Maui 1/2 Marathon = Personal BEST!

It has now been 1 week and a day since I finished the Maui Oceanfront 1/2 Marathon. For the past week, I was just too busy relaxing and enjoying the beautiful Maui weather and terrain to update my blog.


This was right before the race started!

I am THRILLED to report that I set a personal record in the 1/2 marathon. I ran my first 1/2 marathon in October, and finished in 2:09:59, which was under my goal of 2:10. This time my goal was simply to beat that time and set a personal record. I started out feeling really good, and set a pace of just over 9 minutes a mile. I wanted to keep the pace at 9:30, and did a pretty good job. Thanks to a great physical therapist, my IT Band did not bother me at all!

Running hard (near the 9 mile marker)! Look at the beautiful ocean I ran next too. I even saw a whale breech during the first 2 miles. Thanks to my friend, Sara, for the great picture. Every time that I saw Sara and Chad cheering me on, I smiled and pushed a little harder!

Somewhere around mile 10.5 I started to get a little distracted and tired. I could not push myself to get below 10 minutes/mile no matter how hard I tried. The mind games started and I tried to focus on finishing strong, and then it happened.....

I often talk about how "true" marathon runners will just urinate on themselves to avoid having to stop. First off, I do NOT consider myself a "true" runner. But I almost had no choice, the more I tried to concentrate and tell myself that I did not have to pee, the more I felt like I was going to pee down my leg! Luckily, with 1.5 miles left there was a water station and a port-a-potty. If you know me, you know I am not a huge fan of port-a-potties anyway, and on this day, it was absolutely disgusting!! I will not go into details here, but suffice it to say I nearly threw up as well. So I wasted 30 seconds in the NASTY port-a-potty and was on my way to a strong finish. My final time (including the port-a-potty stop) 2:03:12. Early on in the race, I thought I might make it in under 2:00, but I did not, and nevertheless, I was so HAPPY with my finish. My friend, Beth, often talks about finishing strong with your arms in the air in victory, and I did just that!

After the race I got a massage. I finished just as my friend, Dani, crossed the finish line for her first 1/2 marathon. So the cheering squad and I got in the car to go cheer on Dani's husband, Justy, as he finished the full marathon. (Justy and I were supposed to run the full marathon together, but after I was injured, I decided to do just the 1/2.) We caught up to him with about 4 miles left in the race. He was walking and looked tired and ready to quit. I decided to put my running shoes back on and finish the last 3 miles with him, a la Biggest Loser. You know, when the friends or family show up during their run to help run a portion of the marathon and encourage them! I tried to encourage Justy, and help him finish strong. He was swollen and beat, but I did manage to get him to run for a little while when the professional photographer was on the road, and to run the last 1/2 mile. He finished a marathon and I am proud of him! Later that day, we walked about 4 miles down the beach. So my total for the day with walking and running was about 20 miles. I am SO ready to train hard for Kenosha!