2018 Resolution Beach & Trail "5K"

Flying into the sunrise on the mainland!

The first part of the week was our last 2.5 days in Hawaii. The trip really flew by. Although I didn't feel very good most of the time we were there, it was still relaxing and mostly stress-free. I don't think my body liked the air there at all, so I was actually looking forward to getting back to New England. I have never been so puffy than I was while we were there. The last 4 mornings, I was waking up with my eyes gooped-shut. It was gross. Just some sort of allergy probably or maybe even a reaction to the volcanic ash since it definitely got worse after visiting the Kona side of the the island where the vog was pretty thick. John felt the same way. Neither of us felt very good for the whole trip. Lack of sleep, the head colds and whatever irritated us on the island left us less than the rejuvenation I was expecting. But, seriously, not complaining. It was a great trip, and I'm so happy we got to go there. It was time well-spent with my parents, whom I only see 1-2 times a year. What made it even more special was that I planned so we could be there for my mom's 70th birthday.

On Monday morning, I took my fatigued legs out for a slow recovery run. They were only slightly sore, but they felt like lead. For some crazy reason, I stole one of my own CRs from the week before. Haha. I did 5.1 miles in 41:49, so, yeah, slow. Haha.

Monday's sightseeing was to Akaka Falls. This waterfall was awesome!! The trail first took us around through some dense forest, then all of sudden, you come out into the open to this freaking huge waterfall. You have to keep walking and keep walking because it's so tall that you can't see the bottom of it. When you reach the railing, you finally see just how tall it is! 422ft! The photo doesn't do it justice.

I like how my parents are wearing matching shoes, and John and I are wearing matching shoes. Haha.

Prior to leaving for Hawaii, I had a goal to be a true tourist and buy a Hawaiian dress while we were there. These dresses are EVERYWHERE for sale, but most are the empire style which I hate, since they make me look like I have a fat belly. I also wasn't a fan of any of the patterns I had seen, but as we drove out to the waterfall, this dress hanging outside of a shop caught my eye. I was like, "That's it! That's the one!" So on the way back, we stopped in. I was so excited as I walked up to it, only to be crushed that it wasn't a dress. It was a sarong! But little did I know just how much better (and less expensive) a sarong can be! The older lady in the shop took me under her wing and showed me one way to wear it, and I was sold. She said there are SO many ways to wear a sarong and to just YouTube it. So not only did I get the black and red sarong I loved, I also walked out with a purple flowered one. Now if only summer could arrive in New England! Later that night, I experimented a bit and first did the tie she showed me, then I randomly came up with this second one on my own that I liked even better.

What the shop lady showed me

My own creation.

After the shop, we went to lunch in Hilo where I had purple sweet potato salad with a sandwich. I'm going to have to try that one on my own since it was so good.

John pretending to steal my beer

We went back to the house after that, and I took a short walk to the park at the end of the street to lie in the sun, but the it went behind the clouds within 5 minutes. Dammit. I was going to remain pasty white. Haha. The rest of the night was spent playing dress-up with my sarong and watching the UGA v Alabama football game. I don't care a thing about football, even though I'm a UGA alum, but my parents turned it on, and for some reason, I found myself watching this game since it got exciting. Don't expect me to become a huge football fan or anything, though, I'm still not a huge fan of the sport. Haha.

Tuesday, January 9th, was my mom's 70th birthday! They wanted to get going early so I got up, had coffee  and then went for another run. (On a side note, I never used to have coffee before I ran, but once I started working 24 hour shifts regularly in 2013, I would always have coffee in the morning before my shift would end as a way to wake me up from being out all night on transfers. I would then go home, change and go right back out for my run. I liked the way I felt so I started doing it before every run except my really early treadmill runs. So it's my thing.) 8 miles this morning, only slightly faster than the day before. 1:03:45. 7:57 avg pace. The head cold had come back on fierce this morning for some reason, but like I said, I think a lot of it wasn't just the head cold but also the air there irritating me. Kind of an odd morning in the neighborhood since I ran past streets blocked off by police. A neighbor had gotten into a stand-off with the police and then shot himself. I'm surprised we didn't hear the first shots overnight since we were only 3 blocks down. For me, an incident like this is just like another day at work, so I just carried on with my run. Haha.

My mom and I had plans to go get our nails done while my dad and John went to see the new Star Wars movie. We had a quick lunch at Mexican place at the mall that was really good. I never order salad, but mango chicken salad was calling my name.

