May 2013
Hele on Kailua was a fun Mother’s Day race that I had the
pleasure of running with my big sister.
This race was right in the middle of my not running, but doing ample
physical therapy time, and was somehow a month before my first half marathon (long story). And who doesn’t want to run a 5k while on
vacation in Hawaii!
I’ve never run a 5k like this before. The course consisted of 3 loops through a
park right on the beach. I think pretty
much everything is right on the beach when referring to Hawaii. I started out too fast, because it just felt
good to be running again. The course was
a bit hilly, and the humidity was, predictably, pretty thick. The race was really small, small enough that
people were actually checking to make sure each runner ran the 3 loops and didn’t
try to Kip Litton the 5k. The humidity
started to get to me a little after the first mile, since it was still pretty
cool weather wise back home. I hadn’t
run in warm humid conditions since the summer prior.
Looking at the Pacific Ocean while running was awesome. Birds
swooping and screeching, bystanders clapping and high-fiving, and the crescendo
of waves hitting the shore matched every step.
There was a recently married Japanese couple taking photos that everyone
had to run right past 3 times. I’m sure
there was nothing more romantic then a bunch of sweaty runners huffing right
through your wedding photos. Sorry about
that. I might have been the girl who
waved at the camera a few times as well.
Again, I apologize. I think by
the end they just gave up and were waiting for the race to be over.
I finished in a respectable, but not PR time of 25:39. Not awful for literally not having run for
almost two months.
Thank you Hawaii, for the awesome memories.
