Comming Full Circle- 4th of July 5k in Hawaii

So I previously blogged about my struggles and frustration, and how I realized either way I should be happy of how far I have come...Because even though I still have weight to lose I have (in my own mind) come full circle. 

I completed my very first sprint triathlon on July 4^th 2010.  I so wanted to mark my coming full circle by completing that very same sprint triathlon.  I was so excited, I downloaded the same plan I had used before, I registered for the race and I pumped myself up for the next 5 weeks of training..

Then I find out that my husband is taking us to Hawaii that weekend, therefore I couldn’t do the tri ( I know he is SUCH a jerk I don’t even know why I married him!!) Honestly as excited as I was to go to Hawaii, I won’t lie I was disappointed I wouldn’t be able to do the triathlon (I know my brain is wired wrong).  I decided that I couldn’t just let such an immense occasion pass by (for real as busy as I am and as crazy as my life is I just HAD to celebrate one whole year of me turning my life around).  So I set to staling active.com trying to find a local race.. I mean it WAS 4^th of July weekend, there just had to be SOMETHING in the area I could do.. I found a race at a marine corps base, but of course that intimidated me I mean I’m a slow runner, and Marines are hard core… but if that’s what it took that’s what I was going to do… of course I had to post a status about it on facebook ( if it wasn’t for the Internet I would have no friends) and a friend of mine from V-Town (aka Vermont) who’s hubby is stationed at Schofield Barracks the army base said there was a 4^th of July 5k there, and it was part of a whole family fun fest sponsored by the MWR.  Ahh now that seemed a lot less threatening, I mean I bet I wouldn’t even be in last place! The kicker was my husband said that he would RUN it with me.. now this is monumental… while he does incorporate running as a part of cardio to lose weight, he never runs races.. he WALKS races but he has refused to run pushing the stroller.  So this is awesome, not only do I get to celebrate my one year anniversary of racing, I get to do it with my family in tow… is there really anything better?

The day of the race came on our LAST vacation day in Hawaii, and honestly I wish it had been the first, because as much as I had dreamed about running along the boardwalk along the beach every day with the beautiful view of the sun and palm trees they had just stayed dreams… I didn’t get my butt out for a run at all the whole time, and I pretty much stuffed my face full of whatever yummy food I could find (hey I WAS on vacation).  So I knew beforehand I would be hurting but hey there are worse things I could do to my body.

We woke up early so we could make the drive from Waikiki beach to the Army base, it was about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic (island driving has little to be desired). I am ocd when it comes to time, and my husband is not, he is always saying oh why do you want to get there sooo early!!?? (to him arriving somewhere 30 seconds early is EARLY) But like I pointed out to him we don’t know what it is going to be like, does it really hurt to get there early and let the kids run around? (men! There is a reason they aren’t mothers!) So we get there early, so we have time to go to the bathroom, and stop at the Starbucks in the px to get some crazy overpriced water, and then go get our packets.  I was afraid my priority mail envelope with our registration hadn’t been delivered on time and I was going to have to beg and plea for them to give us race numbers without making us pay again.  But my math was right (of course I wait till the last minute to mail important things it has almost caused my license to be revolved…. Twice) they had received our entry forms and we were given our numbers and our shirts.  We were instructed to go across the road to get our timing chips from Timeline. Now this isn’t my first race with a timing chip, so I saunter over show my bib and expect my chip to be handed over just like “normal” but no there was a chip nazi (think soup nazi.. NO SOUP FOR YOU!)  He said up no until you have all four safety pins in all four holes on your number PROPERLY affixed to the FRONT of your shirt, I will KNOW you are ready to race and when I KNOW you are ready to race THEN you can have your chip… I seriously felt like I was in a dream.. who WAS this guy and why was he so over protective about his flipping timing chips?? As we pushed the stroller to the side and I proceeded to affix my number I heard him repeating himself to every other racer like me who assumed holding up the bib number was enough.  I also got to see a few people come up who only had 2 pins, he (for real) told them that until they had FOUR pins on their shirt they were NOT getting a chip, “but they only gave us 2 pins” one person replied of course the chip nazi takes no excuses, “go back and ask for 2 more he said, I will know you are ready to race….etc.  My husband being the guy he is shakes his head and says forget it I don’t need an official time I’m not dealing with this guy!  Me I obediently affix the 4 pins, thinking that I am going to take one off once I get my chip because (and I can’t tell you why) I always race with 3 pins, always have always will.  And for real Timeline you need to talk to that guy because there is NO reason to be so extra about something at a 5k FUN RUN!!