The nail place was next door, and my mom decided she didn't want to get her nails done and would just watch me, but the people there talked her into a pedicure after I started insisting she do something for her birthday. Haha. My nails were a disaster so I had to remove all of my acrylics and have a full set put on. I went with a bright sparkly red since they have cool sparkling colors that I'd never seen before. I normally like them short, but the nail tech left them a little too long. By the time I realized it, it was too late, so I just went with it. Haha. I called them my witch nails. Some might consider that appropriate. :)

I just took this now, so they aren't as bright as they were when I got them, but you get the idea.

After that we went shopping for some things my mom was interested in, but she didn't buy anything. I'm the only one who did, a shirt off the Macy's clearance rack. Haha. Funny that I went mall shopping in Hawaii, but we were waiting for the movie to get out.

When the movie was over, we headed back to my parents' house until it was time for my mom's birthday dinner at Kaleo's in Pahoa Town. From the outside, this place looks like a crab shack or something, but once inside, you realize it's a really nice upscale place and very cozy. Two of my parents' couple friends (and one of their parents) joined us for dinner. Their friends were so much fun, and one of them is a biker who uses Strava. Yay! I got a fist bump. It was awesome. I found these all to be very lively people and enjoyed the evening with them very much. My mom had a wonderful birthday there, as well. She was smiling ear-to-ear the whole time. I was glad John and I got to be there to share the day with her. It's scary, though, since it seems like she was just having her 40th! Time goes by way too fast!

My mom and I toasting her birthday with Maui Brewing Coconut Porters

Notice John with a pina colada. Haha.

Wednesday was our last half day in paradise so I got up pretty early and had coffee on the deck with a cool lizard.

Then I ran the opposite direction than I had been going all week for a short, faster run. If I were going to stay longer, I would stick with the direction I had been going. This way the road was all out in the open sun. My goodbye, Hawaii run was 4 miles in 29:55. 7:27 avg pace. Pretty happy since I felt like I was recovering quickly. Long, slower runs are always faster to recover anyway.

We said our goodbyes to my parents at the Hilo airport for the beginning of our 3 flight trip to Boston. It would be another LONG flight, but fortunately "only" 9.5 hours for the flight back to JFK. We kept having bad luck along the way with no wifi and no places to charge the phone. That does not go over well with an 11 year old these days. And, of course, OF COURSE, the charging port at John's seat for the long flight was broken. Hahaha. It worked out fine, though, since we just took turns charging on mine. I was smart this time and rented some movies and tv shows from Google Play prior to the long flight so that we'd have something cheaper to watch. For some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't comfortable. Neither John nor I slept a wink all the way to JFK.

Our flight landed in JFK over 30 minutes late, so we had to hurry for the next one. It wasn't a connecting flight so I had to get my suitcase from baggage claim and get to another terminal. I decided it would be faster to walk via the sidewalk outside to the next terminal so we did that, and oh man, the air felt SO good. It may have been dirty JFK air, but I felt like I was breathing fresh mountain air. Haha.

We literally ran to the other terminal where we lucked out with a short check-in line. I re-checked my suitcase and then got into what appeared to be a very short security line. Looks were deceiving. Unlike the JetBlue terminal security on the way out that was fast and efficient, this was the slowest I've ever been in. No one was making sure people knew the instructions so nearly every single bag was being inspected, including John's. They sent mine through the x-ray machine 3 times!! And I thought we had lucked out with plenty of time, but oh no. We were speed walking down the the LONGEST terminal I've ever been in. It was so crazy that I was laughing. Got to the gate just in time to board. Phew. At least we got some exercise and fresh air. Haha.

Very tired on the JFK-BOS flight

We had a little wait for the Logan Express bus back to Peabody and then it was back to our car. John slept the whole bus ride and then the whole car ride up to Seabrook on the NH/MA border where we met up with his dad. When I opened the door to Bryan's house... I mean his van...I was surprised to find the dogs in there! I was so excited to see them. Phoenix went nuts with excitement!

On the bus

I left John with his dad there and turned around to head back to Massachusetts for a trail run. I was crazy beat by the time I got to the trailhead, but it felt good to get out for a run after all of that sitting. The trail was all snow mashed potatoes so it was really slow going. The snow was PERFECT for making snowballs, though. Haha. Got 4 miles in on the trails and then added 2 speedier miles on the road for a total of 6. 1:00:16. From there it was off for some overpriced beers and apps, then the long drive home. I hadn't slept in almost 36 hours so I was delirious. The next two mornings were going to be all about sleeping in to catch up on sleep.

John got right up at 6am for school Friday. I was glad Bryan was taking him because I slept in until 9am! The weather ended up being pretty shitty with pouring rain. Welcome home, right? Haha. Got on the treadmill and ran a slightly slower pace than I normally do, but still kept the 1-3% elevation alternating every half mile. I thought I had a double race weekend coming up so I didn't want to push myself too much. 10 miles. 1:13:21. 7:20 avg pace.

