How do you feel after running a marathon?

A combo of this......

...and this.....!

5hr 23mins 55secs

A full 30 minutes faster than last years, my personal marathon record!

The EARLY start - 4am! I decided to tape (and yes, I now have a very funky tan line!)

The medal, the shell lei and the two beautiful flower leis Laura, Daniela and Cordelia greeted me with at the end of the run!

The afternoon, whiled away napping and reading. More later when I get some mid-run photos!

See how I run!

Hannah helps me with marathon prep! I love these Injinji toe socks! They're great for preventing blisters (I have literally had none since I started wearing these for running), and though I was worried about their longevity as running socks (all those extra seams), these are the same pair I ran my first marathon in last year!

Number on okay - check!

Shoes ready - check!

Okay, here are the details -

Go to - http://www.honolulumarathon.org/ - click on "live results tracking"

Enter either my last name (Waller) or my number (6861) and it should let you know where I am when! If you're on Facebook with me my status should be updating automatically as I cross each of the timing mats too.

Last year it took 15 minutes to cross the line at the start, and i'm thinking of starting in around the same spot, should be accounted for in the timing somewhere (it's all chips) I think there were five mats - 10K, 1/2 marathon, 30K and 40K, 26.2 miles! So you'll be able to see how i'm doing!

We start at 5am (7am West Coast; 10am East Coast; 3pm UK time)!

My goals for this year, very similar to last year - finish, finish in 6hrs, run the last mile and most of all HAVE FUN!

There's still time to sponsor me too! Thanks to some AMAZING people (yes that's you!) I am now over the total I wanted to raise by $60 - woo hoo! How much further over can we go??

And - good luck to Kim running the Holiday Half Marathon in Oregon tomorrow too!

Picked up the Packet!

Went and picked up my race number and packet this afternoon - the expo wasn't too crowded which was super nice! I actually took Hannah with me too, good for Jenny as she got a couple of hours "off", good for me as I had a cutie pie everyone doted over as we went around the stalls! Hannah loved it too, she helped me pick out a t-shirt and hat.

The Honolulu expo, as far as I can tell as I haven't actually run a marathon anywhere else, is somewhat small, unassuming, and primarily in Japanese. I remember being pretty disappointed last year, at least this year I knew what to expect! I did get my shins taped by the nice people at KT tape though - well, I got one shin taped (the right one) and then went on my 3 mile run. I've been having problems with shin splints this year (erm....lack of training perhaps?), and I have to say, I think i'm a believer. The right shin was great on the run, the left had it's usual pain. So I got home and taped my other shin to see if it would help with the pain overnight (they last ~3 days they said), I hope so! It gives me practice before M-Day regardless as i'll need to redo it before then anyway, and this way I can decide if I really want to run with multi-coloured tape all over my legs.....could make for an interesting tan!

I also got to try on a skirt from Running Skirts - the lady there was super nice! They only had wild colours at the store, so I think i'm going to order one online sometime, they gave me a voucher for 20% off, not to be sniffed at and these skirts have the perfect length shorts underneath for my chunky thighs!

Am I ready? I don't think so.....but then I seem to remember not thinking so last year either! I have my number and I just double checked my time for last year 5hrs 53 minutes. If I can come close to that again i'll be happy. It'll be interesting to see - less training and fitness vs experience on the course - which will win out!

I'm back!

And oh i've been enjoying the week of quiet time and not being bugged, sometimes it's just nice to be off the radar, but I guess that has to end sometime. Life has been going well, but I totally fooled myself into thinking it would be quieter once the container left, work was basically on hold there for a few weeks, so that all hit me and a week and a half on and i'm still playing catch-up! 

Here's the update in photos.....

Week before last  - Tuesday I spent the day cleaning my little Grodnick house and making sure there was nothing I forgot that needed to go into the container, doing some final packing and repacking of the container.

Week before last - Wednesday - the container was picked up and headed out on it's way. It won't arrive in Maine until the 27th December, just a few days before I do! Right at the moment it's somewhere getting close to California, it should be there on the 30th.

Last weekend - a little Aloha in the Park, getting my leaving party done and dusted - a little early, but with impending holidays and some major marine conferences, this was the best time to catch everyone. Last weekend all saw me start running again, it's been 2 weeks of very sporadic training, and now i'm pretty worried about the marathon.

Last weekend - sweet friends, presented me with a dive computer as a leaving gift, alongside a dancing hula girl for Beach Belle. I'll be thinking fondly of my friends here in Hawaii while I dive in Maine in January!