Anyway now that I got that out of my system we lined up by the start and got our pre race pic, don’t you just LOVE my family?? I do! (most of the time)

Notice he has no chip on his ankle... rebel!

We heard them say there was 5 minutes left until the race and there would be a briefing.  Well we stood there ready and waiting and suddenly heard booooonnnnnnggggg or however you imitate an air horn… all of us in the back jumped a foot in the air and started running looking around like where was the warning?? Of course in the scatter I saw someone hit the dust, but luckily all the people wielding strollers were able to steer clear until they got up (that could have been messy!) I start off at about 10:30 pace Victor says that’s a good pace for him with the stroller and I could go ahead, I literally laughed out loud at him, silly husband I can barely keep this pace when I don’t take a week off stuffing my face!!

I kept the pace as long as I could; I was in a crowd of running moms and dads that had strollers, it was nice, I even passed a few people which is nice because mostly I get passed… after the first half mile my body finally started noticing the heat (and HUMIDITY) of the tropical island.  Sweat was pouring out of every orifice and I was trying to make sure I kept on top of drinking water.  Of course slowly my pace slowed, and I realized that as my pace slowed, the road rose.  What the… uh I so dislike courses that are half uphill! Although really you think about it you go up, then you get the easy part.. coming down, it is much better then it being reversed but I think I still have nightmares from the canyon trail they made us run when I was in training at Ft Huachuca.. it was a brutal path that went 1.8 miles UP and 1.8 miles down, yeah you got to go down but by that point your legs were so rubbery from the climb it was hard to control them on the steep descent. I have only once ever “run until I puked” and it was on this devil trail! Although by the time I finished the run it wasn’t so much puking as it was dry heaving as slobber hung from my mouth.

Needless to say it has to be a mental thing that causes me to despise these types of runs, but I kept plugging on and of course people who had reached the halfway point and were on their way back were starting to pass me on the left (as much as I dislike half up half down I actually don’t mind out and back races go figure) and then we get to the half way point.. AND water.. YAY!!

Vic was still with me but in front of me and I told him he could go ahead of me if he wanted, he didn’t need to wait for my slow butt on his very first “official” race, but since he can be a good husband when he wants to be, he stayed with me for quite a bit longer, trying to motivate me, come on cass its downhill now! Ha yea while it was just enough of an uphill to be annoying it wasn’t quite enough of a downhill to really pickup momentum so I continued to plod along just a smidge faster than I had come up. 

REALLY most of the race was a blur, I just know I was HOT and overly sweaty, like for real I felt like I was swimming, I guess there ARE some benefits to the desert heat…

Finally I see the finish line, of course with my slow finish there wasn’t a huge crowd cheering me on, actually I think they were getting ready to start the awards, BUT that’s ok I knew there were people still behind me and the finish line was still intact so that’s what matters ;) I crossed the finish line and heard the machine from the timeline tent beep (and nobody was around, so I could have finished with no number on and it still would have had an official time) and my time was around 38 minutes… definitely not my fastest 5k (my pr is 32:30) BUT nothing can compare to how awesome coming full circle is.  Maybe it wasn’t a sprint triathlon, and maybe I wasn’t as fast as I was a few months ago but I was still out there doing it… and still LOVING it which is what really matters most..

Me and Vicki hanging loose pre kids run

Another awesome thing about that day.. they had a 1 mile kids race that my Vicki wanted to do sooo bad! I was surprised… I mean she loves to be like her mommy and she loves to play outside but honestly when it comes down to it she is lazy… like she will be playing and having fun and as soon as it’s time to pick up her toys suddenly her legs hurt and she has to sit down.. or she will want to ride her scooter to the park and once we get just far enough from the house she decides she can’t ride it anymore -_- uh regardless we had an awesome time running (walking) the mile, of course after we started she wanted to just go back but I told her she signed up for it, she started it by golly she was FINISHING IT!!! And she did (almost) dead last… just like her mama <3


Go Vicki!!!