Yesterday was my (yes, MY) annual 8.15mi fun run in Honolulu. Last year I believe there were about 17,000 runners which was just about right. Yesterday, there were appx. 24,700 of us all fighting to get parking, potties and clear running lanes and it was just too crowded. But the spirit of Aloha is what the run is all about so it was still worth doing. I carpooled with 4 of my girlfriends which made it way more fun all around. With all the additional runners, it took about half an hour longer to get into a parking space than it normally does and we almost missed the last bus to the starting line.
Thankfully I learned my lesson last year (the hard way) and remembered to bring toilet paper for me & my friends because the porta potties were completely out (Ewww GROSS!). With that all out of the way, we missed all the pre-race fun (anthems, patriotic birds, water cannons and of course the military all running with flags in formation singing inspiring cadences) our group got separated from eachother and we were trapped in the dreaded 'back of the pack' with all the strollers. Kathy and I found eachother in the staging area and started pressing forward but didn't cross the starting line until 27 minutes after the race started. I usually get across the start in about 5 minutes. It was that packed.
Didn't do as well as I had planned on but the way my life has been so crazy at work for the past 4 months and not doing nearly as much training and physical preparation as I'd hoped and having to run an extra mile laterally it seems dodging strollers and walkers, I'm satisfied. With a time of 1:23:25 (I was shooting for 1:21), I did still beat my previous personal best by about 1.5 minutes, finished in the top 4,000 runners and was the 5th overall from my hometown. Ram even conceeded that makes me somehow 'elite'. He supported me by staying home with the kids and letting me have my fun.
I am a little tender all over this morning but the most unexpected pain I'm feeling is in my right wrist. After reflecting all morning, I figured out it must be due to me taking out one of our fine military brothers at the finish line yesertdy. I normally finish about the last 50 yards of my runs with an all out sprint to the finish line (some would say this is a bad idea but it just feels so good to let the horses loose at the end).
So there I was heading through the tunnel onto the Aloha Stadium astroturf towards the finish line in full stride at top speed when suddenly out of nowhere a big black brother in military fatigues holding hands with his girlfriend makes a 90-degree turn into my path (he must have just spotted the military exit area to the left of the Finish line) and they completely blocked my path. I was about 2 strides from him, in the second that it took for my eyes to pop out of my face and for him to glance over to see that he was about to be assaulted I reached out my arm to defend myself and plowed it into his chest at the same moment that the most unexpected sound escaped my lips.
It sounded something like "JEWW!!" which I can only guess was a combination of something like Gees! and Shoot! I was going so fast that after my palm made impact with his chest, I glanced off him he staggered back a step and I continued hurling to the finish line then looked back but they were out of view. I'm still laughing to myself wondering if he thought it was odd being called a 'Jew' by the crazy white lady who just left a dent in his torso. My wrist is sore today from the impact. Thankfully he was a big man or it could have been worse for him but I still hope he's OK.
This Friday I'm taking Ram and the kids to UT for a week with me on my way to a conference for work the following week in TX. The forecast in UT is predicting snow this Sat so I'm excited. Ram and the kids have never been in real snow before so it'll be a cool first experience for them. Can't wait to see family and friends there and visit places we haven't seen in over a decade. I'm just still stoked that we got all three of their round trip tickets for under $5 total by using my frequent flier miles and we have free lodging and a car from friends. This will be a really awesome low budget vacation.
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