Last weekend - the end of the Aloha in the Park - a great moonrise, was beautiful!

This week - it's been all about catching up with work, running, and of course Thanksgiving holiday! I love this photo of Hannah and her Dadda!

Jenny and Doug did the first hosting of Thanksgiving in their new kitchen! I cooked the turkey for the day, came out pretty well I think!

This week - Todd and Doug give the turkey some serious carving...

This week - and of course there was plenty of dessert to go around too....:0)

Yesterday - here it was Furlough Friday (that's an enforced unpaid day off work, and a non-teaching day - woo hoo!) and the first one I actually didn't go into work for. I did a little work at home, but mostly hung out with Jenny and Hannah, which was really fun!

So what now. Well, i'm typing this lying in bed trying to stuff down some food at 5.30am so I can run my last long run of marathon training, 20 miles. I'm just hoping it doesn't rain, it's been wet and windy last few days. I'm still $100 from my goal of raising $1 per training mile for Sophie and the SADS Foundation - so if you haven't donated to charity recently now's a good chance to do so! Today's 20 miler is dedicated to my Dad and Sanchia - thanks for sponsoring me guys!

Other than that it's teaching (=exhausting!), catching up with work and trying to get myself organized to actually leave in less than 4 weeks. Yikes that's creeping up! I'll post more often from now.

Moving and Participating

Hannah gives me a lesson in how to organize my wallet. She's so much more organized than me!

The move went well this weekend, I didn't finish packing up my house, but that's okay, I have until the weekend to get my place squared away so I can move boxes into the container. It's been cute staying with Jenny and Hannah (Doug is out at a conference this week, returns on thursday). Hannah helped me settle in well....:0)

Apparently if I want to run faster I have to eat more blueberries.....that's what the whirling dervish tells me anyway!

Participating in the half marathon went well too. I like to say I participate rather than compete, as it's only in my dreams I would ever actually compete in running. It did go well though - 2 hrs 26 minutes - not bad, and nearly a half hour off my only other half marathon. I was a little bummed, as I thought I was doing better than that, but since I did run 2 miles down and 3 miles back after i'm not going to complain. My knee has been sore since though which considering my knee history i'm a little worried about - so i'm sitting with ice right now - much better today than yesterday, so i'm sure I just tweaked it a little trying to run the last downhill over Diamond Head. Sounds ridiculous, but sometimes running down is harder, and hurts more, than running up. I was pretty proud of myself as I ran all the ups and actually stuck to my plan (mostly) of running between water stops, walking for a minute or two after to refresh, and then running on. Only in the somewhat killer stretch on the way back to Diamond Head (a long way without water with no shade) did I walk a little. And in the marathon I know there is a water stop on that stretch, so I didn't feel too badly.

The one thing this race did tell me is that I can't expect a faster marathon time this year. Originally I was kind of hoping to, but this race cinched that that probably isn't going to happen, I just haven't had the time to do that kind of training. Maybe I can shave ten minutes or so, that would be nice, but anything more than that I think, this year, is just unrealistic. Oh well, at least I am still participating, and it's going to be fun!

Bedtime story with the whole family!

But now it's night night time, i'm pooped, today was a full day of teaching, meetings and loading samples, and tomorrow (and this week) aren't looking any better! If I don't update before next week when the container is gone, please excuse me, i'll be back soon!

Well....

So I finally sat down and worked out my distance for yesterdays run (long story, but I didn't have my Nike pod in my shoe as i'd put them in my new shoes to try out and forgot to change them back), and as suspected, I lied, I didn't do 18, I did 14.2. I thought it was a tad short......:0)

Oh well, this week was supposed to be a 14 anyway, with next week an 18, but as i'm doing a half marathon race next weekend i'd switched them over. I'm moving into Jenny and Dougs next weekend too (did I mention TIME FLIES!), which will actually work out great for the race, as they live about 2 miles from the start - so i'll run to the start and run back, thereby making it up to pretty darn close to 18 miles next weekend. I'm not sure i'll feel like that was such a good idea next weekend on the way back, but ah well, at least i'll have done the miles, all be it a little broken up!

Hope you're all having a good one, on the cards for today is....you guessed it....packing! And we're moving my large plant pots to Laura's house, as she's going to take them over. First, it must be nap time! I'm already a big fan of midday napping (really need to land a job in Spain!), but with all this running, I seem to need the naps more, especially since my schedule has been so crazy it's been 5-6hrs max at night for me for the last couple of weeks.

I think I have a shoe problem.....

