2023 Year-End Review

Every year, I post a list of goals for the year.  I usually achieve most of my goals, but I sometimes miss a few.  This year my goals were fairly modest, so it’s not too surprising that I nailed them all.

Finish My 4th Circuit of 50 States

At the beginning of 2023, I had already run four or more marathons (or ultras) in 45 states.  To complete my 4th circuit of marathons in every state, I needed to run marathons in Maryland, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia.

I got off to a rough start.  I was planning to run the Sun Marathon in Utah in January, but I had to skip that one because of a respiratory infection.  The day before I was scheduled to fly to Utah, I tried running for the first time in a week.  I managed to run just over a mile.  Two miles would’ve been too much.  A marathon was out of the question.

I recovered in time to run the George Washington’s Birthday Marathon in February, giving me my Maryland race.  In May, I ran the Maple Leaf Marathon in Vermont.  Then in the summer, I found another Utah race.  I actually ran two of them.  I ran the Deseret News Marathon in July and the Mt. Nebo Marathon in August.

I finished my fourth circuit in November by running the Marshall University Marathon in West Virginia and the Route 66 Marathon in Oklahoma.

I already had my eye on eventually doing a fifth circuit of states, so I also went out of my way to schedule races in a few states where I already had four marathons.  Besides running my fourth marathon in the states listed above, I ran my fifth marathon or ultra in Kentucky, Maine, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Kansas, New Hampshire, and Maryland.  By the time I finished my fourth circuit, I just needed nine more states to finish my fifth circuit.

Run Marathons in Two New Countries

This was a fairly soft goal.  At the start of the year, I didn’t have any international trips scheduled, but I had tentative plans to run marathons in Slovakia and Brazil.  I ended up running both of those races, and I also ran the Antarctica Marathon.  More on that later.

Get Back into Shape

At the start of the year, I was out of shape, and I was carrying a little extra weight.  My training was held back by a high hamstring injury in my left leg and sciatica in my right leg.

To get back in shape, I first had to get healthy enough to train.  To lose the weight, I needed to get more exercise, which also depended on getting healthy enough to train.  I’ve never been able to lose weight through diet alone.

Things got worse before they got better.  In January, I came down with a respiratory infection that was mostly likely RSV.  I was completely sidelined for about a week, and it was two more weeks before I was recovered sufficiently to do any real training.

My hamstring injury was healing nicely, but my sciatica got worse.  It flared up so badly that I couldn’t run without pain.

I had a cortisone injection in February.  The first time I had one of those, I noticed improvement immediately.  This time, I felt no better after two weeks.  Then something surprising happened.  I flew to Argentina to join my tour group for the trip to Antarctica.  After the 10 hour flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires, I fully expected to be stiff and painful.  My sciatica was usually worst after a long period of sitting.  Instead, I got off the plane with no discomfort.  It hasn’t bothered me since.

It's possible, although unlikely, that it just took that long for the cortisone injection to be effective.  It’s much more likely that something else changed.  One possibility is that I had a synovial cyst putting pressure on the nerve, and then the cyst drained, relieving the pressure.  Those things can come and go unexpectedly.

That trip included a 10-day cruise, so my opportunities to run were limited.  When I got back, however, I started gradually building my mileage.  I was careful not to increase my mileage too quickly, but by mid-July, I was running 50+ miles a week.  I’ve kept that up since.

A goal should be measurable.  I wouldn’t consider myself to be “in shape” until I could run fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  In recent years, most of my BQs have been on downhill courses.  My goal for this year was to BQ on a course that didn’t have any net elevation loss.

By the end of April, I was able to run a marathon in four hours.  To qualify for Boston, I needed to shave off 10 more minutes.  In July, I qualified at the Deseret News Marathon, but that course has almost 3,000 feet of net descent.  In August, I qualified on another sharply downhill course.  It wouldn’t be until September that I would have a chance to test myself on a mostly flat course.  By then I was not only getting into getter shape, but I had also lost the excess weight.

I felt like I made a major breakthrough at the Clarence DeMar Marathon, where I qualified for Boston with more than four minutes to spare.  That course is also downhill, but not by nearly as much.  The first half descends about 600 feet.  The second half is relatively flat, although there’s a tough hill in the last few miles.

Two weeks later, I finally reached my goal of qualifying for Boston on a course that started and finished at the same elevation.  I did that at the Cape Cod Marathon, which is mostly flat.

I followed that up with a BQ at the Baltimore Marathon a week later.  That course is moderately hilly.  Before the year was up, I also had BQs at the Mankato Marathon (moderately hilly), the Marshall University Marathon (flat), and the Route 66 Marathon (moderately hilly).

My final BQ of the year came at the Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon.  This course descends 3,700 feet, but it’s worth noting that I was 11 minutes faster this year than I was on the same course a year ago.

Of all my goals for 2023, this one was the most important.  It seems like every year I start the year thinking it’s going to be a rebuilding year, but then I end the year about where I started.  This year, I actually rebuilt.  I’m going into 2024 running better than I have in years.  I have a good mileage base, my weight is down, and I’m healthy.

Do My Winter Running Outdoors

Since buying my first treadmill (to train for the Pike’s Peak Marathon), I’ve fallen into the habit of doing all of my winter running on the treadmill.  There’s nothing wrong with training on a treadmill.  It has enabled me to train at a faster pace than I could if I had to run on icy streets.

The problem is that after years of doing half of my training on a treadmill, I developed the bad habit of barely getting my feet off the ground.  On a flat road course, I have an efficient stride.  On a trail course, I don’t pick up my feet enough, and I’m prone to tripping.

