The Berreth Family: Today is the BIG day!

Wow, the day we have been training for all summer is finally here! It's MAUI MARATHON DAY!!! We got up this morning at 3:00 am. Yes, I typed 3:00 am! We got ready, left the condo at 4:00 am and drove to Kahului, about a 45 minute drive from our condo. The marathon start line was at the Queen Ka'ahumanu Center, a shopping mall. The race started at 5:30 am so we had some time to stretch, drink some water, apply sunscreen, use the honey buckets, and take some pictures. The marathon started with a Hawaiian blessing followed by a conch shell blowing performance, although we didn't hear the conch shell all we heard was the sound of a gun and at that moment there was no turning back! The first 1.5 miles of the course was through residential streets then we turned on highway 380, the Kuihelani Highway. It was still very dark, only the moon light and an occasional street lamp lit the course. Most of highway 380 was through the sugarcane fields. I could not see them but I could hear the rustling leaves along the road. The first aid station was located at 1.9 miles. I was doing good and it was still cool, a balmy 64 degrees, but I knew that some water and power aid would taste great. I could hear the volunteers yelling WATER, POWER AID, WATER, POWER AID...so I grabbed a cup of water and a cup of power aid. Then I realized that they were giving us red power aid. RED, why RED? Didn't they know that I was wearing a WHITE shirt? Why would they choose red and not a pale color like yellow? Ugg, I knew I didn't want to spill that down the front of me and look like a clown at the end of the race, so I ran very slow through that aid station taking just a few sips of the RED power aid. Then I thought to myself I sure hope the next aid station does not have RED power aid. At mile 4 we had a slight gradual downhill slope with a nice tail wind which really helped my stride. It felt like I was being pushed by the wind and I'm sure I was averaging a 9 minute mile or faster. Around mile 6 there was another aid station. Yep, you guessed it....more RED power aid! Although I didn't like the color, it was still appreciated and refreshing. Also at mile 6 our most beautiful and worst nightmare occurred...the sun! It was spectacular to see the sun rise slowly over the 10,023 foot volcano Mt. Haleakala but at that same moment I think the temperature rose five degrees. It's 6:30 in the morning now and I'm running past the Maui Ocean Center, the largest tropical reef aquarium in the western hemisphere, or so they say. There was no time to stop and see the reef...I'll have to do that another day. We then turned on the coastal Honoapiilani Highway, Highway 30. This is where we began our 17 mile seaside adventure and what an adventure it was! Mile 8.5 to 12.5 is where we entered the Pali, or "cliffs." Oh yay, cliffs with the sun beating on my back, this should be fun. We experienced the rolling hills for the next four-plus miles. Up and down, up and down, up and down...until I could no longer count how many ups and downs I did. At this point I was actually doing quite well, despite all my complaining. I also thought how proud I was of my treadmill hill training. I passed quite a few runners on the hills, even a man from Arizona that I met at the start line. He was bragging about training in 100+ temps and that Maui should be super easy. Great, I'm toast if he trained in 100 degree weather and I trained in 70 degree weather. Well, I ended up passing him and all I could think of was, there must not be a lot of hills in Arizona! Okay, back on track here...there were plenty of aid stations at the top of the hills and some honey buckets which I was thankful I did not feel the urge to use one. I didn't want to find out what it was like to hop in a 90 degree honey bucket, peel down my sweaty shorts and then try to get them back up AND in the right position...No. Thank. You! I'll just hold it. At mile 12.5 we passed through a tunnel which began a downhill stretch to the mid-way point. This is where we saw some hula dancers and Mrs. Julie, my support team member. She snapped a few pictures, told me what time it was (7:25 am to be exact!), and said some encouraging words to keep me going. Mile 12.5 to 22 was flat and beautiful. We were literally 10 to 100 feet from the ocean. In some places I could feel the mist from the splashing waves hitting me. It was absolutely spectacular...except for that pesky HOT sun on my back. When I saw mile marker 20 I thought, okay, this is as far as I have ever ran before (my training schedule only had us go up to 20 miles) I wonder how I will feel from here to the finish line? Which is 6 more miles...and about 1 more hour of running. Piece of cake, right? Miles 22 to 24 took us through Front Street and into the historic whaling village of Lahaina. The 2-mile length of Front Street was the warmest part of the race, the buildings blocked the nice trade winds. Thankfully many home owners sprayed us with their water hoses and the aid stations gave out ice cold water and otter pops. The aid stations were also giving out cold, water filled sponges...and RED power aid! I kept putting the cold sponges under my hat to keep me cool. At the end of Front Street I knew there were only 3 miles to go. Mile 24 to the finish line took us back onto highway 30 headed towards the famous Kaanapali Resort and finish line at Whalers Village. At mile 26 I kicked it in for a nice sprint to the finish. It felt so good to cross that finish line in 4 hours 22 minutes! I was so proud of myself for accomplishing my goal and then the tears of joy came gushing out. Mrs. Julie was there to take more pictures and make me feel comforted. After composing myself, taking off my timing chip and getting my finisher's medallion it was time for some food, water, more RED power aid and a nice massage from the wonderful volunteers at Maui Massage School. I then hung out with Mrs. Julie to wait for my good friends to cross the finish line.

Post Marathon notes and total body damage:

I was thankful when I took off my shoes and only saw one tiny blister and one loose toe nail. Yes, I said loose toe nail...it's common for marathon runners to loose one or more toe nails. Thankfully mine was the same toe nail that I had lost during my 1/2 marathon in July. Around mile 18 I remember my right foot was getting really sore and I was hopeful that no blister was forming so I was excited to see that not much damage was done. My poor friends though were not so lucky. They both had several loose toe nails, multiple blisters, including blood blisters and poor Linda ended up with a blister on every single toe. Some even had two blisters per toe. And Ms. Jennie passed out twice at the finish line due to dehydration. Did I tell you it was 88 degrees that day? Well, it was. I could not believe the amout of runners in the medical booth hooked up to IVs to get themselves hydrated. Runners were passing out all over the place. Several runners had ice packs and wraps around their knees because they were so sore. Then I found out that over 200 runners didn't even cross the finish line. Some just gave up, others didn't train for the heat or were just to exhausted and dehydrated to continue. This was definitely an eye opening experience and one that I would do again...of course I say that now that I'm fully recovered!

My first Marathon Stats:

Overall I finished 180th out of 733 total runners (male and female).

I was the 57th female to cross the finish line out of 344 females.

In my age group (35-39), I placed 14th out of 52

At the start line, 5:00 am

Jennie, Me (with my bottle of Ibuprofen) and Linda