely.  In September, I had a major flare-up.  At one point, I couldn’t even stand up straight without pain.  I had an MRI, which showed a synovial cyst in my L5/S1 joint.  An MRI early in the year showed a cyst in the same place.  Early in the year, it wasn’t a problem.  By September, it had grown to the point where it was impinging on a nerve root.

I eventually had a targeted cortisone injection that worked wonders.  For the next seven weeks, I was completely pain-free.  More recently, the pain has returned.  I sometimes have mild discomfort along the outside of my right thigh.  It feels like I have a tight or slightly painful hamstring, but there’s nothing wrong with the muscle.  It’s just a nerve impingement.

The good news is that this injury doesn’t prevent me from running and walking.  It turns out that it responds best to movement.  The more I run and walk, the less discomfort I have.  Instead of being an injury that prevents me from training, this one encourages me to keep training.

I’m still doing physical therapy to work on the tight muscles in my lower back.  It’s possible that the synovial cyst was grown again.  After my injection, the doctor said this is something that can come and go.  It’s something that’s more common with age.  I’m learning how to manage it, but it may be an ongoing concern.

I wish I could stop here, but I developed another injury during the year.  In May, I did a series of three marathons in five days.  During the first of those races, my left hamstring felt tight as I started running.  I ran cautiously during that race and in the next two races.  My hamstring didn’t get worse, but it also didn’t get better.

After that, I was training for the FANS 24-Hour Race, so I was deliberately running at a slow pace.  Running slowly, I felt fine.  It was never an issue during FANS, but two weeks later, I started to pick up the pace of my training runs.  When I did, I immediately felt my left hamstring again, but the discomfort wasn’t in the muscle.  It was in the tendon where my hamstring connects to my pelvis.

I’ve injured this same tendon before.  I knew from experience that it can take a long time to heal.  I’ve since learned that I could run without aggravating it, but I had to run at a slow pace and avoid any sudden accelerations.  Race-walking was more problematic.  Anything much faster than a casual walking pace was enough to aggravate it.

During the summer, I did the races I was already signed up for, but I did very little training in between.  At the Minnesota Senior Games, I abandoned any goal of being competitive and did the minimum necessary to qualify for the National Senior Games.  I came in last in my age group in every event, but that was good enough.  There were so few people in my age group that I could qualify for nationals just by finishing my events.

During the 10K run at the Minnesota Senior Games, I discovered I could run a little faster withing aggravating my hamstring tendon if I kept my stride as short as possible.  After that, I trained myself to run with short rapid strides.  Over the next few months, I gradually picked up my training.  My race times were slow, but they were improving, despite limited training.

More than once, I tripped during a race, and I had to absorb the shock of an awkward landing with my left leg.  Each time, I felt like it set back my recovery by about a month.  Fortunately, that hasn’t happened again since late September.

It’s not easy to recover from this injury once it becomes chronic.  I wasn’t sure at first if I would be forced to take a complete break from running, but I finally feel like I’ve turned the corner.  I felt a little soreness in this tendon during the first two miles of the Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon, when I was pushing hard to establish a fast pace.  I didn’t know how I would feel after that race, but I didn’t have any residual soreness the next day, and I haven’t noticed it in any of my recent training runs.

The best measure of my improvement is how fast I can walk without starting to feel soreness in this tendon.  At the end of the summer, I had to limit my walking pace to roughly 16:00 per mile.  More recently, I’ve brought my pace down to about 11:30 without any soreness.  For the time being, I’m only doing race-walking on a treadmill, because it allows me to control my pace carefully.  I’m picking up the pace in small increments, rather than walking as fast as I can.

For most of 2022, I was held back by at least one injury, but I’m going into the new year with a degree of optimism.  My sciatica doesn’t prevent me from training, the knee is fully healed, and the hamstring tendon has healed sufficiently that it’s no longer preventing me from picking up the pace of my training.  After two straight years where I didn’t feel like I could train, I may finally get back in shape.

Get Back in Shape

My next goal for 2022 was to get back in shape.  I usually define that by my ability to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  I used to be able to do that on any given weekend.  Racing at that level is mostly a function of training.  If you can’t do the training, you’re not going to be able to race as fast.

In 2021, my training was held back by injuries, but I still managed to qualify for Boston twice.  In November of 2021, I surprised myself by qualifying at the Philadelphia Marathon.  I consider that an “honest” course.  It’s a loop course, so it has no net elevation loss.  Later, I ran a faster time on a downhill course.