In recent years, I’ve started to trip and fall, even in road marathons.  If there’s an uneven spot in the pavement, I’ll catch it with one of my feet.  In the latter half of 2022, I was tripping about once per race.  Sometimes I fell, but even when I didn’t, I would have a few awkward jarring steps.  More than once, I aggravated an existing injury.

To cure myself of that habit, I committed to doing all of my winter running outdoors.  My hope was that running on snow and ice would force me to pick up my feet.

The first big test came in the Antarctica Marathon.  That was a hilly course on a dirt road with lots of rocks.  There were times when I was racing down a hill, knowing that I would have a bad fall if my foot caught one of those rocks.  It scared me, but I got through that race without tripping on anything.

I thought I would make it through the entire year without tripping.  Unfortunately, I tripped on a pothole in the Cape Cod Marathon, and hit the pavement pretty hard.

I’ve continued to use a treadmill for race-walk training, but I haven’t run on a treadmill at all this year.  While I didn’t make it through the whole year without a fall, I improved significantly.  One fall per year is a lot better than one fall per race.

Doing my winter running outdoors had another benefit.  It forced me to reacquaint myself with how to dress for different temperatures.  I didn’t know I would be running in Antarctica, but dressing properly for that race was a lot easier after running in similar temperatures at home.

Place in My Age Group in the National Senior Games

Most of my goals were running goals, but I also had two race-walking goals.  I was competing in two race-walking events at the National Senior Games.  The first was 1,500 meters on a track.  The second was 5,000 meters on a road loop.

Last year, I took fourth place in the 1,500.  There are medals for the top three and ribbons for places five through eight.  I got a late start on my training this year, so my goal was simply to place in the top eight.  My time was one second slower than last year, but I placed higher.  This year, I came in third, which was good for a bronze medal.

In the 5,000, my goal was to place in the top three.  I managed a second place finish, earning me a silver medal.

Move Up Among Minnesota Runners

Since 2015, I’ve been on the Megamarathon List, which lists every runner in the world who has finished at least 300 marathons.  I rank in the top 400 runners in the world and roughly 50th in North America, but as recently as 2021, there were still six runners ahead of me in my home state of Minnesota.

By the end of 2022, I had moved into 5th place among Minnesota runners.  My goal for 2023 was to move into the top four.

To move into 4th place, I needed to run 15 more marathons.  I ran 30 this year, easily moving me into the top four.  The three runners still ahead of me have all run more than 600 marathons.  Only one of them is still active, but it’ll be a long time before I run enough marathons to move into the top three.

The Goal That Wasn’t Even on My List

For the second straight year, my biggest accomplishment of the year was something that wasn’t even on my list of goals.  Last year, it was winning the state championship for men over 60 in a 24-hour race.  This year, it was finishing marathons (or ultras) on every continent.

I had previous run marathons or ultras on five continents.  I was only missing South America and Antarctica.  I had plans to run Maratona do Rio in June, but I wasn’t expecting to run a marathon in Antarctica this year.

I had made a deposit to run the Antarctica Marathon in 2024, but I was also on the waiting list for 2023.  Marathon Tours & Travel was leading two voyages to Antarctica this year, one in early March, and one in late March.  On the outside chance that I might get in off the waiting list, I avoided planning any other races in March.

By the middle of January, I was getting anxious to finish planning my race schedule for March and April.  In particular, I wanted to book a trip to Vienna and Bratislava at the beginning of April.  If I went on the second Antarctica voyage, I wouldn’t get home in time to leave for Vienna.

I called Marathon Tours to find out if there was any chance of getting into one of this year’s voyages.  I didn’t think there was any chance.  I just wanted to know for sure, so I could start booking other trips.

I was shocked to find out that both of this year’s Antarctica trips had room.  I chose the first one, so I could also go on the Vienna/Bratislava trip.  At the time, I was sick with RSV, so I took a leap of faith that I could recover in time to be ready for the Antarctica trip.

Antarctica was my sixth continent.  Three months later, I added South America as my seventh continent by running Maratona do Rio.

Race Report: 2023 Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon

On December 17, I ran the Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon on the Big Island.  This was the third island Deb and I visited on our Hawaii vacation.  This post picks up where my Maui post left off. 

Thursday, December 14

Deb and I flew from Kahului to Hilo in the late afternoon.  Our flight was a little bit late, so we didn’t arrive until 6:00 PM.  By the time we picked up our bags and rental car and drove to our hotel, it was well after dark.  We had a light dinner in the hotel restaurant, and stayed in for the night. 

Friday, December 15

Our hotel was on the waterfront, and our room had a balcony with an ocean view.  We didn’t have many activities planned, so we took our time with everything.

It was drizzly while we were eating breakfast.  I waited for the rain to stop before going for a run.

After my run, we went to Rainbow Falls.  Rainbow Falls is the top tourist attraction in the Hilo area.  It’s only 10 minutes away, and it’s wheelchair accessible, so this was an obvious place to start our day.

In lieu of lunch, we stopped in downtown Hilo to get gelato.  As we were driving through downtown Hilo, we happened upon the Hilo farmers’ market.  On one side of the street, there were food stalls.  On the other side, there were craft stalls.  This is Deb’s favorite type of shopping.  Since we already had a parking space, we also visited several of the downtown shops while we were there.

This was already the 8th day of our trip, and Deb had some clothes she wanted to wash, so we went back to the hotel in the afternoon to do laundry.  After that, we decided to just relax at the hotel for the rest of the day.