I did stuff around the house until it was time to pick up John at school. Stopped at Hobb's on the way home to grab some of their new stout that is actually really good.

The rain pretty much destroyed the snow at Whitaker Woods so Kevin announced that he was postponing the snowshoe race for the next day. It was a good call, but I was bummed because I was actually looking forward to it. Mike Galoob had postponed the Resolution Beach Race to Sunday, so it was going to work out for me to do both. Not sure if I'll make the new day on Feb 17th or not yet since I have other races to choose from that weekend on my schedule already.

I slept in late again on Saturday, and so did John. This was when I realized his sleep pattern was REALLY messed up. He had stayed up really late which wasn't good after getting up early for school. He would end up being all messed up the rest of the weekend, the poor kid.

I wanted to get some miles in to hit 50 for the week. Looking back, I probably should have let myself recover more than focus on miles because I ended up having a really rough week the following week. But, no, I was chasing the miles and went out for another 10 miles this morning. At least I was smart enough to force myself to run slowly. Ran an out and back from home through Cranmore Shores and up Tasker Hill and Allard Hill. The first and last miles always have an icy/snow section so those miles are usually 2 of my slowest miles, but today, they were all slow. 10 miles in 1:21:59. 8:09 avg pace. 797ft of elevation gain. The more I'm on the treadmill this year, the more I'm realizing that it's better to use it for my harder, faster runs since I can force myself to do it. While the roads suck, I'll just stick more with the slower runs.

I got back into my regular Zuzka Light Upper Body and Abs workouts and did the first in the Black Diamond Series today. My plan is to do these 3 days a week and continue with the Sandy Morris Ab Challenge 2 days a week...mainly when I'm at work since it's quick and I don't need equipment.

The day turned out to be beautiful even though the temperature dropped. John and I went to the Albany Town Forest for a snowshoe walk. It was actually slow-going due to the crusty, icy layer on the top of the snow. We only walked 1.7 miles, but it took over 54 minutes. Haha. The Swift River was raging and part of the trail was actually flooded making it impassable.

John and Chill looking out at the Swift River

Hung out at home for the night. Early rise for the Resolution Beach race in Narragansett the next morning.

Resolution Beach & Trail Race "Not a 5K"-

I got up at 3:45am to get ready for the drive to Rhode Island. Imagine my surprise when I found John wide awake. Omg. He had been awake ALL night. He just wasn't tired. This worried me, but I had a feeling he was going to have to sleep half the day, and sure enough, he went to sleep at 5am when we left and could not be roused until AFTER we had had our post-race lunch at Mews!! I'm sure I looked like a neglectful parent leaving my kid in the car while I was in the restaurant, but I really needed to let him sleep. He would have been a miserable wreck if I had woken him up. A part of me felt a huge amount of guilt over it, but I knew it was best for him to sleep.

Cool skies from I-95S

So anyway, got to Scarborough Beach about 8:50am. Clear blue, sunny skies, but a bit chilly. I checked in and talked to Jonny Hammett for a little bit before grabbing Chill for a warm up on the new course. Not all of the flags were up on the side that went into the dune so I just headed straight for the house where I saw Steve Brightman and Mike Galoob putting sand over the smooth ice. I let Chill off-leash here so he could get some good exercise. I only ran into a few other people also with unleashed dogs, so all was good. I didn't realize yet how the course was changed so I just ran this section backwards until I came across where a trail merged into this one and realized that's where I would come from during the race. I quickly picked up on the 2-way traffic here which I knew would be dicey over some of the larger icy sections. I was happy when I realized the course did a loop to turn around before merging back up with the 2-way which led back to the house. I leashed Chill on the beach then ran back to the car. 2.3 miles.

Phoenix was next, but she was freezing in the wind so we only did a short .7 miles down and back on the beach. She was cozy in the car with John's sleeping bag and didn't mind getting back in. It was only about 10 minutes to the start, and I made a last minute decision to switch to my screw shoes. I didn't think they were necessary, but I thought they could be helpful on the icy stretches. As I walked over, I was given my new Westerly Track & Athletic Club singlet by Rachel. I was running for WTAC today. Haha.

Mike gave some last minute instructions, but I couldn't really hear him so I missed the part about lining up on the beach facing north. I wasn't the only one. Half of us were facing one way and the other half the other. I was really happy to find out I was wrong. Not having to run that full stretch of beach in the cold headwind was a good thing! But I wondered where he made up the mileage. Hmmm. He didn't, I would learn. Haha. I lined up a few rows back since I have no business on the start line. Little did I know there was another woman up there on the line whom I couldn't see until Mike got us started.

