We Did It!!! I Can't Believe It!

I'm still rather queasy after my unpleasant bout of stomach flu but there was no way I could not participate in the 25th Annual 8.15 mile Aloha Run which helps to fund 150 island charities. 20,000 people had signed up. My childhood friend, Diane and her husband, Dave and their kids had agreed to do the walk with us. Diane has a bad back and is not in the best of shape. She said that we could just walk until we felt we'd rather quit and then she'd call her son, Brandon to pick us up along the way. I asked her how long she felt her back would be able to last before hurting. She said, "An hour." Sounded like an easy day for me!


I asked my mom to take a photo of us as we prepared to leave the house. Hmmm... Considering the fact that my brother and I take tons of photos, my mother hasn't so it was quite funny to see her totally unable to figure out how to hold the camera to take the photo. This is the 3rd attempt.



One of the drawbacks to the race is that it starts at 7:00 AM. We had to drive to the Aloha Stadium and catch a bus into Honolulu by 6:00 AM. This meant we'd have to start out from our home by 5:00 which meant we'd have to wake up at 4:15 AM.

Here's a photo of Diane and Dave's family with a teacher friend of her daughter, Kristin.


The military jogged by us singing out their marching chants and got lots of applause and cheers.


The starting gate was a welcome sight. We felt like we walked an additional 3 miles to get from the parking lot to the stadium, to the bus and then to the starting place.


We ran, I mean walked past Honolulu Harbor.


We were surprised to see porta poddies so early in the race. No water. Just porta poddies with long lines.


Radio stations had set up cheering tents along the way. I'm not sure if they were broadcasting.


Very soon, we were at the 3 mile marker. I'm thinking Diane is bound to call Brandon any minute now but her cellphone is still in her pouch. My tummy is a little queasy but I'm doing fine. The weather is unbelievably in our favor.


At this point we began our walk under the H1 (Interstate Highway 1). Yes, it's called the Interstate but that's a whole 'nother story.

We were thrilled to be under the shade of the highway! And Diane is still looking good. Her back and feet are aching but she's not quitting. Well, if she's not quitting, how can I? My kids would never let me forget it.


It was fun to see the high school bands performing for us as we walked by!


And then.... unbelievably we came up to the 7 mile marker and the stadium was actually in view! We bumped into Claire who is the sister-in-law to another friend of mine. You can't do a big event like this in Hawaii and not bump into somebody you know.


And then...THERE it was! The stadium! Art was waiting for us in the stands. He'd run the entire way with a happy time of 1:22:22. We were very proud of our time which was 2:56:12!



The Finish Line was a very BEAUTIFUL sight! However the walk was not over.

I swear there was another mile added as they directed us toward a route to get our bananas, donuts, water and "Finisher" t-shirts.


We FINISHED!
Yahoo!








(I added a few more photos that Dave, who happens to be a fabulous professional photographer took for me while we walked together on the race. He just e-mailed the additional photos to me this Tuesday morning.)

Epilogue:
I was very sad to see this piece of news this morning.

HALAWA, Hawaii - A man who completed the Great Aloha Run on Monday died shortly after, event officials said.

The man was one of about 20,500 people who woke up early on Presidents Day to participate in the 25th Annual Great Aloha Run.

The man was sitting down in the parking lot with his eyes closed, spokeswoman Donna Fouts said. A "spotter," volunteer trained to spot participants in distress, walked over to the man and checked on him. He did not respond, the representative said.