Saturday, December 16

Saturday morning, we had clear skies.  From our balcony, we had a clear view of Mauna Kea.  If you look closely, you can see snow on the summit.  You don’t often see snow in Hawaii.

After breakfast, we went back to the Hilo farmers’ market.  It’s there every day, but it’s much larger on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  There were probably three times as many craft vendors and twice as many food vendors.  We spent the whole morning there.  Our lunch consisted of coconut milk and food samples.

In the afternoon, I picked up two friends, Stefanie and Julie, from the airport.  It was too early for packet pickup, and it was also too early for them to check into their hotel, so I brought them to Rainbow Falls.  There wasn’t a rainbow on Friday, but there was on Saturday, visible from the overlook above the falls.

Next, we went to pick up our race packets.  Then we picked up Deb at the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Liliʻuokalani Gardens and Coconut Island.

For dinner, we went to Café Pesto.  This is my favorite restaurant in Hilo.  Every time I’ve been to Hilo, I’ve had lunch or dinner there.  For my pre-race dinner, I had their luau pizza, which has pineapple and kalua pork.

I was able to get to bed early that night, but I only slept for four hours.  Then I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.

Sunday, December 17

Sunday was race day.  The race started at 6:00 AM, but I had to catch a bus to the start by 4:15.  The pickup point for the bus was a short walk from my hotel.  I didn’t need to leave the hotel until 4:00, but I was in the lobby 10 minutes early.  I was too restless to sit down, so I started walking to the bus loading point.  The buses were there by the time I arrived, so I got on the first bus.

The start was next to the golf course in Volcano Village.  The elevation there is about 4,000 feet, so it’s much cooler there than it is in Hilo.  The temperature while we were waiting to start was in the low 50s.  By contrast, I expected it to be at least 70 degrees in Hilo by the time I finished.

This course is one of the fastest I’ve ever run.  It descends roughly 3,700 feet.  I’ve run marathons that had a greater net descent, but those races had sections that were uncomfortably steep.  This race has a gentle descent, so you can run fast without beating up your legs.  The only tough part comes in the last few miles, where there are a couple of uphill sections.

Although it was somewhat chilly at the start, I dressed for the warmer weather I would encounter later in the race.  To stay warm in the start area, I brought warm-up layers.  They had a gear check at the start.

We started before dawn, and we were running on roads that are sparsely lit.  Everyone was required to carry a light in the early miles.  We were also strongly encouraged to wear brightly colored clothes.

The race starts next to the Volcano Golf Course on Plimauna Drive, but we quickly turned onto the shoulder of Highway 11, which is the highway that connects Hilo to the southern end of the island.  Plimauna Drive is downhill, but we briefly ran uphill on the highway.

After about a quarter mile on the highway, I saw the sign on the other side of the road indicating we had reached the highest point on the highway (4,024 feet about sea level).  From that point on, we ran downhill.

In the first two miles, there wasn’t much room for runners to pass each other.  I made an effort to establish a fast pace before we got onto the highway.  I was right behind runners who I know are faster than me, but I challenged myself to keep up with them.  In that first mile, I was already breathing hard.

My split for the first mile was 8:10.  My goal for this race was to break 3:30.  To do that, I needed an average pace of 8:00, so I needed to be a little bit faster.  The first mile isn’t all downhill, so I wasn’t too concerned, but I picked up my effort in the second mile.

In downhill races, I always run with a short stride and a rapid cadence.  I do that to guard against overstriding.  I’ve also found that running downhill this way lessens the impact on my quads.  Instead, I’m working my glutes pretty hard.  Ideally, I’m putting all my effort into “spinning the wheels,” and I’m letting gravity take care of my forward progress.

In the second mile, there were places where the shoulder was only two feet wide, and vegetation sometimes extended all the way to the white line.  I never crossed the white line, but I sometimes ran right on it.

My pace for the second mile was 7:57.  That was better, but I felt like I was working harder than I should to run a pace that was just barely fast enough for my goal.  That mile was all downhill, so I expected it to be faster.

Early in the third mile, we left the highway to run through Volcano Village on Volcano Road.  Here, we were allowed to use the whole road, but we generally stayed on the left.  Volcano Road isn’t too busy, but it was still open to traffic.

Where we turned onto Volcano Road, there was room for an aid station.  This was the first of 10 aid stations.  This one only had water, but several of the aid stations had both water and Gatorade.  I drank the Gatorade whenever it was available.

This aid station had a box where we could drop off a flashlight or headlamp.  I turned off my flashlight as I approached, and I slowed down enough to carefully place it in the box as I ran by.

Volcano Road started out level, but gradually turned downhill.  We were on that road for more than two miles before returning to the highway.  When I got my split for mile three, I was disappointed.  I slowed to 8:21 in that mile.  That pace wasn’t going to cut it, so I picked up my effort.

I wasn’t just putting effort into “spinning the wheels.”  I was also putting extra effort into picking up my pace.  I’ve run this race three times before, and I haven’t needed to do that at this point in the race.  I was working harder this year, and I wondered if my effort was going to be sustainable.

My best recent time on a flat course was 3:42 and change.  I’ve always been at least 13 minutes faster on this course than I am on a flat course, so breaking 3:30 seemed like a very reasonable goal.  I didn’t know why I needed to work so hard to run at that pace.

In mile four, I was able to bring my pace back down below eight minutes.  I knew from experience that I was just getting to the fastest part of the course.  I’ve always run fastest in miles five through seven.

