Monday, September 19, 2011

To the top ...

... of Diamond Head, that is one of the runs I wanted to do since I got into this running thing. Oh yeah, it's also because I am blessed with a job that sends me to Oahu a couple of times a year. Any ways, I plotted it out last April when I was last on the island. From the hotel, a round trip would be about 7 miles and depending on which way I wanted to go, one of the legs was going to be a bit longer than the other since the entrance to Diamond Head was on the northern side. It seemed to make sense to go the longer route on the first leg since I will be fresher. In April I wasn't ready to undergo this run since I knew that I would need probably a Camelbak or something similar to stay properly hydrated. As much as I love the weather in Ventura and SoCal as it is very conducive for me to run longer distances, it doesn't help me run in a warm and muggy climate that is Hawaii. So wait for my next trip was the new plan.

Here we are in September and my next trip to Oahu. I was prepared this time with a good hydration backpack - it's a Costco model but it works and holds ample amount of water. I had just run a half two weeks ago so I am used to running a long distance. I took off from the hotel a little after 9, maybe later than I should have, but it wasn't too bad temp-wise. An added bonus was a good tradewind to cool me off on the first leg. I decided to go on the southern route, the longer, for the first leg. After a couple of miles of basically flat run it started to climb gradually. Had to take a couple of walk breaks on the way there but overall felt good about my run. Even was keeping a good pace when I was running. Maybe if I slowed down a bit I would have been able to run all the way. 4.5 miles after I started I got to the entrance from the main road to Diamond Head.

I took a good break, fueled up and decided that I would go up to the top of DH. I walked the first part as it was fairly steep and also went through a tunnel - didn't want to get run over by the cars going in and out. Walked most of the way to the top, sometimes slow as I waited for others and when it cleared picked up the pace. The round trip took me a little more than an hour and was well worth the added exercise. When I got back to the entance to DH I stopped again but not as long as the first time. Also didn't feel the need to fuel up as the second leg was downhill. Off I went back to the hotel and as luck would have it, DH was blocking whatever tradewinds there was and it got warmer and harder to run. I stopped running many times and took walk breaks but I continued on. The next 3 miles was done at a 12 minute pace but I got back to the hotel. Another run objective met, but I am sure that I would love to try this again the next time I am back on Oahu.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

It's all about Disney

After a very long wait I finally participated in the Disneyland half marathon. This was the race that got me even slightly interested in running. Last year my friend Michelle invited me to walk the half marathon - I had been walking a few miles as part of my quest to lose weight and get in better shape/health. I figured that setting a race goal would help me to keep walking. So I signed up for the race. As luck would have it a work trip forced me to miss out on the race, but it was a trip to France so I was okay with it. Later on in September last year I signed up to walk the Wounded Warrior 5K, and I did that in a good time for walking, about 41 minutes. However, walking that fast was beginning to hurt so I decided that if I was to enter more races in the future it would be better to maybe jog a few hundred yards every mile. I was blessed that I was able to extend those few hundred yards to miles, and running them at a decent pace.

Fast forward to September 2011, Labor Day weekend, race weekend!!! It started out with a long fun day at the parks on Friday with my friend Michelle, the same friend who invited me participate in the race last year. Saturday had an early start to it with the Star Tours 5K, a fun race in which time is not kept. This freed us up to have pictures taken with characters or at cool locations. How often can one get a picture taken in front of the Mickey with no one else around, or Sleeping Beauty's castle just as empty? With the race theme being Star Tours, Mickey dressed up as a Jedi Knight and Minnie was Princess Leia. A good time was had by all and it was also a good warm up for the half to be held the next day. Here are some of the pictures from the 5K.



















This race was the biggest race in which I have participated, with over 15,000 runners and walkers registered. Luckily I was able to get a qualifying time fast enough to move me to the first starting corral. Knowing that there were gonna be many people who would be much faster than me I waded my way near the back of the corral. Here's a view of the starting line (near the video screen) from about 1800 runners back. The start of the race was 6 AM, and the weather behaved for the most part. It was in the mid 60s at the start, the sky was mostly cloud free and humidity wasn't high yet. It warmed up a little bit but not bad at all. Another wonderful thing about the race was some friends were also running it, although we were all spread out in different corrals. My friends Becky, Ron and Michelle from SB Search were there, along with Linda and Chuck from the running club.

The race started in Downtown Disney area and went through the parks the first couple of miles. It then went through the streets of Anaheim, including a view of the sun rising as we ran down Ball Road. A few turns here and there and there we were by the Honda Center. After a brief jaunt on the Santa Ana River Trail we ended up Angel Stadium, where we actually got to run inside the field. OK, it was on the warning track along the right field side and then the left field side. As we ran by the third base dugout a video camera caught the runners and displayed us on the big screen in left field. Way cool!!!

Well, I made it all the way to the finish line. My first half was a couple of minutes faster than the second half so not bad at all. I ended up taking a few walk breaks the last few miles but not slow enough to keep me from attaining a secondary goal. My first goal was always to participate in the race, finish and get that pretty cool medal. A second goal was to complete the 13.1 miles in under two hours. It helped that at every mile marker there was a clock to let me know how I was doing.




Finish the race, I did and it was an incredible feeling. I wish that I could have connected with my other friends right after the race. The different starting corrals, the different times it took us to complete the distance, and the huge number of people there which overwhelmed the cell phone capacity kept us from doing that. Still it was a great weekend, one which I would love to do again over and over.