Honolulu Marathon Experience

December 29th, 2007 kNuke Posted in Hawaii | 1 Comment »

Here are a few pieces of information that I picked up during my first ever Honolulu Marathon. Maybe it’ll help you prepare for yours. If not, hopefully it’ll give you a laugh.

1. 26.2 miles is ridiculously long.
2. Don’t listen to people who haven’t ran a marathon. Like Fabolous said, “If you ain’t never went through it you ain’t really into it.” In other words, they don’t know what they’re talking about.
3. You should run at least 22-26 miles during a week before running the actual marathon if you expect to run the entire race.
4. Vasoline and Gels are overrated.
5. Buy new shoes and anti blister socks.
6. Don’t use anything you haven’t trained with.
7. Here’s the order of how things got sore: Arms, feet and calves, hip flexors a while later, then hamstrings, thighs, and lower back quickly thereafter. Since I had only trained up to 12 miles a week, my whole lower body locked up at 12 miles. Every step I took after that felt like it could be the one that pulled a muscle or caught a cramp.
8. Running outside isn’t that much different than running on the treadmill with an incline set to 1.
9. Don’t plan to do anything for the rest of the day.
10. When you finish, it’s the greatest feeling ever.

This was my first experience running a marathon and I have to say that I severely overestimated my abilities.  I hope all of you crazy marathon newbies take some of my advice so that your first marathon experience won’t leave you bed-ridden for two days!

GOOD LUCK!!!