The Great Aloha Run: 8.2 Miles to Victory!

On Monday I ran the Great Aloha Run, an 8.2 mile race drawing nearly 30,000 people, for the second time. The first outing was two years ago and I walked the first two miles, ran the next two, and staggered the remaining 4.2 in an odd sort of run/walk/shuffle/crawl while telling myself that it didn't matter if I was actually moving slower than a walk as long as I was making the motion of running.

This year, I ran.

I ran from the first step to the last, without walking or stopping and it was -- gasp -- easy. I spent the entire race waiting to feel like I was going to collapse, but mile after mile went by and I felt very little by way of fatigue. My hips hurt a little and my knees hurt a lot, but my breath stayed steady and my muscles felt strong. Every time I felt myself getting a little tired I checked and corrected my posture and form and immediately felt strong again.

I crossed the finish line feeling triumphant and I know that all the credit belongs to the triathlon training I have been doing. It felt amazing.

Feeling tired in a more pervasive way than usual, I gave myself an extra day off from training to let my body recover. Tomorrow I will be back to the normal training schedule, full of excitement and motivation after seeing how far I've come. 35 minute run, 600m swim -- bring it on!