HNL Marathon

1 Picking up our race stuff at the expo. I say "our" but I'm running solo in a race for the first time in years. Literally - I think four years, the last marathon I did. I am a bit sad about it. But of course a marathon is way too long for boys to sit in a stroller.	2 My dear buddy Kathy ready to do her first marathon!	3 At the start! See my beady little eyes? It's 4:55am and we're ready to go. There are 30,000 people here. Fireworks sent us on our way.	4 The long-awaited hug with my boy, Sam. Thanks, Mom and Richard, for bringing him to me! Better than a medal... See the shell lei? At first that's what they gave me at the finish. I was like, "Where's my MEDAL?" Thankfully that came with the t-shirt, although none of the race volunteers knew that. (Rebecca - gotta see the hardware, right?! Pic to come - need to get a ribbon for it so it can hang with the others.)
5 Nice leis from Mom, huh? I feel like a racehorse in the winner's circle - hee hee hee. Not! No race horse would be this sore!	6 The band TEN FEET was playing at the finish! It's one of our favorite bands! How cool!	7 See the signage? 13,000 Japanese folk came for this. In fact, one motivator throughout the middle part of the course was staying ahead of a guy who was wearing his own portable stereo which was playing LOUDLY a Japanese song (maybe motivational for the race specifically? or a pop song? I don't know) but it kept going "[Japanese words sung by high-pitched female] it's sooo-oooo easy!" I HAD to stay in front of him so I couldn't hear it but he kept catching up on the downhills. I would be able to get away on the few hills there were then managed to stay clear.	8 The happy end to this story! 4:44:09 time - good enough to rest my laurels on should I decide the insanity, the early up, the way a marathon dominates everything for a while (even if you're not TRAINING the way people usually do) is just too much for one race to earn.
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