To get into good enough shape to qualify for Boston, you need to be able to train.  In the past, I’ve depended mostly on a high training volume, but that’s not usually enough.  I’ve also needed to do some form of speed work, whether that’s interval workouts, tempo runs, or a steady diet of shorter races.

I had hoped to heal completely from my injuries in time to do the necessary training to get back into shape.  That never happened.  My training volume picked up in May and June, but dropped off dramatically after the hamstring injury.  Since then, I’ve barely made it back to half of my usual training volume.  On top of that, speed work has been impossible.  If I wanted that tendon to heal, I had to avoid any fast training.

I did manage to run a Boston qualifying time in my last race of the year, but only because I was running on a course that descends 3,700 feet.  I never came close to qualifying on an “honest” course.  I’m not currently in good enough shape to break four hours on a flat course, which is something I used to take for granted.  I definitely fell short on this goal.

Get Back to a Lean Weight

I have a pretty good idea what my optimal weight for running is.  I can still race well if I’m two or three pounds over that weight, but any additional weight gain will result in slower race times.

At the start of the year, I was about six pounds over my optimal racing weight.  I was hoping to lose at least half of that weight, but to do that, I needed to increase my training volume.  I’ve never been able to lose weight through diet alone.  I’ve always depended on both diet and exercise, and getting enough exercise depended on being healthy enough to increase my training volume.  That never happened.

By the beginning of June, my weight was up a pound.  Then something unexpected happened.  After the FANS 24-Hour Race, I started to lose weight.  It wasn’t just weight loss during the race.  My weight continued dropping for the next week.  When the dust settled, I was four pounds lighter than I was before the race.  I’ve experienced the same thing before.  Sometimes, after a long endurance event, your metabolism remains elevated for several days.

It was tough to keep the weight off during the summer, because my training dropped off significantly.  Still, by the end of the summer, I had only gained back two of those pounds.

In the fall, my training picked up, but it was still only about half of what it was in 2019 and 2020.  As I started traveling out of state for more races, I started eating out more.  I’d gain a pound each time I went out of town for a weekend.  Between trips, I maintained my weight, but I never lost that pound.  By the time I returned from my last race of the year, I was two pounds heavier than I was at the start of the year.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have made getting healthy and losing weight two of my goals for the year.  Getting and staying healthy, increasing my training volume, and losing weight are all components of getting back in shape, but they’re inter-related.  Each of these goals was a means to an end.  The end goal is getting back in shape, and that’s a goal that will continue into 2023.

Strike a Balance Between Running and Race-walking

In the past, I’ve pivoted to race-walking whenever an injury prevented me from running.  When I was able to resume running, walking was no longer a priority.  I might still do some walking just to get more exercise, but I wouldn’t train to walk at a fast pace.  This year, I wanted to change that, and I think I did a reasonable job of it.

When it comes to marathons, I prefer to run them.  The motion of running feel more fluid, and I can finish a marathon faster that way.  When it comes to shorter races, I prefer to race-walk.  As a runner, I’m not particularly competitive at short distances.  As a race-walker, I can complete in my age group, even at a national level (more on that below). 

Over the course of the year, I ran more races than I walked, but I struck more of a balance in my training.  I tended to alternate between running days and walking days.  If you look at my total mileage, it skews pretty hard toward running mileage, but if you compare the number of days I ran at least a mile to the number of days I walked at least a mile, they were roughly equal.

I had good results at both disciplines.  As a race-walker, I was able to place in my age group in the National Senior Games.  As a runner, I was able to win an age group championship in a 24-hour race.

Running is good cross-training for walking, and walking is good cross-training for running.  In particular, running is the easier way to build endurance, while walking at a fast pace can be a good speed workout that also helps me run faster.  I’ve also found that race-walking develops the muscles I use most when running downhill.  Since I took up race-walking, I’ve had surprisingly good results in downhill races, even when I wasn’t in shape.

Run Some International Races

From 2010 through 2019, I finished marathons in at least two new countries every year.  That streak ended in 2020, when the pandemic forced me to cancel trips to eight different countries.  I didn’t run any international races in 2021, but I was hoping to do at least two this year.

At the beginning of the year, I was already signed up to run the Malta Marathon in March, and I was tentatively planning to run the Tallinn Marathon in September.  The Malta Marathon was cancelled.  I considered doing the Rio de Janeiro Marathon in June, but I decided to hold off on international travel until the U.S. dropped the requirement for a negative COVID test within one day of traveling home.  Instead, I waited until September, when I ran the Tallinn Marathon.

At the beginning of the year, I thought I might fit in one more international race later in the year, but that never worked out.  I chose to prioritize states over countries.  I only visited one new country this year, but that’s better than none.

