Run With Garrison

Aloha,

This morning I ventured back into the vibrant road racing scene here on Oahu by running first race of the 5 race Honolulu Marathon Readiness Series. This series of races are super well organized and it signals the start of the Fall road racing season here on the island. Since Jeff and I are both coming off injuries, we decided that this would be a great opportunity for a nice training run.

We met up around 4:15 for my now-traditional warmup run around Diamond Head and I felt sooo much better than I had over the past few days. My hip is feeling better (not quite 100%) but I have been having difficulty finding my rhythm while I am out on the run. I am guessing that it has just been a while since I have been this out of shape. Good thing I know a few cures for my ailments…hard work and dedication. I was initially a little nervous heading over to the race but as soon as I got there, it was easy for me to just relax. Since it was just a nice training run, Jeff and I just chilled a few rows back from the crowded start line and we set a nice comfortable pace once the gun went off.

For about the first 5-6 miles, we chatted away just like it was one of our fun 21 milers out to Dog’s House and back. Life was feeling pretty good. Then, around mile 6 or so, the chatting slowed considerably, the pace picked up, and we had to focus a little more on the effort at hand. Neither one of us took mile splits, but we most certainly ran this race as a big negative split. Once we were quiet, we each took turns pressing a little bit and we both ran well up Kahala road and up Diamond Head. Once we rolled over the top of DH, that is when I started to suffer a little more than I am used to. Jeff moved away from me with about 1k to go and I felt like I was just trying to hold on. Jeff was 39th and I finished up in 42nd overall with a time of 1:06:08. This was a bit off my 5th place effort of 2011 when I ran 56:03 but I know that I am just getting started again and that I need to be patient. It was great to see Doc Florimonte at the finish line. He came over to say hi and check on my hip progress. He is now a member of the 40-44 age group and he took home the top prize for the bunch.

Now for some Ultra news and updates…
I just registered and made travel arrangements for the Javelina 100 miler Oct 26-27 in Arizona. I am pretty excited about this and I think training for this event will help me get myself back going in the right direction. So far, Pauline and her sister Katherine are planning on crewing and I am hopeful that a few others may come out to join us as well.
I also just found out that I am number 7 on the HURT wait list. I think that is a pretty nice spot and I am going to start wrapping my head back around 100 miles of HURT so I am ready when I get the call.
This week I ran 46 miles and the goal for the next week is 50-55 miles.
The next races on the calendar are the Tantalus Triple Trek 50k August 31 and the Marathon Readiness Series 20k on Sept 1. Lots of great training ahead!

Have a great week!
Aloha,
Michael