Photo from Rhode Runner

As soon as we started, the woman who had started on the line came into view, and I was like oh shit. I knew right off the bat that I might lose this one, but I picked up the pace to catch up to her which I did, but as soon as she saw me, she picked up her pace to stay neck-and-neck. This was going to be an all out race for me; I just knew it. I was able to pull in front of her just as we headed into the dune and onto the back trails. I didn't have much of a chance to look back to see if I'd gained any ground on her, but I had a feeling it was minimal so I just kept running as fast as I could. I was happy to hit the new stretch of trail with it's rough footing because when we came off of it, I got my first chance to look back and saw I had made up a slight lead on her. Not enough, but some. I had to pass this young kid in front of me through the icy section since he was all of a sudden apprehensive so it slowed me up slightly, but he must have slowed her up as well since she made no ground on me. As we hit the loop, I realized she was still hanging on but was a good 20 yards back. I was getting nervous about this because I knew the finish down the beach could break me.

As we got on the 2-way again, I was right behind Bob Corsi when we were all forced to the left side of the ice patch that sucked badly. Bob went down immediately and slid a few feet before trying to get up and slipped again. I was like, "Fuck it, I'm going across the ice." So I darted across it thankful for the screws at this point and took a look back to see the woman right behind Bob. I just hammered it until I hit the house where we briefly ran over more ice before exiting it on the side. It was down to the beach for the last stretch. I seriously doubted I was going to be able to hold off this woman for this stretch, but after a very ungraceful and failed attempt to jump across the water, I gave everything I could. I was all out...and then I heard breathing. It was a woman's breathing. Fuck. I thought, "If she has any kind of kick, she's got me." I had nothing left; I was giving 100%. And then with about 100 yards to go...she kicked and left me in the dust...or sand. Outkicked in the last 100 yards, and she made up FIVE seconds on me. THAT is a kick. I finished the 2.52 miles in 16:48. It was disappointing being outkicked at the finish after leading basically the whole race, but it was all I had so I got over it quickly. She pushed me to my limits, and that was a good thing. I ended up talking to her for awhile after the race, and she was super nice. Full Results. WTAC women took home the women's team win so at least I had some sort of win. Haha.

I hate the way I look in this photo. Looks like my pants are falling down. Scott took two others that I really like, but I just cant spend money on race photos right now. The girl who beat me is in the background in purple. She caught up to me right after this jump.

I went back to the car to check on John who still couldn't be roused. I grabbed Chill and went out for a one-mile cool down, totally forgetting that this wouldn't bring me to the 50 miles I had planned for the week. I forgot the race was short by half a mile. It wasn't until hours later that I realized I only had 49.7. Shy by .3, and I left it that way. Haha.

After the cool down I changed clothes then walked over just as the awards started. I got two Lord Hobo Consolation Prize beers which I was happy with, then the WTAC women split up our 21st Amendment beer award. Then it was time for the parking lot beer swap. I couldn't believe the amount of beers I came home with. Everyone is way too generous to me! Michael Crutchley, Pete Rumsey, Steve Brightman and Rachel Flaksman all brought me beer. I felt bad that I only had enough to share one beer each with Rachel, Beth Lazor-Smith and Steve, but I definitely appreciate the generosity for sure!

It was off to Mews for the usual post-race lunch and beers. I got John to actually wake up enough to see if he wanted to come in, but he didn't. And this is when I felt guilty because everyone started asking where John was and I said that he was in the car. When I told them why, though, they seemed to understand, but still. Lunch was pretty fun since we had a good group there. I sat more towards the middle of the table this time which is the place to be to able to chat with almost everyone.

A few of us decided to go to Whalers after, and I was surprised to find John all ready to wake up when I got to the car. It was perfect timing. He woke up completely in a good mood and perfectly happy about going to Whalers. I felt bad when I learned they had nothing but water for a non-alcoholic beverage there, so I'll have to remember that next time and bring something for John. I thought he would want to play Giant Jenga, but he was content just playing on his phone. I know I won't win any Mother of the Year awards for today, but he was actually super happy to be where he was. I realized a few days later that he had taken some photos while we were there. We share my Google Play account so his photos automatically upload to my Google Photos, so I love finding random stuff he's taken like these of Whalers. (Disclaimer: I've told him that his photos upload to my account. I'm not one of those moms who snoops. Haha.)