Compete at a National Level in Race-Walking

At the start of the year, I was already signed up to do two race-walking events at the National Senior Games in May.  Based on my 5,000 meter time at the Minnesota Senior Games in 2021, I has reason to believe I could place in the top three in the 5,000.  I was also signed up for the 1,500.  I had never raced that distance before, and I had yet to do any serious training for it.  I optimistically set a goal of placing in the top eight, but I didn’t know if that was realistic.

Last January, I wrote that of all of my goals for 2022, this one is the most tenuous.  That’s mostly because my training fell off after my lower back problems started, and I didn’t know if I could resume training in time to get into peak shape.  Ironically, this was the goal I nailed.  I placed second in the 5,000 and fourth in the 1,500.

Make Progress on My 4th (and 5th) Circuit of 50 States

My final goal of 2022 was to make progress on my fourth (and fifth) circuits of marathons in all 50 states.  This was a somewhat soft goal.  I didn’t commit to a specific number of states.  Instead, my goal was to have at least one third of my marathons be in states I needed for my fourth or fifth circuit.

I ran a total of 25 marathons or ultras in 2022.  Those races included my fourth marathon in South Carolina, Connecticut, Nebraska, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Kansas.  I also ran my fifth marathon in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Nebraska, and Delaware.  That’s 11 out of 25 races that made progress toward this goal.

The Goals I Never Listed

No review of 2022 would be complete if I didn’t mention two other accomplishments.  Neither of these was among the goals I listed at the start of the year, but they’re two of my biggest accomplishments of the year.

I wasn’t originally planning on running the FANS 24-Hour Race this year.  I knew the 24-hour race was going to be a state championship event this year, but it wasn’t until about a month before the race that I learned there would be championships for age group winners, as well as the overall winners.  I didn’t have time to train properly for the race, but I signed up for it just a few weeks before the race, in hopes that I had enough experience in races like this to get to 100 miles, even without doing any specific training.

Experience counts for a lot.  With the right balance of slow running and brisk walking, I managed to run 101.34 miles in 24 hours.  That was enough to earn me the 24-hour state championship for men over 60.  Here’s a link to my race report, if you haven’t already read it.

My other unstated goal was to qualify for Boston.  I wasn’t in good enough shape to do it on a flat course, but my last race of the year was the Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon, which is a downhill race.  On this course, I managed to qualify for Boston with more than 13 minutes to spare.  By contrast, my fastest recent race on a flat course was almost 18 minutes too slow.  I knew I could run faster on this course, but I still didn’t expect be to 31 minutes faster.  This race ranks right up there with FANS as one of the highlights of the year.  Here’s a link to that race report.

That sums up 2022.  In a day or two, I’ll post my goals for 2023.

Race Report: 2022 Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon

On December 18, I ran the Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon on the Big Island.  I’ve run this same race twice before, most recently a year ago.  It’s a fast course, which gave me hope that I might be able to get a Boston qualifier for 2024, even though I’m not in shape right now.

Flights to Hawaii are expensive.  You don’t just fly there, run the marathon, and then fly home.  If I was going, I was going to spend a few days there.  The race wasn’t until Sunday, but I arrived on Wednesday, giving me three full days of sightseeing before the race.

As recently as a week before my trip, I thought I would have the opportunity to see two active volcanoes.  Kilauea was still erupting, and Mauna Loa started erupting at the end of November.  By December 10th, both volcanoes had stopped erupting.  I was disappointed that I wouldn’t see active lava flows, but I was able to pivot to other sightseeing options.

Wednesday, December 14

Delta has direct flights from Minneapolis to Honolulu, but I had to connect to a Hawaiian Airlines flight to get to Hilo.  My connecting flight was delayed, so I didn’t arrive in Hilo until almost 8:00 PM.  There’s a four-hour time difference between Minnesota and Hawaii, so to me it felt like midnight.

Having been to Hilo a year ago, I knew the layout of the airport.  Last year, it took me a while to find the Budget Rent-A-Car counter.  This year, I was able to walk straight to it.

I stayed at the same hotel where I stayed last year.  It was only a few miles from the airport, and I knew the way by sight.  I also knew where to park, so I didn’t have to waste time moving my car after checking in.

I keep my hotel room colder than most people would.  I can’t sleep if the room is too warm.  When I got to my room, I immediately turned down the thermostat.  I was tired, but I needed to give the room time to cool down before I could go to sleep.  After unpacking, I went to the hotel bar to unwind while I waited for my room to cool down.

