Honolulu Recap
Good Morning to all the beautiful runners who may be reading this.
First off I just want to apologize for the absence these last 6 months. In that time I was able to participate in 4 races, making plans for my 3rd marathon, take a quick vacations to Washington, DC, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Honolulu, Hi, and make plans for Chicago, Il, and Clinton, WA. Things have been great with work, my family, my dog, and the love of my life.
I just wanted to hop back on here and share a few of my thoughts about the Honolulu Marathon. I’ve taken about 2 months to really sit down and settle my thoughts and figure out just what I wanted to share about this race.This is a beautiful race, and if you are a first time marathoner, or maybe have not done many marathons, this is a great race. It is a big race and it will definitely feel like the whole Island is running with you. The top things that I felt were selling points for this race, are the views you will see along the race, the medal, and that there is NO TIME LIMIT!
One of the greatest moments in the race was the starting line. If I remember right it was like either a 5 am or 6 am start time and there were fireworks for DAYS! I feel like there was a solid 30 minutes of fireworks, which to us at the time being seasoned Disney runners was mind blowing.
Now while this is a great marathon for first time or new marathoners like myself, there were a few things I think could have definitely been improved on! Firstly the expo was nothing to write home about, as a seasoned half marathoner and race enthusiast, this was a pretty sad display. I think we stayed at the expo for a total of 20 maybe 30 minutes. The booths were okay priced, and the volunteers were nice enough, but i think after having been spoiled by the Publix expos where we have snacks and free things for DAYS, this one was a big let down.
Secondly, this is probably the biggest down point of the race, they ran out of so much stuff while on the course. They I believe were giving out gu packets and gatorade at some of the stops when we initially ran by them, seeing them and looking forward to them when we made it to them on the loop back. We were far from last in the race, probably middle to back of the middle of the pack. As we made our way back to these stops they were completely out of everything except water. Maybe it appears to you all differently, but from my perspective, it seems like poor planning and not anticipating the crowd that they had.
If there is one thing that I can emphasis about this race, you will need to be well trained. I was not, and it did not go well. I had a few snags in my training, a car accident, a pulled muscle etc. This course has some beautiful views, but be prepared because you will be running up and down MANY hills on the island. I mentioned earlier there is no time limit for this race, that is awesome, however my first marathon I probably walked half of it and finished in 6hours 15 minutes. This marathon I walked about half of it and finished in 8 hours ish. It is also a very warm time of year, be prepared that it will be hot, a little humid, and may sprinkle, as it rained everyday we were on the island. That includes the marathon day, while we were in the “ice bath” pool that was attached to our hotel. But being truly trained for this race is so important.
I wish I could talk about the aid stations, because they always looked fully stocked up and prepared for the amount of people running in the race.
There were many people throughout the race that you could tell either had not trained or pushed it too hard in the first few miles. It was really sad and hard to watch when you yourself are getting tired, hungry, hurt, cranky, etc. You would be running along and see people collapsing or just crying sitting on the ground. Many were tired, bright red, overheating, and hungry. All you want to do is stop and help them or encourage them. There were many restaurants and stores along the course that you can stop off at to refuel! If you are running this race, listen to your body, stop when you need to, and eat as much as you need to keep going.
Overall my thoughts on this race are that it is a beautiful race and I will probably never do it again. It was a cheap race, only $80, but the costs of getting there, the hotels, the food, they lyfts, and everything else that came with the “race-cation” it cost somewhere around $1600 for a week. I understand that that may not be bad for some of you, but for a disappointing race, and trying to stick to a small budget, it was definitely something I don’t want to do again. I encourage anyone who has never ran a marathon or a new marathoner to definitely give this race a shot!
