Well, if you were me this morning, you would have been at the starting line of the 45th Honolulu Marathon/10k!

This was my first race in Hawaii since I moved here, crazy, right? I’ve been wanting to do a race here and here I am! PSM had registered for the race, I wasn’t scheduled to be home this weekend so I didn’t sign up. Since he’s still recovering, I said I would run in his place! Yesterday, we went to the Expo, picked up his packet and I was able to get a t-shirt in my size, go figure, bling! We couldn’t transfer his bibb number, so when I got the results, they were under his name. I just want to know what my time is.

It was VERY early when I started out. It doesn’t help, as you know, that I don’t sleep very much! I fell asleep about 12am, go figure and that alarm went off at 3am, what? This is Sunday, what have I done to myself? Of course, I also haven’t trained for this one, duh! I snoozed and finally got up at 3:10am, got dressed and out of the house at 3:34am, yup, I even brushed mt teeth!

Hit the road and made it to the Honolulu Zoo at 3:57am, drove around and finally found a place to part at the Marriott and rushed to the Zoo about two blocks away. I really need to start carrying cash so I can park in the lots! I completely forgot! And I have done so many races, you’d think I would remember! I re-read the email and it said that the last shuttle was leaving at 4am! What?! Go figure…on island time, the last shuttle was right there and I made it! 4:22am! We were dropped off near the start and all walked over, then with my fellow racers, stood in line for the port-o-potties!

As we waited for the start, the fireworks started, what a show! Then, somewhere around 5:15am we were off! It was still very dark, but lots of lights and good vibes in the air. We walked/ran down the streets that are usually packed with people, cars, tourists and locals alike. We ran past the mall, where PSM had his shoulder surgery. Ala Moana Boulevard, which means “Path by the Ocean” in Hawaiian, we saw King Street, Queen Street, Prince Street I felt like royalty!

We passed by the Honolulu City Lights Display, can’t wait to go back and actually walk around! There were people in costumes, some of them a lot of fun. There were Minions, Pokeman, Rainbow Brights, Santa and Mrs Clauses, even a honeymooning couple! A lot of the businesses have giant displays set up for Christmas.

So many people cheering each other on, there were some clever signs, most I didn’t take pictures of, since they were in Japanese! Most of the runners were from Japan, as JAL, Japan Air Lines was a major sponsor, Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS and SportsBeauty, just to name a few! Someone told me a joke “What do you call 30,000 Japanese running after 3 Kenyans?” “The Honolulu Marathon!”

I crossed the finish approximately 1:45 after I started and the sun had just started to come up about 20/25 minutes earlier, it was nice to run past the beach as the sun was rising to greet us. I got my medal, banana and malasada. A malasada is a Portuguese confection, made of egg-sized balls of yeast dough that are deep-fried in oil and coated with granulated sugar. They were first made by inhabitants of the Madeira islands and when the Portuguese immigrated to Hawaii, they brought them along! Now, they have become a Hawaiian delicacy and staple. You won’t find them anywhere else in the United States, unless the owner is from Hawaii! Our favorite breakfast place makes malasada pancakes, O M G!!!

After the race, got a few photos taken and as I was standing in line struck up a conversation with a nice Japanese woman named Jackie who said she was going to start studying English right now!

Then it was time to get back to my car and since I wasn’t sure where I was and there was no shuttle, since we crossed the finish line near the zoo. I asked someone directions and they sent me in the wrong direction! This went from a .3 mile walk to 1.5 mile walk, what?! No thank you! I called for an Uber! Yes I did! Best money I spent all weekend!

Back home I sat on the couch and…zzzzzzzz. I had planned to finish packing and then take a nap, nope, sleep took over, apparently Mollie and I were both dead to the world! It was He kupaianaha [Hawaiian], 素晴らしい [Subarashī] [Japanese], vunderlekh [Yiddish] that would be Marvelous in English!!!

Then it was up, pack, head to the airport and dread what my body is going to feel like after I am on a plane for eight hours barely moving…think I’m going to be a bit sore?! You would be correct! I saw a few people with their marathon and 10k shirts on at the airport, wonder how many are on my flights!

I am so hoping all that exercise will wear me out and get me to sleep on the flights, fingers crossed!

Holo, JJ, holo! [Hawaiian for run]