Thursday, December 15

It wasn’t until Thursday morning that I opened the drapes and saw the view from my hotel room.  I had a room overlooking Hilo Bay.

I was on the top floor of the Mauna Loa wing of the hotel.  I was high enough that I could see over other parts of the hotel.  Looking to my left I could see Coconut Island.  In the distance, I could see Mauna Kea.

I was planning to be on the go all day, so I tried to pack up everything I might need before I left for breakfast.  I couldn’t shake the feeling I was forgetting something, but I didn’t know what it was.

For breakfast, I went to Ken’s House of Pancakes, which has interesting flavors of pancakes.  This was a restaurant recommended by one of my sisters.  I had their coconut pancakes.

After breakfast, I drove to the southern end of the island.  As I was driving, it started sprinkling.  Then I realized what I forgot.  I was supposed to check the forecast.  I was on the rainy side of the island, and my plans included a long hike.  Thankfully, the rain stopped after only a few minutes.

My first stop was Punalu’u Beach.  This is one of Hawaii’s black sand beaches.  The sand in most beaches consists of rocks and sea shells that have been ground up by the action of the waves.  Black sand beaches consist of ground up lava.

Next, I drove to South Point, which is the southernmost point in the United States.  I drove as far as I could, but after parking the car, I still had to walk about a quarter mile and then scramble over some rocks.  There aren’t any signs directing you where to go, so I let my phone direct me.  I went as far south as I could without going into the water, but my phone showed me just short of the southernmost point.  Then I looked up the timing of the tides.  I was there near high tide.  At low tide, the shoreline would be farther out.

While I was there, I found a message.

The beach that interested me the most was Papakōlea Green Sand Beach.  To get there, I had to hike for almost three miles.  First, I drove to the closest place I could park my car.  I was surprised to see how many cars were already parked there.  Were there really that many people willing to hike more than five miles (round trip) to get to this beach?  When I got out of the car, a man asked me if I was taking the shuttle or hiking?  I said I was hiking.  I was amazed that it was even possible to drive a vehicle over a trail that I had read was somewhat rugged.

As I started hiking, I discovered that there were multiple trails that all led to the same place.  The original trail, which stayed fairly close to the coast, would not have been drivable.  Now, there are also what appear to be ATV trails.  Was their “shuttle” an ATV?  No, it was a pickup with a high clearance.  Still, it had to have been a difficult drive.

Had I known in advance that I could get to this beach quicker, I might have done that, but I already planned my day around having enough time to do this hike.  Besides, I spent most of Wednesday sitting on airplanes, so I really needed to get some exercise.

The hike to the beach took almost an hour.  When I got within sight of the beach, I was up on a cliff overlooking the bay.  Then I realized getting down to the beach would be the most difficult part of the hike.

The climb down to the beach was steep, but I could see the easiest way down by following other hikers.

The green color comes from a mineral called olivine, which is high in iron and manganese.  There are only four green sand beaches in the world.  As a geology geek, it was worth going out of my way to see one of them.

I got lucky on the weather.  It didn’t rain at all while I was hiking.  I realized, however, that I forgot something else.  I left the hotel without applying any sunblock.  I didn’t notice the sunburn until later in the day.

After my hike, I drove to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which was on the way back to Hilo.  It rained heavily for about half of the drive, but the rain stopped by the time I got to the park.  After stopping at the visitor center to talk to one of the rangers, I went to the Kilauea Overlook.  There’s no longer any new lava entering the crater.  All you can see now is older lava and steam.

It wasn’t raining, but there were still dark clouds, so I didn’t do any hiking in the park.  Instead, I drove back to Hilo.

By the time I got back to Hilo, I had been hiking or driving for eight hours.  I stopped at the hotel to recharge until dinner time.  For dinner, I went to Cronie’s Bar & Grill, which was another restaurant recommended by my sister.  They have a pizza with Kalua pork & pineapple.

When I went to bed, I finally noticed the sunburn on the back of my neck.  My forearms were also pink, but they didn’t feel as irritated.  For the rest of my trip, I was more diligent about applying sunblock.

Friday, December 16

On Friday, I did some sightseeing north of Hilo.  After breakfast, I drove to Akaka Falls State Park, where they have a short trail loop leading to viewpoints for two waterfalls.  It was raining intermittently, and I could see a rainbow in front of me for most of the drive.  The first of the two waterfalls was ‘Akaka Falls.

The other waterfall was Kahuna Falls.  My view of Kahuna Falls was partially obstructed by the trees.

Next, I continued up the coast to see some scenic beaches.  I wanted to go to Hakalau Beach Park, but the road leading into the park was closed.  I suspect the road is impassible because of damage from a recent storm.  Everywhere I drove, I was seeing utility workers clearing tree branches.