During the fifth mile, I left Volcano Road to turn back onto the shoulder of the highway.  The shoulder was wider here.  For the rest of the race, I always felt I had plenty of room to run.

My pace in the next few miles was faster and took less effort.  In miles five through seven, I averaged 7:23.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that I was already starting to notice some soreness in my glutes.  The other times I ran this race, my training had emphasized race-walking over running.  Race-walking builds the muscles that I was using in this race.  In recent months, I’ve been building my running mileage, but I’ve been neglecting my race-walk training.  As a result, my glutes were already showing signs of fatigue.

When you’re running downhill and the road ahead levels off, it can look like you’re about to go uphill.  This is an optical illusion.  There were a few sections like this and one of them came in mile eight.  As I reached this section, it felt like I was running uphill, even though I was pretty sure it was merely flat.  I understood why when I got my next split.  Even though that mile was much flatter, I was still running almost as fast.  I ran than mile and the next one in 7:34 each.

Now that I had finished nine miles, I could tell myself I was already one third done.  I had yet to notice much difference in temperature.  It’s possible that the temperature had risen a few degrees, but there was a cool breeze that felt chilly on my arms.

By the 10th mile, I was starting to moderate my pace.  For the next few miles, I averaged about 7:50.

About halfway through mile 12, I reached a section of the course that started out level, but would eventually turn slightly uphill.  This was no optical illusion.  This section actually is uphill, and it was fairly long.  The uphill section continued well into the 13th mile.

I was able to maintain the same pace in mile 12, but in mile 13, I slowed to 8:18.  I knew that was a tougher mile, so I wasn’t too concerned.  As long as I brought my pace back under eight minutes when the road turned downhill again, I would be fine.

During that long flat to uphill section, I adjusted my gait.  I slowed my cadence and took a longer stride.  That gave my glutes a much-needed rest.

At the halfway mark, I was on pace to break 3:25.  I didn’t expect to keep up that pace for the whole race.  I had several reasons to expect the second half to be slower.  The three easiest miles were already behind me.  The toughest miles were at the end of the race, so those were still ahead of me.  Up until now, the weather felt comfortable, but I knew it would get warmer and more humid as I got closer to the coast.  Finally, my effort didn’t feel sustainable.  I felt like I had been working harder than I usually do in the first half of this race.

My goal was still breaking 3:30.  I didn’t need to keep up the same pace I ran in the first half.  All I needed to do was maintain an average pace of 8:00 per mile until the last few miles.  With about two and a half miles to go, I would reach a tough hill.  I wanted to be in a position where I had enough of a cushion that I could afford to slow down in the last three miles.

Just past the halfway mark, the road turned noticeably downhill again.  Without even trying, I sped up.  As I realized I was speeding up, I went back to running with a short stride and a rapid cadence.  For the next two miles, I averaged 7:30.  I didn’t need to run that fast, but I was happy to add to my cushion, as long as I wasn’t working too hard to do it.

I usually slow down or walk briefly while drinking at aid stations.  On this section of the course, I reached an aid station and tried to grab a cup of Gatorade without slowing down.  The Gatorade all spilled on the front of my shirt.  I had to stop and reach back for another cup of Gatorade.  The volunteer apologized for the bad handoff, but it wasn’t his fault.  I said, “My bad.  I usually slow down.”

With about 10 miles to go, I entered a town.  This was the first town since Volcano Village.  I briefly felt some light drizzle.  Then it stopped.  Then the sun came out.  Then it got cloudy again.  The weather can change quickly in Hawaii.  All of these changes came within a span of just a few minutes.

Going through this town, we needed to cross another busy street.  There were course marshals to hold up the traffic for us.

Over the next several miles, I settled into a pace in the 7:40s.  I was happy with anything under eight minutes.

There were mileposts on the side of the road, which were gradually counting down.  I knew from experience that if I subtracted four from the milepost number, it would give me a pretty good estimate of the number of miles remaining.  When I saw milepost 12, I knew I had just eight miles to go.  That was the good news.  The bad news came on a sign on the opposite side of the highway.

There were signs marking every 500 feet of elevation change.  Because they were on the opposite side of the road, I didn’t always notice them.  With eight miles to go, I saw the sign for 1,000 feet.  The elevation at the finish is about 300 feet.  I had already descended more than 3,000 feet, but there would only be 700 feet of net descent over the last eight miles.  That’s still almost 100 feet per mile, but it would take a lot more effort to maintain the same fast pace.

By now, I was running with another runner who was in the same age group.  I didn’t recognize him, but he remembered running with me last year too.  As the road leveled off in the late miles, I challenged myself to keep up with him.

I was dividing the remaining miles into two segments.  I had five more miles that would be somewhere between level and downhill.  In these miles, I needed to average 8:00 per mile.  In the last three miles, the course is somewhat rolling.  I knew these miles would be slower, but I was hoping to have enough of a cushion that I could slow down and still finish comfortably under 3:30.

Over the next five miles, my pace ranged from 7:39 to 8:00.  The guy I had been running with started to pull away from me with about five miles to go.  I wasn’t slowing down.  He was speeding up.  He was on his way to a strong finish.  I was on my own now.

By now, the sun was out, and I was also starting to notice the humidity.  I felt hot at times, but only when the sun was on me.  With so few miles to go, I didn’t feel like I was in any danger of blowing up from the heat.  If I blew up, it would be from the cumulative toll of pushing myself hard since the beginning of the race.