Photo by John

Photo by John

When it was time to go, we went back to the car and the let the dogs out briefly. Chill forced people to play stick with him while Phoenix "attacked" people. Haha. Sometimes I really miss my perfect Coy dog whom I could take anywhere, and everybody loved her. :) Phoenix is like an ugly baby only a mother could love. Haha. And Chill is just a goofball who hates other male dogs. Haha. Spot was good like Coy in the end. I've been missing her.

The drive back wasn't bad at all. I stopped and got John dinner in Ossipee. We were home early enough to enjoy a little of the evening at home.

I'm looking forward to Old Mountain 5k, the next race in the 4th Season Series. I'm glad Mike decided to keep the Series going...even if he had us hanging on the edge waiting to find out until the last minute. Haha.

Next up for me is the USATF Masters East Region Championship. This will be my 3rd year in a row doing this meet. The All-Terrain Series is what got me down there in the first place, but even though the ATR is no more, I consider it a new tradition for me. I'm signed up for the 5000m, 3000m and mile. I will get my ass spanked twice this week, and one of those will be in the 3000m. It's my indoor track nemesis. But I keep trying.

2018 Hilo to Volcano 50K

HAWAII VACATION!

The week started with one last 10 hour shift on Monday, and then vacation could begin! Monday's shift didn't exactly fly by, but we were busy enough. I had had it with the cold and snow and work. I SO needed the break. It was -18 when I got to work that morning, and I just needed 2 weeks free of the stress of work. Yeah, yeah. I know I sit around a lot, but never knowing when a call is coming in or what it's for is actually kind of stressful, especially overnight. I needed a good break from that. I needed warmth and sun! The head cold I had contracted the week before was nagging at me so I thought 8 days in paradise would bring me some health. Little did I know it was almost the opposite. Haha! But anyway, just before 5pm, a call came in that the other crew who was out of 5 (like I was) was up for, but they refused to go (sending the other crew), and my partner flipped his lid. Yep, it was time for me to exit the building for two weeks. Haha. The relief of getting out of there and my excitement to exit the frozen tundra were huge!

I went home and hopped on the treadmill for 4 miles in 28:24. I could have done more, but I wanted to finish packing and have time to veg before we left at 12:45am. John and I both stayed awake until it was time to drive down to Peabody, Ma to catch the 3:15am Logan Express bus. This would be the beginning of over 30 hours of no real sleep. That combined with a head cold and flying destroyed me. I don't know when I've ever felt more exhausted in my life. We flew to JFK from Boston and then boarded Hawaiian Air for an 11.5 hour flight to Honolulu, followed by another flight to Hilo on the Big Island where my parents live. One of the times I dozed off was during takeoff from Honolulu. The long flight was LONG. Like really long. Too long. Uncomfortably long. And little did I know that there was nothing free to watch. I ended up paying $8 for John to watch the last Transformers movie. While he slept, I leaned half on him to watch the movie, too. The only way not to pay twice was to watch his. Haha. I'll admit it. The flight was brutal, but when I got to step out in the warm sun in Honolulu, it seemed worth it. Unfortunately, the slight head cold had turned into a massive head cold, and my voice was nearly gone. I knew flying with a head cold wouldn't be good, but I didn't expect how bad it would end up being. So bad, that I'm still trying to fully kick it over 2 weeks later.

Boston's traffic

He actually got quite a bit of sleep on the way over there.

Chicago. Totally frozen. Looked post-apocalyptic from the air. It was crazy.

I was so sick and super exhausted by this point.

The sun in Honolulu! Yay!

It was great to see my parents when we arrived, but I felt bad being so out of it. I ate something then showered and went to sleep.

I won't go into crazy details of the trip. We did a lot of sightseeing, ate good food, and I found some decent beers. I ran every day, but basically the same place except for two days. I had no idea that there weren't going to be any trails to run on there. The National Park has some, but those are super crowded hiking trails and over 30 miles away from my parents' house. I was disappointed at first, until I realized how awesome the road was right off my parents' neighborhood. I would end up running here for all but two of my runs. The road had very few houses; it was just mostly dirt road and forest with the random chicken, dog or coconut. Haha

Waking up the first morning to perfect 70 degree weather was awesome. I had coffee on my parents' deck and then went for a run down this road I just mentioned called Government Beach Rd. I didn't feel good at all, though. I was still very sleep deprived and run down from the head cold. I could still barely speak. (Unfortunately, John caught the head cold, as well, so we were both a little off.) I wanted to get miles in so I ran out and back for 10.2 miles. Very beautiful, but the humidity was a bit of a shock. Haha. 1:17:41. Very rolling. 445ft of elevation gain. I was pretty beat when I got back to their house and lied on the deck in the sun for a bit.

