Honolulu Marathon Mission

One week till Honolulu Marathon. This is the moment all of my training falls into place. I've worked hard to achieve my goals mentally & physically. Can I  survive the taper? For some tapering is harder than the training days leading up to race day. For me it's the final moments when I can't stop thinking about my race. I visual the race course and the incredible amount of spectators cheering us on.

Honolulu Marathon has so much meaning to me. It was my very first marathon,  it's been my very worst & and my very best. In 2007 & 2008 I "raced "well not really raced considering I never ran further than 13 miles and had no clue about the nutrition. I was slow,  I walked,  I was hot and dehydrated to say the least. I was a complete Newby who bonked. ( I was also in the midst of my eating disorder at that time, which did not make things easier.)

It wasn't until 2012, after two years of have given birth to my son I finally decided to run Honolulu Marathon again. This time I trained smart. After giving  birth to my son in 2010, I became a much better runner. He and I began running together when he was about 6 weeks old.  For the first time in my life, I  fell in love with running. My son was my number one training partner. I pushed him 18 miles that year (2012) on my longest training run. It was amazing!
I went and raced Honolulu Marathon 2012 finishing in 3:32:32. I was higher than ever, never walked once, and most importantly I never bonked. I learned that I needed nutrition to run and I needed to train. I began to take running seriously when it came to training.

For me,  Honolulu holds a key to my heart. It is more than running, it is more than miles. It truly has taught me to believe in myself and who I am. It taught me it is okay to call myself a runner and I would from that moment begin to recognize I am a runner. And I love running marathons.

So, next week I will  have ran my 9th Marathon (5th Honolulu Marathon).
I will have accomplished more than I thought I would have ever chosen to do as a runner. And hopefully all my hard work & training will have paid off on course.

Looking for another PR! Right now I hold a 3:29 marathon (this year I'm looking for a.....)