With about three miles to go, I recognized a major intersection.  I knew the only tough hill on the course would be starting soon.

I felt the road turning uphill with about 2.7 miles to go.  It’s not a steep hill, but after 23 miles of downhill running, anything uphill feels like a mountain.  I didn’t try to maintain the same pace.  I just kept up the same effort.  I expected to give back some time on this hill, but I didn’t want to wear myself out.  More than once, this hill has broken me, and I’ve been slow all the way to the finish.

The top of the hill was just before the 24 mile mark.  When I got my split, I was pleased to see that I ran that mile in 8:36.  I only gave back 36 seconds in the toughest mile of the race.

As I reached the top of the hill, it started sprinkling.  Twice before, I had felt some light drizzle, but only for about 30 seconds.  This time, the rain lasted for several minutes.  I had been noticing the increase in temperature, and the rain ensured I wouldn’t get too hot in the last two miles.

The road turned downhill again, but then I saw what looked like another hill.  In all likelihood, the road merely leveled off, but it still took more effort.

I don’t know if I was running out of gas or if I just got complacent, but I was disappointed to see that I ran mile 25 in 8:40.  That was slower than the previous mile, even though this mile was downhill.  I didn’t feel like the hill in the previous mile broke me, so I worked harder to pick up my pace in the next mile.

Mile 26 wasn’t as slow as mile 25.  I ran it in 8:20.  Over the last three full miles, I averaged 8:32.  I had budgeted nine minutes for each of those miles, so I knew I was still going to break 3:30 by a wide margin.

I turned off the highway onto the road where we would finish.  The approach to the finish is slightly uphill, and there’s a bend.  You can’t see the finish line until you get around the bend.  I did my best to finish strong, but another runner raced by me.

I finished in 3:25:56.  That’s the fastest I’ve ever run on this course.  It was my fastest marathon this year by more than 16 minutes.

The finisher medals for this race look like small dog tags.  They’re made of silver.

When I picked up my gear bag, the volunteers had already tucked my flashlight into a separate zippered compartment.  They did that last year too.

The guy I had been running with took second in our age group, and I was third.  Age group awards only go to the top two in each 5-year age group, but I wasn’t disappointed.  He finished strong and clearly deserved his award.  I was happy just to have run as fast as I did.  It was my fastest marathon in four years.

I already had a qualifying time for the 2025 Boston Marathon, but this race will give me a better corral seeding.  It’s also fast enough to get me into the New York City Marathon.

My friend Stefanie finished about 30 seconds after I did.  We lingered in the finish area long enough to grab some post-race snacks, but then we got on the bus that would take us back to our hotels.  There was a bus already waiting when we finished, and we didn’t want to risk missing it and having to wait for the next one.

While we were on our way back, another runner was looking up results on her phone.  That’s when we discovered that Stefanie won an age group award.

We each needed time to get cleaned up, but then Deb and I picked up Stefanie and Julie and brought them back to the finish area, so Stef could get her award.  We had some time before they needed to be at the airport, so we stopped downtown to get smoothies.  Then we drove to several beach parks that are close to the airport.  There aren’t many beaches in Hilo that are suitable for swimming.  These are parks where you can have a picnic lunch while watching the waves crashing on a rocky coastline.

After dropping off Stefanie and Julie at the airport, Deb and I went to a park next to Waiakea Pond.

Deb and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel.  We didn’t feel like going out again, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Monday, December 18

The next morning, my left Achilles tendon felt a little tight.  After a hot bath and some stretching, it felt better.  I also had some sore muscles, mostly in my glutes.  Before breakfast, I went to the fitness center to do some strength training.  Getting some blood flow to all the right muscles helped jumpstart my recovery.

It was raining while we ate breakfast, but as soon as the rain stopped, I went for a short recovery run.  I kept the pace nice and relaxed.  This was more about stimulating blood flow than doing quality training.  To relieve tension on my Achille tendon, I put some padding under my left heel.

We spent the rest of the morning packing and left for the airport around noon.  We had a short flight to Honolulu and then had a three hour layover before the overnight flight to Minneapolis.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:25:56

Average Pace:  7:51 per mile

First Half:  1:42:24

Second Half:  1:43:32

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  502

Boston Qualifiers:  160

Sightseeing on Maui

After the Honolulu Marathon, Deb and I flew to Mau.  This report picks up where my last one left off.

Monday, December 11

We had an early afternoon flight from Honolulu to Kahului on Maui.  When we planned this trip, we were going to stay in Lahaina.  Since then, most of the town was destroyed by a fire, including our hotel.  Instead of staying in Lahaina, we stayed in Kahului.

Our hotel was on an inlet that had a nice breeze coming in from the coast.  When we arrived at the airport, the sun was oppressive, so it was nice to be someplace where we could sit outside and feel comfortable in the breeze.

Our hotel also had a beach.

After getting settled into our room, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and enjoying the breeze off the coast.  We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was just across the street.

Tuesday, December 12

We had breakfast at a restaurant attached to our hotel.  Their breakfast menu included pineapple upside down pancakes.  Of course we had to try those.

After breakfast, I went for a run.  I stuck to roads that kept me close to the coast, which gave me a few nice views.

We spent the rest of the morning in the Iao Valley.

We came back into Kahului for lunch.  Then we went to Kula to tour the botanical gardens.

There was a problem with our hotel room, but we had to wait until 4:00 before we could move into a different room.  By the time we were settled into our new room we were both exhausted.  We had dinner at the hotel and retired early.

