It was a three-H experience at the Kauai Marathon 2016 – Heat, Humidity, and Hills. At least it wasn’t a 4-H – Hurricane. Despite myriad warnings and frets, Hurricane Lester turned out to be a non-issue. I’m a little embarrassed at how much of a non-issue given the pummeling and thrashing the East Coast of the Mainland took at the hands of Hurricane Hermine.
But today turned out to be a mostly crystal clear sky and rising temperatures… a problem unto itself as the lack of shade in the final 6 miles really took a toll on me.
The race start featured fire dancers and a bit of advice/warning from the race director – hydrate and don’t expect a PR. Enjoy the course and the experience of running in paradise. The pre-race food was a spread worthy of a post-race street festival – muffins, bagels, fruit, and I heard tell of sushi but I didn’t see it. Sushi!
Mom was a real trouper putting up with delays and a bit of a hike to the finish line. She apparently was stopped though at some point by a woman who wanted to snap a photo of her “I’m Kevin’s Mom” shirt. This woman turned out to be a race director and gave Mom a ride to the finish line… albeit she was stuck then hanging around for a long, long time. I was a bit slow today, although to be fair we were all warned there wasn’t likely to be a PR today.A few stats from the race announcer, a typical smooth radio DJ voice from the local Kong station:
It was a record registration year. There are 351 Marathoners and 1679 Half-Marathoners, from 44 different states and 13 countries.
The breakdown worked out to 41% male and 59% female.
The youngest marathoner is 12 years old; the wisest is 74.
The youngest half-marathoner is 8 years old; the wisest is 86 years young.
As the clock struck 6 AM, a conch shell was blown and we were off on the roads of Kauai. As I said, it was marked by heat, humidity and hills. Some of it was incredibly familiar from my run here in 2015. I must have blocked out a few of the hills though as they were steeper than I might have liked. A fair bit of walking, especially in the back half on the hills cost me time and an age group placement.
One of the key highlights of Kauai is the Malahuia Tunnel of Trees. Legend tells this stretch of eucalyptus trees are either the work of the Knudsen Family looking to shore up the boggy roadway, or that they were planted as windbreaks for the sugar cane crop, or that they were imported by the civic minded Walter Duncan McBryde. Whatever the case, the trees are assuredly a tunnel and as we ran uphill (!!) on the road for a few miles, the canopy of trees helped trap some of the humidity and heat. It was too early for decent sunlight… or I should say decent sunlight for my iPhone to capture a shot… so most of my pics are blurry messes from this section. As with a lot of Kauai, the photos can’t do justice to the reality of this place so maybe it’s all forthe best that there’s not a great shot from here. Still, bit of a bummer really.
From there we hit the highway, which on Kauai means an at times two lane blacktop but usually just one lane in each direction. Rolling hills would ultimately give way to the split with the half marathoners and those of us running the full. We’re the bigger chickens in the signage, a nod to the roaming bands of feral chickens on the island. At one point I ran past a water stop with the slogan “The Ba-Cock Stops Here!”
This is where the hills really started to pile up. But on the plus side, a 5 second drizzle where I was (and apparently a much longer, more drenching rain where Mom was waiting) netted us a fine rainbow sighting. In this instance, there’s a water stop at the end of the rainbow, more precious than a pot of gold!
Round and round we went, with various Polynesian Hula Dancers and Performers adding to the island spirit of Aloha, the aid stations well stocked with ice-filled water cups. Ice water! How fancy! I would take a swig and dump the ice on my head, letting the ice get trapped in my shirt to try and cool off whenever possible.
A pun-ny photo from somewhere in the late tens mileage: Cello Shots Along the Course:
Somewhere along the way, I came across Dave Flowers, my tour guide at the Botanical Gardens yesterday. He had said he was going to run the race today but thought he’d be the very last person as he hadn’t trained properly. He wasn’t last but he had a fair bit to go when I saw him. Still, it was nice to cheer each other on and a reminder that it’s a small island, and perhaps an even smaller world after all (note his runDisney shirt – last year he ran it with a few of his kids and despite everybody having various issues throughout the race, they crossed the finish line together – a sweet story).
I struggled mightily to finish and couldn’t help but feel the weight of the humidity on me, the sun beating down as shade was long gone amidst the cleared resort roads back to the finish line. But I carried on, not exactly keeping calm, but I carried on.
As we rounded the last corner and ran along the ocean, the final tenths of a mile clicked along slowly. Mom was there to cheer me on at the finish, ringing her cowbell, and telling the cheer squad who must have also chatted with her about being “Kevin’s Mom” that as I approached I was indeed, “Kevin.”
Crossing the finish line, I wound up with a 3:47:04, 5th in my age group, and 18th overall.
I saw the guy who won fly by me, leading me by a good 6 miles around the mid-point of the race. He finished with an astonishing 2:30:51, a full 20 minutes before the 2nd place finisher (intriguingly named Rich Hanna… no relation).
On the plus side, I improved on my time from 2015, where I clocked a 3:51:43.
And on the most important plus side, Mom and I got to celebrate another day in paradise with perhaps the best weather we’ve had all week. Maybe not the best weather for running, but for lounging outside and watched the waves roll in, it’s pretty okay.
Pretty darn okay indeed.