I continued up the coast to Laupehoehoe Beach Park.  Like many of the beach parks, this isn’t a swimming beach.  It’s a place where you can have a picnic lunch while getting views of waves crashing on a rocky coastline.

There are more beaches further up the coast, but the farther north I drove, the farther I’d have to drive to get back to Hilo.  I had been noticing sciatic nerve discomfort after long drives, so I decided to head back to Hilo.  On my way back, I stopped at Onomea Bay.

I didn’t realize it until I got there, but I’ve seen Onomea Bay before.  Last year, I got views of this bay while hiking the trail loop through the Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve & Garden.  This time, I hiked down from the highway on a public access trail.  From the trail, I got different views of the bay from the ones I had last year.

When I got back to Hilo, I went to the hotel fitness center to do a workout.  By now, I was getting hungry.  I was tempted to eat lunch, but I was planning to have a big dinner, and I didn’t want to eat too many big meals.  Instead, I went to the hotel bar to rehydrated with pineapple juice.

There’s a bridge from Liliʻuokalani Gardens to Coconut Island, and the walking distance to the island from my hotel was only half a mile.  The island has swimming beaches, so I spent part of the afternoon swimming and relaxing on the island.

It’s about two miles from my hotel to the downtown restaurants.  After checking the forecast, I decided to walk to dinner.  I had dinner at Café Pesto, which is my favorite restaurant in Hilo.  They also have a pizza with Kalua pig and pineapple, but they call it a luau pizza.

Saturday, December 17

It was a clear morning.  While I was eating breakfast at the hotel, I had a nice view of Mauna Kea in the glow of the morning sunlight.

After breakfast, I drove to Kaumana Caves, which are just outside Hilo.  The caves are actually a lava tube formed by a lava flow from Mauna Loa back in 1881.  From the main entrance, the caverns extend to either side.  In one direction, you can only go a short distance before reaching the end of the cave.  In the other direction, the cave extends for two miles, but most of it is under private property.

On my way back into town, I stopped at Rainbow Falls.  I’ve seen the falls before, but it was only a minute or two out of my way.  The water looked cleaner this year than it did last year.

When it got warm enough, I went swimming.  I skipped lunch again, in anticipation of having an early dinner.

Packet pickup was Saturday afternoon.  In the past, packet pickup has been at a Boy Scouts of America camp that’s right next to the finish line.  This year, we weren’t able to use the Boy Scouts camp.  There was some type of accident at a Boy Scouts camp a few months ago, and none of the Boy Scouts camps are currently taking reservations from outside groups.  This year, packet pickup was just outside the gate of the Boy Scouts camp.  I had to find parking along the road, so I got there shortly after packet pickup started.

I had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.  Their menu included pizza, and one of their pizzas was – you guessed it – Kalua pork.  Pineapple was an option on all pizzas, so I added that as well.

Since arriving in Hawaii, I had done my best to stay on an early-to-bed, early-to rise schedule.  My alarm was set for 3:00 AM, so I went to bed early, in hopes of getting a full night’s sleep.  I slept well for a few hours, but after waking up during the night, I had trouble getting back to sleep.  Pre-race nerves were kicking in.  I slept half the night, which is better than nothing.

Sunday, December 18

Sunday was race day.  It’s a point-to-point race, so I needed to take a bus to the start.  In past years, buses to the start left from the boy scout camp.  We couldn’t use the boy scout camp, so this year the buses picked us up on Banyan Road, near Reed’s Bay Beach Park.  As luck would have it, my hotel was on Banyan Road.  Instead of driving and parking, I could walk there.  The buses left at 4:15 AM, which is why I had to be up so early.

Because of the elevation difference, the temperature in Hilo is typically much cooler than the temperature in Hilo.  Last year, it was 50 degrees at the start.  This year, it was 59.  By comparison, the overnight low in Hilo was in the upper 60s.  In past years, the temperature at the finish was about 70 degrees.  This year, it was forecast to get up to 75 before I finished.  The  warmer conditions had me questioning whether I would be able to qualify for Boston.  My fastest recent marathon was 4:07:57 in the Chicago Marathon.  My goal was to qualify for Boston, but to do that, I needed to be 18 minutes faster than I was in Chicago.

In past years, finish times were recorded manually.  That meant our official times were “gun” times.  If you didn’t cross the starting line until 10 seconds after the gun went off, that was time you lost.  This year, they added chip timing.  That was important.  I didn’t even know if I could run fast enough to qualify.  If I did, I expected it to be really close.  I assumed that ten seconds might make a difference.