Wednesday, December 13

We left right after breakfast for an all-day guided tour of the road to Hana.  It was a private tour, so we could spend more time at stops that were accessible to Deb and skip the ones that weren’t accessible.

The Hana Highway is a narrow two-lane road has 660 turns and 200 bridges.  Having a guide doing all the driving allowed both of us to enjoy the views along the way.  This tour is more about the scenic drive than the destination.

From the road, we had frequent views of waterfalls.

We stopped at scenic overlooks with coastal views and drove down to a black sand beach.

One of our longer stops was at an arboretum where we saw rainbow eucalyptus trees and ginger plants, among other things.

We also stopped at the Ke’anae Peninsula when we watched waves crashing on the shore and ate warm Auntie Sandy’s banana bread.

We had lunch at Hana Farms before driving back.  We made different stops on the way back from Hana.  Our last stop was a beach where sea turtles come ashore to rest in the afternoon and evening.

This beach is also popular among surfers, because of the big waves.

We had a wonderful tour guide.  He took us to places where he doesn’t normally stop, and he omitted some of the customary stops, because he knew Deb wouldn’t be able to do the hiking.

Thursday, December 14

Thursday was our last day on Maui.  It was a breezy morning.  When I went running, the waves on the bay were choppy, but the cooler conditions made it possible for me to run a little farther and take a hillier route without overheating.

After checking out from our hotel, we went shopping in Pa’ia, where we also had lunch.  Pa’ia is a town we drove through on our road to Hana tour on Wednesday.  Deb noticed that it was a small town with the type of mom and pop shops she likes.  It’s not far from Kahului, so it was the perfect place to spend half a day before heading to the airport for our flight to Hilo.

We flew to Hilo in the late afternoon, where our adventures on the Big Island will begin.  To be continued …

Race Report: 2023 Honolulu Marathon

On December 10, I ran the Honolulu Marathon.  I’ve done this race twice before.  In 2009, Deb and I went on a 7-day Hawaii cruise out of Honolulu that visited three other islands before returning to Oahu.  The day after our cruise, I ran the marathon.  In 2015, I returned to Honolulu by myself to run the marathon again, so I could complete my second circuit of marathons in every state.  This year, Deb and I came back to Hawaii together.

A few weeks before our trip, Deb started experiencing severe pain in her left knee.  After she had an MRI, her doctor advised her not to put any weight on that knee for at least three weeks.  Obviously, that put limitations on our plans.  We were able to get Deb a light, compact transfer chair before the trip.  Deb could still get around, but she needed me to be with her to push her.  We could still go where we wanted, as long as it was paved and didn’t involve steps.  What we couldn’t do was to go our separate ways.  If I went running or went to packet pickup by myself, Deb wouldn’t be able to shop or do sightseeing on her own.

Friday, December 8

We arrived in Honolulu in the late afternoon after a nine-hour flight from Minneapolis.  It was a direct flight, but it was still a long travel day.  By the time we got to our hotel in Waikiki, it was 6:30 PM.  There’s a four-hour time difference between Minnesota and Hawaii, so to us it felt like 10:30 PM.

We had enough food on our flight that we didn’t need to have dinner.  After checking in and unpacking a few things, I went to a nearby ABC store to pick up food for breakfast.  The running joke is that ABC stands for “All Blocks Covered.”  You rarely walk more than a block in Waikiki without passing one.

Saturday, December 9

We were up well before dawn.  Nothing is open that early, so we ate a light breakfast in our room, and I went down to the fitness center to do a workout.  As soon as the sun came up, I went for a run around Diamond Head Crater.

After my run, we had brunch at Lulu’s Restaurant.  This is my favorite breakfast spot in Waikiki.  It’s a second floor restaurant, and I didn’t see any way to get up to the restaurant other than the stairs.  I went in to ask if there was another way up and found out there’s a hallway to the restaurant from the second floor of the adjacent hotel.  Going through the hotel worked fine.  It pays to ask.

Next, we went shopping at Duke’s Marketplace.  This is an alleyway in the center of Waikiki where dozens of vendors set up market stalls to sell souvenirs.

After bringing Deb back to the hotel, I walked over to the Hawaii Convention Center to pick up my race packet.  I knew there was a trolley that went to the expo, but I did know where the stops were.  I couldn’t find any information about it on the website for the marathon, so I just walked there and back.

We spent the rest of the afternoon alternately shopping and relaxing.  Here’s a view of Diamond Head from the hotel’s pool deck on the third floor.

The only other sightseeing I did was to walk out to the end of Waikiki Walk.  I couldn’t bring Deb out there, because there’s too much sand for a wheelchair.

We had an early dinner at an Italian restaurant in Waikiki.  They normally don’t open until 5:00, but for marathon runners who wanted to carbo load, they opened at 3:30.

Sunday, December 10

Sunday was race day.  The race started at 5:00 AM, but the start was two miles from our hotel, so I took a bus to the start.  The buses left from a street alongside the Honolulu Zoo.  Our hotel was on that street, so I was able to walk across the street from the hotel to catch a bus.  The last bus leaves at 3:45, so I had to be up pretty early.

I got up at 2:30, but I wasn’t ready to leave the hotel until 3:20.  I didn’t realize I was cutting it close.  After crossing the street, I saw the line of runners waiting to board a bus.  I wasn’t surprised that the line went all the way down the street.  What surprised me was seeing that the line went around the corner.  When I got to the corner, I couldn’t see the end of the line.  I had to walk for five minutes just to get to the back of the line.  The line moved fast, but I wasn’t on a bus until 3:45.  By then, there were only a few buses left, and they were packing them so full that several of us had to stand in the aisle.

