So today I woke up and decided to run a marathon. Just kidding.
Well I am only kidding about just deciding to do it this morning. I am not kidding about the 27 miles I had planned for the day. As you probably know by now, I have been on a journey to run 100 miles in a week (6 days technically).
I gave my why’s before I started, but the main one I wanted to focus on today, was pushing my limits and seeing what my body was capable of. I have a distant dream of running 100 miles in a single day, so I figured that a stepping stone to that journey is 100 miles in a week.
I woke up today at 3:30 AM, and was pretty awake. I was excited to run. I slept a total of about 7 hours, which isn’t bad considering most “race” days I get about 2 hours of “good” sleep. I have also run a marathon on 1 hour of sleep, and while not recommended, I was still able to crush my PR.
There was no walking Dora this morning, as I needed to save some energy, and also she was not waking up that early!
I ate a banana bread, drank a Liquid IV, had my Zipfizz and started prepping my fuel for the day. Based off of my goal time, I figured 6 gels would suffice. I also planned to use Tailwind’s newest flavor, Colorado Cola. No joke, it tastes just like flat Coke! That might sound gross, but to endurance athletes, it is liquid gold.
It was funny because it felt like a race day, even though I wasn’t really “racing”. It is a feeling of nerves and excitement that can’t really be reproduced, but this definitely came close.
After making sure I had everything packed up, I kissed Janell and Dora goodbye (both still sleeping), and left for my mission.
I got to Kapiolani Park and was able to find parking (it’s finally legal to park there again). A few minutes of rain blessed the morning, as the first light of the sun started to peek through the clouds. I did some warm up and activation drills to get my body ready, and then started my run.
My music today was expertly curated by Janell. I asked her to make me a playlist for my marathon, and she added enough songs for almost 7 hrs. Jeeze Nelly, how slow do you think I run! All kidding aside, it was a great playlist and kept me distracted for 4 hours. Thank you!
I was happy that there was some rain to start, but it was short lived. Luckily it didn’t get too humid after the rain, which is the norm here in Hawaii. There was a nice 8-10mph breeze most the run, with it starting in my face and ending in my back.
For my route, I thought about just running around the island (something I want to do one day), but with only 27 miles, I chose to run most of the Honolulu Marathon route. It is a route I am very familiar with, but from my starting point, it would be short about 8 miles. So I ran a few laps around Kapiolani park and the Honolulu Zoo to start and then headed up and over Diamond Head on the marathon route.
On this 100 mile journey, I wanted to make sure to have walk breaks built into my runs so that I wouldn’t go too hard. I was pacing for 100 miles, not 10 miles or 6 miles. But today, since it was my last day, I didn’t have scheduled walk breaks. I was just going to run at a comfortable pace, and walk when I needed it.
For the most part I was able to keep a great even pace just under 8 min/mile, where my only walk breaks were at miles 7 and 17 for Instagram story updates, and mile 20 for a bathroom break.
One of the main reasons I love this running route, is that there are many opportunities for bathrooms/water fountains. I think they are spaced out every 2-3 miles and once they open at 6:30 AM, are a great resource for most runners. I don’t usually use the bathroom during marathons, and today I didn’t really have to, but I made a quick stop at mile 20 because I needed a breather.
While I could tell the effort was getting slightly harder, it wasn’t because of sore muscles or injuries (although things weren’t 100%). The heat started to get to me since the sun was out, and after my surge up a hill at the end of mile 21, I was toast.
I have run this route several dozen times on training runs, so I have ideas in my head of how many “matches” I need to save. The finale of the marathon is a painful 100 ft of climbing between miles 23.8 and 25. But the sneaky hill at mile 21.8 can really break people. As it did for me today. It is long, and after 10 miles of relatively flat running, it can cause a heart rate spike that can be hard to come back from.
I pushed up that hill, and then needed a break. So I walked for 2 minutes. I could have stopped right then and there. I wanted to stop. But I was just 5 miles away. I had completed 95 miles, and needed to suck it up for 40 more minutes. Gosh, that seemed long. I needed to cool down. One of the reasons I pushed up the hill is because I knew there was a downhill and some shade following the hill. So I used this to cool down and regroup mentally.
I put my head down and thought about getting to the next mile marker. However, 2 minutes later, I was walking again. Doubt started to creep in. Would I be walking 4.5 more miles???? Just make it to the next mile marker, I told myself. And so I pushed to mile 23. Another 2 minute walking break.
Under normal racing circumstances, this point in the marathon is so tough. It is usually hot (which it was), you are mentally exhausted (which I was), and you are going to hit a wall if you haven’t already (which I was actually good with). But the Honolulu Marathon throws in a “mountain” to climb at that point. Yay.
But I knew this, and I planned it as the hardest part of the run. Once this double hill was over, it would be downhill to the finish. So after my 2 min walking break, I put my head down again and pushed until I got up the first climb. My heart rate spiked pretty high, but I didn’t care since I had one hill left. But first, another 2 min walking break and Instagram story update.
I gathered my composure, and charged up the last hill. Once I got to the top, I felt like lying down on the side of the road.
I felt like I reached my goal and I was done! Except, that was only a temporary goal, and I still needed to run 2 more miles. Another walking break, my last one. I enjoyed the view from the top of the hill, my favorite part of the run, and I started racing down the hill to the finish.
I wanted to end the run, at least the 26.2 miles on a high note, so I pushed down the hill to the normal Honolulu Marathon finish line. I was able to get back to my 8 min/mile pace, but instead of a 150 bpm heart rate, I was at 180 bpm. I needed one last walk…again. But it was ok. I finished my marathon in training, something I wanted to do, and used the last 0.8 miles as a cool down.
Finally my watch buzzed and it said 27 miles.
27 down. 0 to go.
I will make another post in the next few days to discuss my overall thoughts.
For this run however, I was proud of myself. I have come a long way in 4 years, when I ran a 3:31:50 at the Honolulu Marathon. Today my time was about 3:37:15. I think I have proven the fact that if you put in the work, you can make amazing leaps in fitness and accomplish just about anything you want.
I didn’t know how my body would react to running 73 miles in the previous 5 days. Turns out, my body is more resilient than I thought. I barely felt any different than the previous days, even late in my run. If I was running in cooler weather, I would have probably run under 3:30.
One thing I want to take away from this run in particular, is that if I ever want to qualify for Kona, I need to be able to run faster than this at the end of an Ironman triathon. So I still have a ways to go in terms of fitness, but I know that if I continue to train hard and be smart, I will accomplish what I set out to do.
Thanks for reading and for all the kind words of encouragement!