Views from my run

Now I understand "Death by Coconut". This fell into the road in between me passing by here on my run.

More views from my run

The rest of the day would be checking out Hilo and having lunch at Pineapples. John loved this restaurant so much since he got a flank steak and rice. His favorite. One of the least expensive things on the menu. I had a Pineapple Burger. Haha. While John was in Costa Rica, he took advantage of the all-inclusive resort and got into pina colada's, so that became his Hawaii drink as well.

John and I were super exhausted, but we still had a full day. John took a swim in Hilo Bay and found himself swimming with sea turtles. That was super cool! We checked out Rainbow Falls and the GIANT Banyan tree there. Omg. That was so much fun climbing up inside of it. My parents were outside worried; I felt like a rebellious little kid climbing a tree. Hahaha.

My favorite beer that I had there.

My parents

John with pina colada #1

Goofball. Walking through Hilo.

Sea turtle!

Rainbow Falls

Small John. Big Banyan tree.

By the end of the day, my voice was gone again, and I was super tired. I was starting to question my ability to do the race I had signed up for, the Hilo to Volcano 50K. It was only 3 days away, and I could barely breathe. I had signed up for it the previous Thursday and then felt the head cold come on Friday morning. Haha. I felt so worn out that I didn't know if I would be able to finish this race. This 50K would be a first for me since I've never done an ultra on pavement. Granted it's only 5 miles more than a marathon, but here's another first. How about an ultra on pavement that's ALL uphill? Yeah, that was my upcoming race. I decided to just play it by ear and decide after my run on Friday.

Thursday morning was the only run (other than the race) that I would do off Government Beach Rd. My parents wanted to show us the Kalapana Lava Flow so I decided to run down to the flow while they walked it. Signs said the flow wasn't open until the afternoon, but I guess that was just a suggestion. Haha. A local guy charging for parking actually let us park for free. This run was out on an open road surrounded by dried lava. The way out was an intense tailwind and mostly downhill. I ran it fast! Haha. It was about 3.5 miles out to the flow with the last half mile slow-going on the rough lava following a rope marking off the "trail". When I got to the end...no lava was flowing. Boo. Kind of bummed, but it was still neat. I texted my mom to let them know that the flow had stopped so they could turn around. Once back on the road, I started uphill into the insane headwind. My mile pace was almost a full minute slower on the way back. Crazy. I caught up with my parents and John at mile 7.1 and stopped to walk the rest of the way with my mom, while John and my dad walked behind. Felt very worn out again. The race was getting dicey. 7.1 miles in 56:30. Barely under an 8 min pace.

View from my run

Where the lava flow had been. The freshly dried lava was pretty neat, still.

My dad with John during the walk

From there we drove over to the black sand beach where Hawaiians had set up all sorts of shrines and paintings and placed coconuts all over the place that were now growing. Pretty neat spot.

Doing a goofy dance

The last 2 stops of the day would be the Lava Tree State Park and the Ahalanui Hot Pond. The lava trees are what they say they are. Trees that were covered in lava, but are still standing. It was wicked cool. The hot pond was a pool filled by the ocean and warmed by volcanic energy. I LOVE warm water, and this also seemed to clear up my head cold. I didn't want to get out! It was amazingly soothing. No exaggeration; I felt 75% better after I got out of there.

I woke up Friday morning feeling a little better but still pretty congested. This morning's run would decide whether I would DNS or not. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I felt good. 8.2 miles in 1:01:33. A tad fast than Wednesday's run. The race was a go. Eeek. Now, I got to be nervous all day. Haha.

Tree tunnel on my run.

The rest of the day would be spent exploring Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park which was super cool. We saw Kilauea, a still active volcano with a HUGE crater. We walked through steam vents and in a lava tube. Definitely a place to visit if you're on the Big Island.

John and I were pretty beat and nervous by the end of the day. My sleep pattern was still way off. I was congested and just tired. Not the relaxing vacation I envisioned, but don't get me wrong. It was still very relaxing in so many ways since it was mostly stress-free. Plus, I didn't have to drive for over a week!! That was SO nice. My parents have changed up their habits a bit, so my excitement over my mom's cooking and having coffee already made in the morning didn't happen. Haha. My mom did cook once, though, and it was good. My dad went from drinking good brewed coffee to Folgers instant coffee. Say what? That was baffling. So I made my own good coffee in the morning. Haha. They still treated us to everything and paid for our trip out there, so I'm not complaining. Just funny that 2 out of the 3 simple things I was looking forward to didn't really happen. We did actually eat out a lot, though, so I never had to make my own dinners. Haha.