The drive time to Volcano can vary, so the race didn’t start until 6:00 AM.  When we arrived, it was almost an hour before the start of the race.  They had a gear check, so I wore warm-up layers to keep warm until it was almost time to start.

We started before dawn, so we had to start the race with flashlights or head lamps.  I opted for a flashlight, since I knew I would only need it for the first three miles.

We started on Plimauna Drive, next to the Volcano Golf Course.  I worked harder than usual to establish a fast pace.  Within the first few minutes, I was already feeling soreness from the proximal hamstring tendon in my left leg.  It’s been injured since June, but it’s been gradually healing.  It doesn’t bother me if I run at a moderate pace, but today I was pushing the envelope.  I decided in the first few minutes of the race that I was going “all in” on qualifying for Boston.

We quickly turned onto the shoulder of Highway 11.  This is the only road from Hilo to the south end of the island, so it’s a busy highway.  We were required to stay on the left shoulder.  Any runner seen crossing the white line into the traffic lane could be disqualified.  The cars go by pretty fast, and they’re not expecting to see runners.

We had to go slightly uphill for a short distance before the road turned downhill.  I could see the sign on the opposite side of the highway marking the highest elevation on the road.  When I passed that sign, I knew it would be all downhill for several miles.

Because the first mile wasn’t completely downhill, I continued to put extra effort into establishing a fast pace.  I continued to feel some soreness in my left leg, but it wasn’t getting worse.

To qualify for Boston, I needed a time of 3:50.  That’s an average pace of roughly 8:45 per mile.  I expected the second half of the race to be slower than the first half.  That’s partly because there are a few hills in the late miles, but mostly because it would gradually get hotter.  I wanted to average 8:15 or faster in the first half of the race.  Then I could afford to slow to an average pace of 9:15 in the second half.

I ran the first mile in 8:18.  That’s about the pace I wanted, but I felt like I was working much too hard.  In the second mile, I sped up to 7:48.  I didn’t need to be that fast, so I gave myself permission to back off a little in my effort.

When we reached the turnoff to Old Volcano Road, there was an aid station where we could drop off our lights.  The first two times I ran this race, I put my flashlight in my fanny pack.  This year, I handed it to one of the volunteers.  I didn’t want to be carrying any excess weight.  It’s bad enough that I’ve put on a few pounds lately.

The next mile and a half were on Old Volcano Road, which goes through Volcano village.  This road didn’t have any traffic, so we were allowed to run anywhere on the road.  It was nice to be away from traffic and have more room to run.

When I got the split for my third mile, it was 8:00.  I told myself that I could ease up some more.  Volcano Road must’ve had more elevation drop than I remembered, because I sped up to 7:40 in the next mile, even though I was no longer working as hard.

When we turned back onto Highway 11, we had a wider shoulder.  We were now starting the fastest part of the course.  Over the next three miles, I focused on taking short rapid strides.  I wasn’t putting any extra effort into running fast.  I just “spun the wheels” and let gravity do all the work.  My next three miles took 7:24 each, but I wasn’t working as hard.  For the first few miles, my effort felt like it would probably be unsustainable.  Now I felt like my effort was about right.  The pace was faster than I expected, but as long as I could do it with no extra effort, I wasn’t going to second-guess the pace.  That’s something I’ve learned about downhill races.  You just have to stay relaxed and go with it.

Eventually, the road leveled off a bit.  It was still downhill, but not as much.  The next five miles weren’t as fast, but they were still in the range of 7:39 to 8:03.  On average, I was going much faster than I expected.  As long as I didn’t wear myself out, I would be able to slow down in the second half, as it got hotter.

I was expected to have a slight headwind for most of the race.  I didn’t feel much wind in the first nine miles, but then I started to notice it.  It wasn’t strong enough to be tiring, but it helped mitigate the effects of the high humidity.

I was also expecting to have cloud cover.  I didn’t notice much sun in the first ten miles, but after that the sun came out.  That made it feel hotter.

Sometimes a change of the grade would make it look like we were about to run uphill.  That was an optical illusion.  The road leveled off at times, but it wouldn’t actually turn uphill until much later in the race.

Mile 13 was a mostly level mile.  I had to be careful not to work too hard.  It was OK if I slowed down a little.  It’s wasn’t OK if I worked too hard and wore myself out.  I made that mistake last year.  I ended up running mile 13 in 8:40.  That was my slowest mile so far, but I had lots of fast miles.  Overall, I was doing just fine.

