Ford Island Bridge Run

Today started at 3:30am and the only reason I'll wake up that early means it was another event: The Ford Island Bridge Run. It's a 10k run, which is 6.2 miles. Here's how it went.

I woke up way early and even though I went to sleep early the night before it still took half an hour to peel myself out of bed. First thing, I did some stretches to get the blood flowing and wake up. Then a shower and something to eat. Some people may ask, "why take a shower when you're going running and get all sweaty and dirty?" A couple reasons. First it helps me wake up. Second, and more importantly it makes me feel better and ready to go. One of my soccer coaches in high school used to have us wash our uniforms and clean our shoes before every game. His reasoning was simple. You wash and get polished to look good, when you look good you feel good, and when you feel good you perform better. I've carried that with me ever since, so I shower before every event.

Ok, went on a tangent there. Anyway, I headed toward Aloha stadium to find the parking area and, of course, not knowing exactly where it is I went to the wrong place. Instead of going into the overflow parking lot I ended up circling around Aloha Stadium. So with that little detour out of the way I got to right place and met up with my friends. It was pre-dawn. The sky was dim but the eastern horizon was glowing with the approaching sun. We made our way to the staging area and I got massacred by mosquitos. We walked less than 50 feet and I already got bit 6 times by those wretched insects.

Race time approached and I got warmed up, stretched out and made my way to the start line. The goal was to finish under 50 minutes. Like the Great Aloha Run, I'd be doing this race on my own (my friends weren't running for time) so I'd have to pace myself, which is kind of hard to do without a watch. I figure if I could run each mile at 8 minutes I'd make my time goal. I know what an 8 minute mile feels like so I felt I'd be okay without a watch. People were cluttered at the starting line, they were looking eager to go, and a woman came by dressed like Wonder Woman. It was going to be a good run. The gun fired to start the race and we didn't move at all. The road was a bit narrow for the crowd of people (over 3000 runners) so it took a couple minutes to thin out and get moving.

I spent the first mile weaving through the crowd searching for running lanes and taking in the view. The Arizona Memorial was off to the left, some military ships were docked in Pearl Harbor. Nice stuff. I got across the bridge and passed the first mile marker...damn that's a long bridge. I wasn't paying much attention to my form and I noticed my ankles were sore. I settled into a steady stride and soon my legs loosened up and the sore ankles went away.

Usually I'm really good and feeling what pace I'm running at but this morning it was a bit difficult. I felt sluggish and my legs felt heavy. It wasn't even two miles yet. I just told myself to keep going and stay with the people around me. They were military and looked like they held a good pace. Hey, if you're gonna pace with anybody might as well go with military. Those guys are fit and they don't quit.

A little after 3 miles I heard the time was somewhere around 26 minutes. I tried to calculate what my pace was but my brain wasn't functioning like that at the time. It was too busy keeping my legs moving. But I figured I was in range to finish under 50 minutes...I didn't know this, I just figured it because it made me feel better. And I kept on running.

My legs were heating up, my breath was speeding up, and I was running back onto the bridge heading toward the finish line. One mile left. The bridge is like a camel hump. Steady incline to a steady decline. But heading back in this direction onto the main island leads to another incline before rounding to the finish line. The last mile was tough. Once across the bridge and over the last incline the finish line was in sight. About a quarter mile left. I opened my stride and pushed to the finish. In the final stretch I let loose into a sprint...or at least as fast as I could go at the time, I don't know if you would call it a sprint. The best part was I was gaining on the guy in front of me and just as I was about to pass him he stopped to strike a pose for a camera. I nearly plowed into the guy and had to juke and stumble around him. Threw off my sprint but I bet that picture looks great.

I crossed the finish sometime after 46 minutes. I don't know my official time yet but I made the goal for sure. If I finished under 45 minutes I'll be stoked. I'll admit, parts of that run was brutal and tested my will to keep pushing, but I'm happy I made it and I'm really happy with my performance. My friends finished the race a few minutes later. They made it the whole way non-stop and did really well.

After the run I had to go into work (overtime). I felt pretty good for the first hour or so but after that the pain started to kick in. My legs ached and felt like they'd cramp up if I moved the wrong way. Then my stomach felt queasy. Hadn't pushed that hard in a run for a while. But it's all good. The stomach will settle and the legs will recover.

No idea what the next event will be. I heard about the Xterra run, or something like that, it's a trail run through the hills. That sounds like it could be fun. No idea when it is but I'll keep that one in mind.