By that night, I was definitely nervous about the next day's race. I had to be at the race by 5:30am for the start in the dark at 6am. The race provides no support at all, so you have to rely on family/friends to do it for you. There was no way I was going to attempt to explain how to do that to my parents because it would have stressed my dad out big time. So I went self-supported the whole way. I assumed that would be a thing, but it turned out I was the only one, and I even received quite a bit of acknowledgement of it as I pass crews and relay teams along the course. Most people had someone every 2 miles handing them whatever they needed. I have to admit that by mile 20, I would have given anything to get that heavy pack off my neck. Haha. So it took me awhile to get my stuff together since I needed reflective stuff and lights for the dark road portion...basically the first 6 miles. Plus, I forgot my water bladder and would need to carry two bottles of water inside my pack instead. That was a pain in the ass the next day. I'll admit it, but it was what it was. Once I had everything ready, I attempted sleep. I didn't get much because I was really nervous. It's been a long time since I've been nervous the night before a race. Like a really long time. This one had me scared. I honestly expected to DNF. Between the head cold that had come back full force and still lack of sleep, I had no idea how I was going to run 31 miles all uphill.

RACE DAY

I was basically already half awake but didn't get up until my alarm went off at 4am. Made coffee and ate a pretzel bagel that I had actually brought from home. I was dressed and in the car before 5am. My dad drove me to the Coconut Island parking lot in Hilo. This race was very low frills and had no start line. Bib pickup was the day before so all we had this morning was a quick check in with the RD at the back of his car. 3 minutes before 6am, he gathered us all around completely in the dark for the pre-race speech then basically just said, "Go!" at 6am on the dot. Haha.

Um. That headlamp looks ridiculous.

A group of men went off ahead and one woman ahead of me. My only goal today was to finish the race and not to even attempt to race it, so I started off at an easy pace. The grade was fairly easy as it rose out of Hilo on Rt 11 for the first 7.5 miles. I stayed pretty even here hanging right around 8 min pace. I knew I would slow once it got steeper, but I was happy with my pace through here. I wasn't pushing it at all. At that time, it felt like my forever pace. I ended up passing the woman ahead of me in mile 2 after she slowed way down to run with someone else. I'll be honest that I didn't like passing her, but she slowed down so significantly that I didn't even make any effort to pass her.

The air was very much on the cool side in the low 60s for the first 8 miles. The sun started to come up. Since I wasn't taking this seriously as a race, I had my phone handy for photo ops and selfies. Haha. The road wasn't super busy, but it still had some decent traffic, and we had to run with traffic. Fortunately, most of the race had a super wide shoulder, and I never felt like I was going to be hit by a car. I snapped this photo around mile 5 or 6 and, funny enough, no cars were in it.

Like I mentioned before, the course suddenly got steeper around mile 7.5. I even messaged someone that, "Shit just got steeper." Haha. And not only that, but the pouring rain started and it basically never stopped; around mile 16 or so, it was only a drizzle, but then it was back to the pouring rain from there. I have to say it was awesome. Kept the weather cool. The sun would have roasted me. Perfect running weather, honestly. At this same time at mile 8ish, the same woman passed me back along with the guy she had slowed down to run with. I thought they would be long gone quickly, but she never really got that far ahead of me. The entire rest of the way, she would be a speck, then all of a sudden I'd only be 30 seconds back. I never did actually catch her, though, and by the end she would end up beating me by 6.5 minutes. I honestly didn't care since I wasn't in it to win it, and she was the only person visible to me for the last 10 miles, other than the relay runners who passed us by. So she actually helped pull me along.

Photo from early on around mile 7

Surprisingly, I felt pretty good. Obviously, I was slowing down. I'm sure some awesome runners could run this even-paced, but, for me, that just wasn't happening. I hit the halfway mark, and as the rain turned to drizzle, I was able to pull out my phone again to update someone on my progress and take some selfies. There were many attempts at these because running and selfies don't really go well together. Haha.

The phone went away again for the rest of the race around mile 21 when the drizzle turned back to pouring rain. I was still feeling good here and noticed I had caught up to the first woman within a minute. I ran this close to her for about 3 miles...and then I hit mile 24. Omg. I was done. The grade suddenly got much steeper, and all I could do was shuffle along. I passed the guy the first woman had been running with, so he was obviously hurting, too. Miles 24 thru 27 were a gain of over 900ft which was a significant amount since the entire race was just over 3800ft of gain. Very painful to hit this steepness so late in the race, but I kept on. I knew there was not going to be a DNF today. No way. No how.

