Kauai Marathon - September 3, 2017

On towards the conquest of doing a marathon on every island that has a marathon in the state of Hawaii. This time around is the Kauai Marathon which is located at Poipu, climbs up through the tunnel of trees on Malihui Road, and then circles the enchanting town of Kalaheo (Lewai). This 26.2 mile run is one of the hardest marathons in the state, if not the country, even the Kenyans had problems, that is why they don't enter anymore.

September 2 (day before)

From Oahu, I took the first flight out to Lihue. I'm a cheap bastard and usually the first flight out of Oahu is the cheapest. The plane landed at the Lihue airport at 6am, however picking up my rental car was a chore. At the Dollar pick up place, there was only one guy at the desk and he took forever. It wasn't his fault, he was doing his job. It was the stupidest procedure in the history of rental cars. He had to go through a million questions making each transaction take forever. Dollar never again! 

After I picked up my car, I took two side trips; 1) to the fishpond and 2) farmer's market. These two side trips were pre-planned and I was able to get to the Farmer's Market when it first opened. My goal was to try the sugar loaf pineapple which is said to have a white color, low acidity and super sweet. It is super expensive and comes out to $15 per pineapple. I ended up buying the slushy. It was really interesting how they made it. First they froze the pineapple and then they ran it manually through this machine, then voilà ~ slushy pineapple. 

From there, I drove to the Wilcox Expo at the Grand Hyatt at Poipu. The hotel was a legit 4 star hotel and the expo was a good size expo. Since I'm nearing the end of my marathon career, I started buying souvenirs. I got a shirt and some stickers. After checking the time, I realized that I had 2 hours to waste before hotel check in. I signed up for a massage and was 4th on the list. What should have taken 20 minutes, ended up taking over 1 hour. My legs were tight as I could feel the tightness during the massage.

I checked into the Garden Island Inn hotel and got settled in. My carb load dinner was at Bread and Deli connection. The food was excellent, Turkey and Pastrami on their famous sweet bread + thick clam chowder.

September 3

Marathon Day! I couldn't sleep and decided to start my day at 3am. I took my time until 4:50am and started driving down to Poipu. I followed the cars to the parking spot. It seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. I headed down to where everyone was. There were a lot of people. In the background was trance music, I thought that was cool. At about 5:50am we headed to the start. Before the run started, one of the runners sang the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America. I noticed it was freakin' hot already and the run didn't even start.

The run started at 6am sharp. The first 0.5 miles were flat, but before we hit one mile it started to incline. It wasn't too bad, but it started to get really steep. Everyone started to walk, but I kept on going. My pace was slow at about an 11:15 min/mile. We hit the tunnel of trees, a serene experience, although it didn't stop the sun from coming through. At the top, we made a left. The hills didn't stop yet. We had to run more uphill. The hills didn't start declining until mile 9, then it was downhill for 2 miles.

The split was at mile 11. The Half Marathon runners went left to finish up and Marathon runners went right towards Lewai. The hills took its toll and I began to walk. I tried to suck it up, but it didn't work, and I threw a pity party until mile 15. I snapped out of it and started to push at mile 17 thru 19. I started to cramp in both legs and my quads. I took my motrin to alleviate the pain. It worked although the cramping persisted. It was still manageable to run through, however. 

The crowd was great and very supportive, they also had a lot of ice on this hot day. I was sweating buckets. Between miles 16-24 I kept on getting ice and rubbed it all over my head to cool down. Residents of Lewai were coming out of the woodwork to give us water and food, they are such a great community! I kept on taking their water because it was so hot.

The last 3 miles were mostly downhill and even though I was sore with the cramping, I took the opportunity to push through. Gravity was my friend and I used it to my advantage. I wouldn't get the 4:50 time I hoped for, but I finished the marathon in 5:12. My phone had run out of battery before I crossed the line so I couldn't ask any volunteer to take a picture of me, I would have to go to my car, charge my phone with my portable charger and come back.

I was still perspiring after the run. I wanted to look for the shuttle to take me back to my car, but was preoccupied with the sandwich wraps at the food tent. Oh man that was good! I followed the shuttle sign and waited in line. The shuttle took us to the hotels. I was thinking this is not good, it's the hotel shuttle, not the marathon shuttle. I waited until the last stop and waited for everyone to get off. I asked the driver if he could drop me off near the starting line, he did. 

However, I still didn't know where my car was as I just remembered that I had parked in a lot, not necessarily at the starting line. I walked aimlessly, I got weird looks from people, looks like, "What is that guy doing?". I was exhausted from the run and was walking for at least 15 minutes before I headed towards the beach. I'm not sure what drew me to the beach. I don't want to say I was getting worried yet, but the thought crept through my mind. Just then I heard a couple in a jeep say, "That dude just ran the marathon, congratulations!". I was like, "Thanks!, I'm a little tired". The female in the car said, "hey are you looking for your car, do you need a ride?" I was like thank you, thank you. I jumped in their jeep. I didn't realize I was so far away. Those two were a lifesaver. I think the female name was Alexis, and the guy's name was Paul. 

As soon as I got to my car, I charged my phone and drove back to the Sheraton to take my picture. I asked one of the volunteers to take it for me. All that for a picture, geez!

Now I had to make a choice, go back to Lihue or travel to Waimea to the famous Ishihara Market to get my lau lau plate. Emotions took over as you never want to mess with the emotional response of food after a marathon, you can't win that argument. Before I went to Ishihara, I took a side trip to a nearby beach called Salt Pond Beach to clean up. I took my time and it was wonderful. It feels like you have total control of your life and not a care in the world because I just ran the KAUAI MARATHON. From Salt Pond was an 11 minute drive to Ishihara. To my disappointment they didn't have lau lau, I would have to wait till I get back to Oahu for lau lau. I bought the tsunami poke, then took a side trip to Kauai Coffee to eat my poke and get a coffee milkshake. The poor milkshake did not stand a chance against my appetite. 

After sampling the coffee at the farm, I drove back to the hotel and opened my bottle of pinot noir. I drank the wine so fast and felt like shit. The lactic acid was creeping in and made me feel miserable. I took a short nap, but when I woke up I felt hungry again. I decided to go down the road to Kalapaki Joe's for a hamburger. I wanted a pizza from Portofino's, but wasn't sure I could take it out. The question you don't ask results in an answer that is left unanswered or in this case, a result that you don't want. 

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with french fries. I took it to Nawiliwili Beach to consume it. To my surprise nearly everyone at the beach was eating Portofino's pizza. Fuck! I thought!!! But the burger was good and the fries were good, I can't complain.

I went back to the hotel to drink more. I was really drunk and fell asleep. I needed this sleep to recover. I did the Kauai Marathon! It is definitely one of the most difficult marathons in the country. A story came out from Hawaii News Now and in one of the pictures was a group of runners. In the focal point of the picture is me. Haha. Cool!!! 

Maui next, 2018, October. Let the training begin.