Once I was on a bus, it only took 15 minutes to get to the start area at Ala Moana Park.  I still had an hour before the race started.  I spent 20 minutes of that in line to use a port-o-potty.  Then I started walking to the start corrals.

The start corrals stretched out for several blocks.  From the back, you couldn’t even see the starting line.  Based on my estimated finish time, I was assigned to the blue start group.  My race bib has a blue background.  I saw other runners with bibs that had orange, green, or purple backgrounds.  There may have been a few other colors as well.  As I walked toward the starting line, I expected to see signs for the various color groups.  Instead, I saw signs for numbered zones.  I didn’t know how these zones corresponded to the different colors.

I kept walking until I could see the starting line, and I lined up at a distance that made sense to me.  I knew from experience that you need to be fairly close to the start if you plan to run the whole way.  This race has no time limit, and a substantial percentage of the participants will walk the whole way.

I lined up close enough to the front that I was reasonably sure that there wouldn’t be any walkers in front of me.  Looking around me, I saw runners with bibs of all different colors.  Everyone was deciding for themselves where to line up.

When the race started, fireworks went off.  I took one quick picture and then put away my phone, so I could start running.

It was still about 90 minutes before dawn.  The first several miles were in the dark, but we were on city streets with plenty of street lights.  I never had any trouble seeing the road.

For the first half mile, I had to weave around slower runners.  After that, there were no longer any slower runners in front of me, so I could find my own pace.

I felt like I was running at a pace that might be too fast for the conditions.  It was 75 degrees with high humidity.  By the end of the first mile, I was already feeling the humidity.  Then I realized I wasn’t feeling any wind.

I ran the first mile in 9:40.  That’s a minute slower than most of my recent marathons.  It was closer to the pace of an easy training run, yet it didn’t feel easy.  It didn’t feel like it would be sustainable for a marathon.  I generally hold up well in hot temperatures, but if the humidity is high enough, it can force me to slow down.  Mile two was a little faster, but then I slowed to about 9:40 for the next two miles.

The first time I reached an aid station, I only saw water.  In cooler conditions, I’ll sometimes skip an aid station if there’s no Gatorade.  In these conditions, I had to take in fluid at every opportunity.  If I saw Gatorade, I drank it.  If I didn’t, I was happy to drink water.  The important thing was to drink at every aid station.

The first four miles were a loop through the downtown area.  Then we went past Ala Moana Park again and headed toward Waikiki.

As I reached Waikiki, I started to slow down.  In the next few miles, my pace slowed into the 9:50s.  It still seemed like I was working too hard.

At about six miles, we left Waikiki and reached Kapiolani Park, where the race would eventually finish.  They had a 10K race called “Start to Park.”  It started out the same way as the marathon, but finished in Kapiolani Park.

We ran around one side of the park on Diamond Head Road.  Then we continued to run past the south side of Diamond Head Crater.

Going past Diamond Head, there were only two lanes.  We had to stay in the left lane, because runners would eventually come back on the other side of the road.  I though it would be a long time before anyone would come back.  I didn’t think about how much faster the elite wheelchair athletes would be.

In the eighth mile, I started up a gradual hill.  I didn’t want to work too hard on the hill, so I allowed myself to slow down.  That was the first mile that took me more than 10 minutes.  It would also be the last.

It was also in the eighth mile that I started to feel a strong breeze.  We were near the coast, and the breeze really helped to counter the effects of the humidity.

By now, I could make out the shapes of clouds.  At ground level, it was still dark, but the sky was beginning to lighten.

By the end of the ninth mile, I saw several pace vehicles go by on the other side of the road.  They were ensuring the lane was clear for the lead wheelchair athlete.  I was too lazy to figure out what his pace was, but it was obviously fast.  I was just getting to nine miles, and he was already past 23.  The wheelers started before the runners, but only by five minutes.

The next several miles were slightly rolling, but we enjoyed a cool breeze.  It was usually a headwind, but it wasn’t strong enough to be tiring.  It helped a great deal with the humidity.

The first seven miles had been flat.  My pace was generally in the 9:40s and 9:50s, and it felt tiring.  The next several miles wouldn’t be as flat, yet they were much easier.  Now my pace ranged from the 9:30s to the 9:40s, and it didn’t feel tiring.  The wind was a gamechanger.

The next several miles were mostly out-and-back.  As I reached the 18K mark, I saw another pace vehicle.  This one was in front of the lead male.  The next two runners were close behind.

By the time I finished 11 miles, there was plenty of light at ground level.  The sun was above the horizon by now, but I couldn’t see it yet.  It was too low in the sky to be visible above trees and buildings.

In mile 12, I inadvertently sped up.  I ran that mile in 9:13.  That was much faster than any previous mile, but it didn’t feel like it.  It’s possible that mile was downhill.  I certainly wasn’t trying to speed up.

I saw more pace vehicles go by.  This time it was the lead women.  Two women were running stride for stride, while a third gave chase.

A lot of people walk this race or run it slowly, but there’s no shortage of competition among the elite athletes.  Before the race, they announced that the first place male and female would each get a solid gold medal weighing more than six ounces.  They had these medals on display at the expo.

Before the race, I told Deb I would finish sometime between 9:00 and 9:30 AM.  That corresponds to a finish time between 4:00 and 4:30.  At the halfway mark, I was on pace to be right in the middle of that range.  I assumed at this point that I would slow down in the second half.  In a few miles, the conditions would get much tougher.