I had no idea where the course went, but all of a sudden it took a right turn toward volcano around mile 26.5. Little did I know, the finish line was at mile 27... but I had to pass it by!! Omg. What a mind fuck. Haha. Especially when I had no idea there was an out-and-back. 4 miles of it!! Major torture. Fortunately the out-and-back was more rolling than just uphill. It looks like the course is all downhill to the finish, but it actually wasn't. I was still able to pick up the pace a bit for the last 3 miles a bit before it did have a nice (but short) downhill to the finish. Omg. I was done. 31.2 miles in 4:56:08. 9:30 avg pace. Not what a normal road ultra would have been, and my trail 50k is even much faster. haha. The unrelentless uphill was just insanely challenging! And uphill is not my strength. But I was psyched. 2nd female and I fucking finished! I probably blew out a gallon of snot from the head cold, too. Sorry TMI. Haha. The relief to be done. Ah.

Finished and handing in my bib tag

It was freezing and windy up there so I got cold instantly. My hands had already frozen in the last 4 miles from being soaking wet. Temps were in the mid-50s which isn't bad unless you're soaked and it's windy. Haha.

Full Results. You might notice Billy Barnett in there as the race winner. His claim to fame was one of the runners featured in the book Born to Run. He ran the course record today. Unbelievable that he ran that course that fast in 3:46:54. Pretty amazing.

Course profile

Strava robbed me of my .1 as always.

My stomach was immediately not happy after the race. This often happens after really long runs. The only thing I wanted was a bottle of water and then beer. Haha. I had to change out of my wet clothes right away so I went to the bathroom and got a shock when I saw I had the absolute worse chafing from shorts that I've ever had in my life. My right hip was even bleeding from it. The rain and the compression part of my shorts did not mesh at all. It was all around my upper thighs and where the waist band had been. The funny thing is that I only felt it in one place the entire race. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And, yes, to answer your question, the shower later hurt like a MOFO! Haha.

Once I was changed, we took a trip over to the big lodge in the National Park to get John a Hawaiian shirt. I had already opened my huge porter and proceeded to drink it in the back seat. I was drunk by the time we got back to my parents' house. haha. But the good thing was that I was hungry so the pizza sobered me right up.

After the pizza, the rest of the day was a wash. I was beat to shit. We all needed a down day so it was good just to veg. I was on the couch for hours. Haha.

So, my thoughts on the race. Would I do it again? Probably not. It just wasn't interesting enough for me to want to do it again. Would I recommend? Absolutely. It's a definite challenge. Self-supported or not? Definitely not. I was carrying a good 3-4 lbs on my back the whole way. I almost threw it in a ditch to come back for it later; it was that cumbersome. All that aside, I was still super happy with my race. To go from being sleep deprived, sick and expecting a DNF to finishing 2nd female, I call that success. Not a single regret (aside from the pack haha). My award is incoming since they're engraving it. It's just a water bottle, but having it engraved is cool. I'll post a pic when I get it.

Sunday was a definite zero day, and we all took a drive over to the other side of the island with plans to hit the beach. This side of the island is SO different. It was almost desert-like at first and then just very grassy. Temps around 80. Lots of sun. I liked this! The water was a bit too cold for me, though, but John and my dad went in to snorkel. That was short lived when my dad put his finger on a sea urchin. He lucked out that it only got him in a small area at the finger tip, but it still injected its ink into his finger. That was the end of swimming, but we were content just soaking up the sun for awhile.

I do NOT think I look good in a bathing suit right now with my winter flab, so I was very hesitant to post this in my photos on FB, but I just loved John and me in it so I did...so I will post it here. Even though it makes me want to starve myself for 2 weeks. You can see the chafing on my stomach and hip. And that's only half of it.

We had a nice lunch outdoors nearby then made our way to Mauna Kea. We had planned to make it to the top, but upon reaching the visitors center at 9000ft, we learned that John shouldn't continue up to 14,000ft. In fact, none of us should, and my dad definitely shouldn't drive it. To go from sea level to 14,000ft would have probably made us all sick. So we didn't continue on. The key is take a van from 9000ft to the top with someone who knows the rough road and who is acclimated. I was bummed not to make it up there, but continuing on was not an option. So we had back down and back to Pahoa where my parents live.

View from 9000ft on Mauna Kea

That ended our week there! Pretty full and busy week! We still had two full days there, but that's for the next blog post. Haha. I'm so lost on blog songs right now. I don't even think anybody else listens to them, but I know that at some point, I'll look back at them and find it interesting what songs I picked and why, so I'll come up with something. Hmmm......

Ok. I picked one. I'm going with one of my old favorite Lana Del Rey songs.