My new running shoes arrived this week. My neighbors were laughing - "why are their boxes arriving when you're leaving so soon!". If only they knew.....

I couldn't find my running shoes around the island (except in one store that wanted $20 over internet price), so I ordered online. Here's what I ended up getting....

A new pair of Nike Structure Triax (left), the shoe that ended my shin splints so i'm sticking to like glue. While Road Runner Sports had free shipping I decided it was more economic to buy the trail running version of the same shoe (right - 'aint they pretty!) at the same time  to get me psyched up for running in Maine - can I hear a woot woot? The difference I hear you ask - the trail running version is water-resistant (gore-tex), has a grippier sole, slightly more cushion and nifty things like a sewn in tongue to stop water getting in there. And they are purple. Why oh why don't they make the road running version in purple? Why oh why don't my feet and legs like running shoes that are actually purple? Since the rest of my life is purple, there is a mystery....

clockwise from left: My first marathon shoes (structure triax 12, 500+ miles), my current running shoes (100 miles), my new trail shoes (0 miles) and my new road running shoes (0 miles)

My kingdom of shoes. I should put all these outside the door then my neighbors would really think i'm hiding dead bodies in my 300 sq ft house! Kidding aside, this shot actually makes me feel better about this purchase I really could have done without right now. Look at the difference between my current running shoes and the new ones. I can't believe how worn they look already at 100 miles in (the blue ones were also originally white mesh, not grey!), and there is another 189 miles to go before the marathon!

By the time the marathon comes along, I could have risked injury just having the one pair of shoes. Last year I got a stress fracture in my foot from the marathon, probably because i'd worn the same shoes throughout the training as I did in the race, now at least i'll have a pair i'll gently break-in, and i'm more likely to get to Maine still being able to walk (a bonus!).

I really thought when I first started running you could throw on any shoes and just go. Shin splints taught me I needed to have the right shoe that supports in the right places. Now returning shin and knee pain have taught me you need to keep track of how many miles your shoes have - running shoes average between 300 - 500 miles a pair before they need to be replaced, and I learnt that the hard way! In normal running that would probably last me a year, in marathon training those miles add up fast. The program i'm on sees around 450 miles in training over 12 weeks to get you ready - and that's the novice level!

The other thing in my parcel? Easy Laces! These bungee laces were really an awesome find (my friend Laura bought me a pair for xmas!) - not only are they super easy for the on and off (great after a hard workout, and awesome for plane security lines!), but they also support my foot so much better during running than normal laces - not too tight, even so no hard spots and just enough flex. I stopped having foot aches and pinches, and stopped having to re-tie laces a dozen times on runs when I discovered these. I've tried another companies bungee laces too - Easy Laces are my favorite - and I needed another pair to put on my trail runners - don't they look good!

The only problem.....

Nike laces are NICE! Anyone need laces for stocking stuffers??

This week saw me run 34 miles (18 miles today!) - my third longest week (Marathon week is number 2 at 36.2 miles and in 3 weeks I have a 40 miler) - so i'm off to have some ice cream! Hope you all have a good weekend and Happy Halloween!

Loving in running!

Loving my rocking North Face Eat My Dust run skirt! I've had this for about 6 months and adore it (it has compression shorts under to stop my rugby player thighs rubbing), this photo was taken after this mornings 16 miler! Don't love - that I got it in closeout so can't get another, and definitely don't love that my house is filled with boxes, ug. I also kind of love how this photo makes me look way skinnier than I am in reality right now, must be my best angle....:0)

Loving Espresso Love and Island Nectars Gu! These, and Vanilla, are my favorites. I love love love the Island Nectars, I did get this box free though through a GU offer, and am not sure i'd fork out again for the "Roctanes" (it's not like I go fast enough to really need those!), but it tastes just like Mai Tais, and who doesn't need a Mai Tai at mile 20??

And my Amphipod! I love Amphipods, this is the Run Lite Air Stretch, just picked it up the other day and tried it on todays long one - love it! It is so hot here, and in certain areas water fountains are not placed the ideal distances. It's also good to take along some energy drink powder to fuel up alongside the GU. I love that it's velcro, my previous low budget one was a buckle, and so hard to adjust mid run, this one is awesome and really doesn't bounce at all. When I walked I lowered it on my hips, when I ran I revelcro-ed it higher up. The one I got is a little too large (the only size they had, and a coupon I had runs out soon), so I need to sew some more velcro on there today, an afternoon project.....after those boxes.....

Skirt Sports

I'm such a sucker for "kit", but man, isn't this Skirt Sports running skirt so darn pretty!?! No, I haven't ordered it........i'm trying to be good.....but it is purple and has flowers on it........and it benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society........anyone need an xmas present idea??