My halfway split was 1:43:17.  I was almost 12 minutes ahead of the pace I needed for 3:50.  At this point, I could slow down to roughly 9:30 in the second half.  I expected to slow down at least that much in the last three miles, but until then, I still had lots of downhill miles.

There were signs on the right side of the road marking every 500 feet of elevation change.  Because we were running on the left shoulder, I didn’t always notice them.  Midway through the 14h mile, I saw one that said 2,000 feet.  We started above 4,000, so I had already descended more than 2,000 feet.  In the remaining miles, I would have roughly 1,700 feet of net descent.  I emphasize “net,” because there would be uphill sections in the late miles.

It occurred to me that I no longer noticed much soreness in my hamstring tendon.  It bothered me in the early miles, when I was pushing the pace.  Once I backed off in my effort, I stopped noticing it.  There was a little soreness, but not as much as before.

For the next several miles, I ran at a pace ranging from 7:47 to 8:09.  It wasn’t as fast as my pace in the first half, but it didn’t have to be.  The longer I kept running a pace that was close to eight minutes, the more margin I had if I blew up in the late miles.  I was careful not to push too hard.  I tried to keep up a consistent effort and let my pace vary depending on how much elevation drop there was in each mile.

In the second half of the race, there were a few places where we had to cross intersections.  There were course martials at those intersections.  They were able to change the traffic lights for us, so we didn’t have to stop for traffic.

In the last third of the race, I was constantly recomputing what pace I needed the rest of the way to break 3:50.  With nine miles to go, a 10:00 pace would be fast enough.  With seven miles to go, an 11:00 pace would be fast enough.  I ran mile 20 in 8:26.  I could’ve been discouraged that I slowed down, but instead I told myself that I added another two and a half minutes to my cushion.

For most of the race, I was maintaining a rapid cadence.  Taking short rapid strides is something I always do on downhill courses to guard against overstriding.  On one of the more level stretches, I noticed I was starting to run with a more natural stride.  That wasn’t a conscious decision, so it must’ve been a sign I was getting fatigued.  Shortly after that, I felt some soreness near the bottom of my left calf.  Given the conditions, it’s possible it was a mild cramp.  On the other hand, it could’ve been my Achilles tendon.  I forced myself to return to short rapid strides, just in case.

I ran the next two miles in 8:40 each.  I was still putting time in the bank.  Now I just needed to average 13 minutes per mile.  I was confident I could do that, even if I blew up in the heat.

By now, I was running with Glen Marumoto.  Glen lives in Hawaii and has run this race every year since its inception.  We’re in the same age group, and we both had a goal of qualifying for Boston.

Running with Glen, I sped up to 8:25 in mile 23.  Then we started the tough part of the course.  It wasn’t all downhill any more.

There’s a tiring hill that starts with about 2.6 miles to go.  Going up this hill, I could no longer keep up with Glen.  We both slowed down, but I slowed down more.  On the plus side, I wasn’t tempted to walk.  Last year, I had to walk about half of this hill.

At the top of the hill, there was an aid station.  Glen stopped briefly, and I was able to catch up to him.  I saw that I ran the 24th mile in 9:20.  That was my first mile that was slower than 8:40.  I optimistically assumed that it would be my slowest mile of the race.  I was wrong.

As I started running downhill, I wasn’t able to speed up.  The hill forced me to work a little harder and that’s when the heat finally wore me down.  By now, it was 75 degrees, and the humidity had been high for the whole race.  I was stuck in a lower gear for the rest of the race, even going downhill.  I briefly got ahead of Glen while he was still at the aid station, but it was only a matter of time before he passed me.  After that, I was running alone.

I started to notice more traffic on the highway.  Each time a car went by, I felt a draft from its “wake.”  There wasn’t much wind, so those brief drafts were the only thing cooling me off.

The last two miles are more downhill than uphill, but there were still two more small hills.  The first was about half a mile after that last aid station.  The second one would come at the very end of the race.

I ran the 25th mile in 10:00.  I realized by now that I would qualify for Boston by at least 10 minutes.  I tried to keep up the same pace, but I was 10 seconds slower in the next mile.  It’s always discouraging when your last two miles are much slower than the rest of the race, but I knew that would happen.  I wanted to run the first half fast, so I could budget 11 minutes each for the last two miles.

The last turn on the course comes after the 26 mile mark.  Then we turned onto Stainback Highway, which goes by the Boy Scouts camp.  That’s where the finish line was.  At this point, I only had about 200 meters to go, but it was uphill, and I still couldn’t see the finish line.  There’s a bend in the road, so you have to get about halfway around the turn before you can see the finish.

