Honolulu Marathon 07 Race Report (Read 409 times)

I know its a month (a year?) late, but i had this posted in the RA coaching group and forgot to put it in the main forum. Modified it a bit and here it is Enjoy! Man what a crazy race. It sure wasn't easy the second time around. It didn't help that i have been sick the week leading to the marathon. The weather has been super windy and pretty much thunderstorms everyday of the week so that hasn't help with the sickness. I wasn't getting any better the night before the marathon so i figure i'll go through the motion and decide in the morning whether i'll race or not. We woke up at 2:30 AM to a big huge downpour. Not feeling that great but i decided what the hell. By the time we head out to the race start around 4 AM things quiet down a bit and we were lined up by about 4:30 AM. About 10 minutes later started pouring hard again, but me and my wife (and about 100 other people) stayed relatively dry under a banyan tree. After the fireworks, the race started, we started moving slowly toward the start line, and I mean slowly...We were only about 1/4 block away from the start but it took over 4 minutes. I had to pee really bad right at the start and tried to pee on the bushes in front of this apartment building but got kicked off by security guard so I ended up having to pee after the start.There were some many people that it was hard to get going. I wasn't really feeling that good so I didn't feel like weaving in and out of the crowd. Tried to maintain a pace that allowed me to breathe ok which was over 10 minute miles at that time. By about mile 2 another downpour came down and this one lasted for about 10 minutes and soaked everybody. I was actually glad it rained because i was feeling kind of feverish, felt my temperature was rising and overall feeling craptacular, contemplating pulling out. But the rain cooled me off a bit and i thought if i just stuck with it for a while it should be ok. I really had to watch my footing because of all the rain, you can't see the potholes. I wasn't able to put down anything below 10 minute miles until mile 11 when I started feeling good and had my pace drop down to between 9:30 and 9:40. Then darkness came at mile 18. Pace slowed back down to over 10 minute miles, 10:15, 10:30 and then boom...cramping. After that it was just the ol' shuffle, stretch, run, stop, stretch, shuffle, run, repeat until mile 25 where i just went for it, cramps and all, to the finish line. My chip time was 4:41:35...slower than what i had originally expected, better than what i had expected at the start of the race. Its a 25 minute PR over the same course and i was pretty happy. My wife came in at 4:31:15, 11 minute worse then her time last year. She also wasn't feeling very well, she screwed up her back (or rather the chiropractor she had fixing her for another thing messed it up) which somehow made it hard for her to breathe. But we both did the best we could under the circumstances. I really need to figure out this cramping business which has been consistent in both of my marathons. In the first marathon i attributed it to some poor race nutrition management. But i was pretty good this year, with five gels every 45 minutes. I don't think that was an issue this year. I had a good chance of going 4:15 - 4:20 had I managed to avoid the cramping. Fluids were not a problem, there were tons of aid stations with both water and gatorade and with the rainy/cloudy conditions the heat was not a factor. I did manage to do only one run during the taper week which maybe a factor, plus being sick might be another cause. I might try the salt tablet option in the next one and see if that helps. Another marathon down, looking forward to the next one.

Thanks for the report Steve, I was wondering how it went for you. It's a bummer that you were sick, but a great PR still. Just think of how much more you can PR at your next race when you are healthy!

five gels every 45 minutes

I hope you mean 5 total, one every 45 minutes.

Aloha Surfnrun mahalo for the great race report. Great PR in such wet conditions and feeling crappy. Honolulu was my first and only marathon (05) and I loved it. Heard they had some timing issues this year. As for the cramping issue...no idea. How's your overall sodium/potassium level? You eat plenty plate lunches? Lots of sodium but usually not much potassium there. I suspect it is diet as it comes at the end when you are at your lowest level...you might want to review your overall daily nutrition intake. Just a suggestion.....