Last month I spent 10 days in beautiful Maui. We arrived on a Friday night and I was signed up to run The Maui Oceanfront Half Marathon that first Sunday. My mom and sister were running the 10K. It started really early (it was still dark), and I was surprisingly cold in my shorts and tank top while we waited for the race to start. The entire half marathon (as well as the 10k and full marathon) was an out and back along the Honoapiilani Highway– starting and ending in Lahaina.
A few days before I arrived in Maui I started getting sick. I felt mostly fine the day of the race, other than having a horrible cough that made it a little difficult to breath at times. About 3km into the race I knew it wouldn’t be one of my best running days. I passed the 10K turnaround and was really really tempted to just head back. I could never do that, of course, unless I was actually seriously injured. I made it to the halfway point, grabbed a peppermint candy from the giant bowl of random hard candies, and settled in for the next hour of running. By this point the sun was up, I was hot, I wasn’t carrying water or any gels (what’s wrong with me?) and the water stations seemed spaced very far apart (every few miles?). The water stations also didn’t have any gatorade… at least I only found it at one of the very first stops. SO I was tired, thirsty, feeling dizzy, and frustrated that I could barely run a 6 min/km at this point. I finally finished in 2:03:19, 10th in my age group, out of 24. In retrospect, I hadn’t been running very fast prior to the race and I probably started the race way too fast for my running fitness at the time (I finished the first 10k in like 51 or 53 minutes).
Some things I learned from this race:
– If you’re running somewhere a lot warmer than you are used to, BRING WATER!
– Take a gel/fuel just in case.
– Some races are going be tough for whatever reason, and that’s okay!
and something I always struggle with – Don’t start out too fast.
My my and sister enjoyed their 10K runs. My sister even placed 2nd in her age group! It’s nice to have family waiting for you at the finish line.
stolen race photo
runningontempeh 
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