This is what happens when I look around the internet for new running shoes.....

$1 a mile!

I'm much more of a passive fundraiser than active, I just don't have the time these days to actively pursue people and put in the groundwork to raise large sums. So i've set a modest goal this year to raise $1 per training mile between now and the marathon - a total of $285 - for the SADS Foundation, a foundation that is dedicated to raising awareness of Sudden Arrhythmia Death (also known as Sudden Adult Death), and in particular genetic heart conditions that are often the cause of unknown and unexplainable fatalities. I am running in honor of my sister, Sophie Megan, who we lost to SADS seven years ago.

Here is my fundraising site - $1 = 1 mile of my pain - you know you want to lay claim to my pain! I'll put a link up on the sidebar too. If I get to my goal of $285, maybe i'll even try and get a better time than last year......:0)

Regardless of whether you can donate to this great cause (I never have the money to sponsor people so totally understand!), please do take a moment to look over the SADS Foundation website and help spread the word. Since Sophie's death I now know 3 people who have gone through similar experiences with a loved one, so this is amazingly common, yet so few people know about it. Many Arrhythmia syndromes have been identified through research, many warning signs identified, and many are now treatable. With more public awareness and research, many more sudden, unexplainable deaths will be prevented.

10-10-10

Anything special happened to you? No? Didn't think so.....:0)

Today was a good day though, I finally got caught up on sleep (it's been a long week of early mornings and late nights), especially after yesterdays 10 miler (which went surprisingly awesome!). So although I still woke up at 5am, I stayed in bed and managed to snooze some more until 7, then ate breakfast in bed doodling on the net. My kind of morning....:0)

Then I went on a hike with a bunch of people from work. We did the Williwilinui trail, which goes right up a ridge into the center of Oahu. It started out hot, but unfortunately the clouds came in before we got to the top, so no long views for us, but it was so so nice to be out and hiking, and I came back covered in mud, sweaty and happy....:0) I did forget my camera though - doh! So excuse the poor quality photos from my phone!

The gang

Part of the trail - it was pretty good, but we were lucky it hadn't rained in a few days, otherwise it would have been super slippy!

Insert view over Kailua on the windward side here.....

Another cool thing happened this weekend. On saturday I ran my 10 miler around Diamondhead, and I am now officially over 500 miles on my mile counter (which started just after I finished my first half marathon - my first try at running - and so is a little low!) - woo hoo! Zero miles to 500 miles in just over a year. That makes me happy too!

Hope everyone had a happy weekend too!

Play date

Tomorrow afternoon I have a play-date with Hannah while Jenny goes for a haircut, and i'm so excited about it, what an awesome way to end a friday! Not sure what we're going to do yet, we probably have 2hrs max, so maybe a visit to the play-park is in order. The picture above is one from this summer, before I headed to Alaska, taken by Jenny, so cute! Since I got back she's started calling out for me on a regular basis apparently, my name is Mary, but we're working on that (she has an Aunty Mary who she's learning by photos and has us a little confused!). Jenny said they dropped by the mall on their way home the other day and as soon as they got in there she started calling "Mary, Mary!". Pretty funny...:0)

In other news I sat and packed another box tonight. Wrapped fragile items in bubble wrap and have cleared a couple of shelves. In work I packed all my books this week. Boxes are starting to be a feature, guess that's not going to go away for a while. I also flaked on running this week. Argh. Wasn't feeling too good and my shin has been hurting, so combined it seemed good to take it easy this week, so I walked into work a bunch instead. Still going to do my 10 miles this weekend. No matter what "dont' skimp on the long runs" is what they all say, so 10 miles I shall.....even if I walk it.....:0)

Which Gu are you?

Marathon training has hit it's mid point - today I did a half marathon - 2hrs and 25 minutes - 20 minutes shorter than i've run that distance before - yeah! To celebrate the beginning of really long runs, I bought a box of mixed flavor GUs, to try and mix up my mid-run nutrition a bit more (I pretty much have stuck to lemon lime or vanilla). GUs have done me well through long runs (1hr+), the texture sucks (imaging chugging a bottle of corn syrup if you haven't tried these), but it really does give that much needed boost of energy and keeps you going. Unfortunately, as nice as it sounded, Chocolate Outrage is not for me, maybe i'll try the mint chocolate next week....:0)

So this weeks training -

Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 7 miles
Thursday - 4 miles
Saturday - 15 miles

Wish me luck!