Saturday, March 28, 2009

PHOTOS

Hilo Hawaii Marathon Feb 22nd 2009



From left to right, up to down.

The Mayor of Hilo and me. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place getters in the full marathon. Jared and me. Jared and Ali. Germain and me. Germain and Sean. Me and Garrett 2nd place getter in the half. Me and young Hawaiian girls. The marathon start. 40~44 age group winners.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Punters Post Mortem

Thanks for all your comments. I'm blown away by how nice you guys are, and helpful to boot !!!!

I was coming back after the marathon I wasn't feeling too good with my race and as I was riding my bike to my hotel some f#!* wits threw something hard at me from out their car window. But after when opening up my blog and seeing all the kind and thoughtful comments it has reaffirmed my conviction that people are basically good! Well the ones that don't want to kill you that is ;)

Anyway, first the numbers. 5K splits.

1st 5 K 18:40
2nd 5 K 19:51
3rd 5 K 20:30
4th 5 K 20:29
5th 5 K 20:54
6th 5 K 21:55
7th 5 K 22:20
8th 5 K 25:00
last 2K 10:09

Those tell most of the story but I'll fill in the gaps. We started at 6:00am bused up the mountain hugging the coast. It was a cool overcast morning with little wind to start with and I set off like a whip with the eventual winner of the half marathon. I stuck with him for about 13K only one other guy in front of us a young guy who was flying about a K ahead of us. This guy was to hold the lead until about the 37th K when he broke down and walked it in.

I did think that perhaps I was going out too fast but it was mostly downhill, very beautiful jungle and ocean scenery, and only about 6 or so uphills in the first 10kms so I thought my heart rate would be relatively low and I felt good, maybe it was my day to go sub 2:50:00 after all ;)

The eventual winner zipped by me at 12 K without so much as a "How's your Mother?" I let it go thinking I would ask how his was when I passed him later, but never got that chance ;(

The course flattened out about the time my half marathon partner split to finish his race and at about the 28th K mark two very cheerful fellas past me, Sean the Ultra marathon runner from Portland, Oregon, I think, and a young local, a small stocky guy that encouraged me to join them. They came in, in reverse order 2nd and 3rd. It was pouring down at this stage and we were zigzagging our way through empty streets around the airport. Somehow I had no energy to give chase and although I had plenty of carbo drinks I felt like I was pulling a car tire on a rope behind me.

While I kept on moving and nobody else passed me I couldn't pick up the pace. I was acutely aware that even sub 3 was slipping from my grasp. All I could do was think about why? I haven't been that frustrated since my elder sister's boyfriend held the top of my head while I thrashed about trying to punch him but falling way short of my mark.

I'm still not altogether sure why but I think Ewen said it about how the hills must have played havoc with my quads. I reckon that is right as 2 days later and I can't bring my legs back to where the heel touches the bum. I haven't had this kind of pain before after a thon.

I was a little worried as I had such a good build up going into this and I expected more but it wasn't an ideal PB course, weather conditions being too humid too. Still, I was given some hope of redemption when I read Sean's blog I'll link to it next post. Sean was the friendly ultra marathon fella that came in 3rd 3 mins ahead of me. I found out later that he went sub 2:39:00 in a marathon in Dec 2008 and got a 1:15:00 in a half in Jan this year.

Again thanks for your comments and caring about this runner's progress or lack of it. Congratulations Toasty your prize is on its way just send me your snail mail address to abenoki@gmail.com Toasty said he thought I'd do just under 3 hours, close enough son ;)

I told you in not so many words that nobody has made money betting that I would come through :) But this will have to change one day, stick with me ;)

Photos next post.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Update

Well I don't know whether to laugh or cry but I have a lot to say about this race. Overall it was good still a much harder course and worse conditions than I was obviously prepared for. I'll post the gory details in the next couple of days. But now for the time 3:00:08 ! 1st in age group, 4th overall.

Hope you are all well, thanks for your thoughts and comments they were, as usual, very much appreciated.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

10k PB

Miki 10K sunny/windy 10 degrees

Had a terrific race today PBed and feel none the worst for it so I'm ready for the marathon next Sunday. I did , chip time, 35:48 and got 3rd place in my age group, see photos below, that's about 15th overall. Very happy with that at this stage but I'm not through with 10K yet ;)

So please finalise the marathon time you think I can run in Hawaii and get them into me. Not only can the closest get a nice little souvenir the winner will have the satisfaction of knowing, they were right! Maybe that doesn't mean a lot to you but in this family I haven't been right since August of 2001 and I'd like to increase those occurrences. I'll say 2:55:40

I leave on this coming Wednesday but I'll try to post in Hawaii before the race on Sunday. Thanks, and take care of yourselves, I'll be in contact soon.

The photo below shows the first 500 meters in the stadium and me coming 5th.

At the bottom of this post I uploaded a grainy video of the last 500 meters going into the stadium with my wife shouting encouragement and if you listen closely you can also hear my 8 year old booing me, little shit :)


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

JUST A REGULAR EVERYDAY NORMAL GUY

I was thinking about my last post and maybe I come across as kind of vain and narcissistic but that is not the case. In fact "I'm just a regular everyday normal guy" trying to improve himself taking one step forward and two back most of the time.

The one step forward I've taken this week was a 3KTT PB of 10:32. Anyway, the following song describes more of what I'm about so take a listen if you don't mind the word "Mother----er!"

Monday, March 02, 2009

"BRACE YOURSELF MY DEAR"

The title above, another line from "Holiday in Cambodia" is fitting, I reckon, when you see the transformation I've undergone in the years since taking up running. The First photo was taken in Singapore (Which is also fitting as I had "more Chins than a Chinese telephone book) in 2000 two years before I ran my first step. You can see that I'd let things go a tad. I was still smoking at this stage, drinking everyday and I ate just about anything I could get my hands on.

The other two photos were taken today. I'm closer now to what I looked like at 20 than I did at 35 years old. I still have someways to go before I feel I'm perfectly fit but you can see that things are moving in the right direction as in the last 3 months I've made even more progress.

Since my 3:03 marathon in Dec 2008 I've lost 10cm off my gut. I've lost 7kgs and gone from 23% body fat to 14%. Knowing this and that I have had a good 12 week build up for my coming March 22nd marathon in Hawaii may help you decide a time you think I can run it.

Some bad news. I'm not running today, broke my 7 week running streak, because I have a very sore lower back (maybe going out in sympathy with Ewen) and yesterday after my 38kms long run, that gave me a 153km week, I developed a sensation of really wanting to take a piss and nothing coming out for 8 hours after the run. Not sure if that had anything to do with the amount of Ks but it won't hurt to take the day off today. In fact I'm feeling better on both accounts now. No need to worry I suspect.

I have a 10K race on the 15th of this month and I'm starting to taper from now so saving any sickness, Hawaii would have to be a PB certainty!