Monday, February 28, 2011

The Great Aloha Run - 2011

I have been looking forward to writing this post for a while now. I should start off by stating that I am NOT athletic in any way. I joke that I am allergic to exercise. When in high school I talked my way out of 2 of the 4 years mandatory P.E. I hate to sweat, and I hate to stink. As I get older though, I have come to discover the benefits of exercise. This past summer I was talking to a friend and mentioned that I would like to start running. She recommended a beginning runners book with a scheduled program. Just what I needed. I committed to this schedule, and decided to RUN my first race - The Great Aloha Run. This run is every Presidents Day in Honolulu, and it goes from the Aloha Tower near downtown, to the Aloha Stadium near Pearl Harbor...8.15 miles. I think it was a little ambitious, but I DID IT!!! I cannot express how proud of myself I am. I know to many, this may be a small thing, but to my little out of shape self, it was a BIG deal. 
Here is my wonderful running companion, Chris. This picture was taken at about 5 a.m. before the race started. 
 I absolutely loved running with my husband. He was just the right person to motivate me to go a little faster. Here we are crossing the finish line together. 
A few weeks after the race we received all the stats from the race. Our time was 1 hr. 35 mins. (I'm still upset about the 5 mins. wasted waiting in line at the porta-potty). I finished in the top 1/3 of women in my age group.


This was such a great experience, both personally and as a couple. I'm not sure I'm ready for a marathon, but you never know...this race proved to me that anything is possible :)

6 comments:

Mills Family said...

As I wipe away the tears that is so awesome that you and Chris accomplished this race together. How fun!

Missy said...

Way to go! What a great accomplishment. I started running about 5 years ago and thought I would die at first. But I kept at it and have now run lots of 5Ks, a few 10Ks, and have registered for my first half marathon in August. A lot of days I have to talk myself into it, but afterwards I feel so great. I hope you keep it up and good luck on your next running adventure.

Greg said...

Outstanding! Keep it up!
When I started running about 10-11 years ago I thought I would never run a marathon. It just seemed too far. But now I've done that and more. Just take it easy and build endurance.
Have fun!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

That's so cool. I totally know what you mean about it being so great as a couple. Serena and I did something like this last summer. We were also thinking we might be up for a marathon someday... in the distant future :D. Maybe we could all get together and do one now that you're gonna live so close!

Heather said...

yea!!! The whole race experience is exciting!!