Between 15 and 17 miles, we did a loop that would eventually lead us back to the same road, but in the opposite direction.  I was about halfway through this loop when I stopped feeling the wind.  It was gradually changing from a headwind to a tailwind as we changed directions.  That might sound like good news, but it isn’t.  When it’s hot and humid, the wind is your friend.  A headwind will cool you off.  A tailwind doesn’t provide the same cooling effect.

At about 16 miles, I heard someone in the crowd call my name.  We all had our names on our race bibs, but this sounded like someone who recognized me.  I turned my head in time to see Glen, who lives here.  I was surprised to see him in the crowd.  I thought he would be running the race.

By 17 miles, I was starting to feel the sun.  It wasn’t constant.  There were still shady areas, but when I was out in the open, the heat of the sun was one more thing that would make the last nine miles more difficult.

I fully expected to slow down now, but I didn’t.  In the previous few miles my times were consistently in the 9:30s.  Now, my slower miles were in the 9:30s, but my faster miles were in the 9:20s.

Often, I’ll work hard to maintain or improve my pace in the second half of a race.  I wasn’t trying to do that.  This wasn’t a goal race for me.  My next race has a fast course, and I’ll be gunning for a fast time.  I was planning to hold back in this race, to make sure I would still have gas in the tank for the next one.

I was on auto-pilot.  I don’t know if I was simply continuing to run with the same rhythm, or if I was subconsciously running at the same pace as the people around me.  Usually, the runners around me will begin to slow down in the second half of a race.  That didn’t seem to be happening.  I was speeding up slightly, but I wasn’t passing the other runners.

The next few miles were tough, but I kept up my pace.  When I got to 20 miles, I could see the top of Diamond Head in the distance.  I knew it was still a few miles away.  I also knew the finish would be a few miles beyond that.  Still, it was a tangible sign of my progress as I headed back toward the city.

By now, the sun was getting higher in the sky.  There were still shady spots, but most of the time the sun was on me.

After the 22 mile mark, I started passing most of the other runners around me.  Some were walking, but I was also passing the ones who were still running.  I assumed the people around me were finally slowing down in the heat.  I was wrong.  At 23, I saw that I had sped up to 8:58 in that mile.  That was my fastest mile so far by a wide margin.

I was almost back to Diamond Head Road.  Before I got there, I had to climb a gradual hill.  There was a brief downhill, but once I turned onto Diamond Head Road, I had to go uphill again.  I slowed in mile 24, but not by much.  It was still faster than 9:20. 

Now I was on the last hill.  It was the same hill that slowed me down in mile eight, but now I was approaching it from the opposite direction.  I knew I would crest the hill just before the 40K mark.  I also knew it would be mostly downhill from there to the finish.

By now, it was obvious to be that I was going to run negative splits.  My pace in the second half had been consistently faster than my pace in the first half.  My slowest mile of the first half was mile eight, when I was climbing this same hill from the other side.  That mile took 10:11.  If I could run mile 25 in 10 minutes that would still be faster.

I put some effort into this hill.  I thought I might slow down a little, but I was pretty sure it would be faster than 10 minutes.

Near the top of the hill, there are two small parking areas for a scenic overlook.  In one of these parking areas, there was a drum band, accompanies by a guy blowing a conch shell.  I focused on the beat of the drums as I made it up the last part of the hill.

Just after I crested the hill, I saw a beer stop set up in another parking area near the Diamond Head Lighthouse.  If I was still going uphill, I would’ve skipped it.  Knowing I was beginning a long downhill section, I saw no reason not to have a dixie cup of PBR before charging down this hill.

When I got my split for mile 25, I saw that I didn’t slow down at all.  I ran mile 25 in 9:19.  That's the same time as mile 24, in spite of the hill.  This was the mile that I would've been happy to run in 10 minutes.

It was downhill all the way to Kapiolani Park, and I worked it.  I reached the 41K mark just before entering the park.

Earlier in the race, we ran around one side of the park.  Now, we had to run around the other side.  I had just under half a mile to go, but I would have to go around one last bend before I could see the finish line.  The finish was level, but most of mile 26 had been downhill.  I sped up to 8:13 in that mile.  That was by far my fastest mile of the race.

With about 100 meters to go, I had a sudden urge to pee.  Was that the beer?  Was that all the water and Gatorade I drank during the race?  Was I starting to relax in anticipation of finishing?  I didn’t know, but I had to hold it in.

I finished the race in 4:10:18.  I ran negative splits by six minutes.  If you told me I would do that at the halfway mark, I wouldn’t have believed you.  Conditions were tougher in the last 10 miles, and I wasn’t trying for negative splits until the last three.  It just happened.

The finisher medals had the same design as the ones the winners received, but they weren’t made of gold.

As I made my way through the finish area, my first priority was making a bathroom stop.  Then I picked up my finisher shirt.  Most races give you a shirt at packet pickup, but some of the older races still give you your shirt at the finish line.  This is one of those old school races.

On my way out of the park, I picked up a banana and a sweet roll to eat as I walked back to the hotel.

For the rest of the day, Deb and I stayed close to the hotel.  We each had different reasons for not wanted to venture out.  Deb didn’t want to spend too much time in the intense afternoon sun.  I was too fatigued from the race to do too much additional walking.

Tomorrow, we’ll fly to Maui.  To be continued  …

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:10:18

Average Pace:  9:33 per mile (5:56 per kilometer)

First Half:  2:08:15

Second Half:  2:02:03

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  501