For weeks, I had been visualizing those last 200 meters.  I imagined myself having to fight for every second, while going uphill.  As it turns out, seconds didn’t matter so much.  My only goal was to qualify for Boston, and I was crushing that goal.  I maintained my effort until I could see the finish.  Then I was inspired to finish as strong as I could.

I finished the race in 3:36:27.  That’s only three minutes slower than last year, when I was in much better shape.  How fast is this course?  Even on a hot day, I ran 31 minutes faster than my fastest recent time on a flat course.

This was a small race, so you might think I won an age group award.  I didn’t.  60-64 is always a competitive age group at this race.  I came in 5th in my age group.  The winner of my age group finished in 3:00:12!

The finisher medal is silver and is shaped like a dog tag.  This style of medal has been the tradition at this race.

It’s amazing how you can tune things out when you’re focused on your effort.  Within moments of finishing, I urgently needed to pee.  Before finishing, I wasn’t conscious of that at all.  Fortunately, there were port-o-potties right next to the finish.  I also suddenly realized how much I was sweating.  From head to toe, sweat was dripping off of me.

There were a variety of post-race food and beverages.  After eating a banana, I drank a can of fruit juice.  It made my throat sting.  I’ve experienced that at least once before, when I was dehydrated.  I was drinking at every aid station, but I was losing much more fluid than I was replacing.  After finishing the fruit juice, I also had a can of Pepsi.  Then I had a bao bun with pork.

I had to sit for a while before I recovered enough to get up and retrieve my gear bag.  The volunteers had already put my flashlight in my bag.  Then I waited for the next bus back to Reed’s Bay Beach Park.  From there, it only took a few minutes to walk back to the hotel.

As I was walking back to the hotel, I noticed soreness in my left calf.  There was no longer any question that it was the muscle and not my Achilles tendon.  When I got back to my room, I took a bath, massaged my calves, and did several stretches.  Most of my stretches were for my lower back, but I also stretched my calves and my Achilles tendons.  For good measure, I also stretched my quads.  Some of the other runners were complaining of sore quads.  Mine felt fine.  I’ve learned how to run downhill without beating them up.

I did have some soreness from that hamstring tendon in my left leg.  It felt sore when I sat down.  That’s something I’ll have to keep an eye on.  If I have to, I’ll cut back on my training for a while.  Now that I have a Boston qualifier for 2024, I can take my time getting back in shape.

I spent the rest of the morning and half of the afternoon at the hotel, relaxing and rehydrating.  When I felt like I was ready to go out again, I went to Cronie’s Bar & Grill for an early dinner.  I already tried their Kalua pig & pineapple pizza, but I wanted to try their sweet Thai chili chicken pizza.

I went to bed early and crashed hard.  I slept for almost 11 hours.

Monday, December 19

My flight to Honolulu wasn’t until the afternoon, so I was able to have a leisurely breakfast, do a workout in the fitness center, and take my time packing.

I’ve often said the hardest part about the race is getting to the starting line.  Getting home can also sometimes be difficult.  As I was getting ready to check out, I learned that my flight to Honolulu was delayed by 30 minutes.  That wasn’t a big deal, but after I checked out, I was notified that my flight was delayed an additional 48 minutes.  I’m posting this from the Hilo airport, where I have some time to kill.  For now, I still have a safe connection in Honolulu, but I worry about further delays.  I’m told it’s a weather delay.

Wish me luck on getting to Honolulu in time to catch my flight home.

UPDATE:  While I was at the airport in Hilo, I was notified of another delay, yet the flight status board was still showing the original departure time.  Another Hawaiian Airlines flight, which had been delayed for four hours, was finally boarding.  I was sitting next to the gate for that flight when a Hawaiian Airlines employee came over to me and asked me if I had a confirmed seat on a flight.  Then she asked me which flight and if I had checked any bags (I didn't).  Then they put me on the flight that was about to depart.  They were in such a hurry that they didn't have time to print a new boarding pass.  They just wrote the seat number on my old boarding pass and told me to get on the plane.  I was the last person to board.  Instead of being delayed by two hours (or more), I was only delayed by about an hour.  That gave me more than enough time to make my connection in Honolulu.

UPDATE #2: After I got to Honolulu, I found out my original flight from Hilo was delayed again.  If I wasn't moved to the earlier flight, I would've missed my connection.  Getting on that flight was just dumb luck.  It wouldn't have happened if I wasn't sitting right next to the gate of the departing flight when they were looking for a passenger to fill the last available seat.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:36:27

Average Pace:  8:15

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  472

Boston Qualifiers:  151