Tag Archives: healthy-living

Hana Relay 2013

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Life on Maui, Runners HI

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This past Saturday I ran in the Hana Relay. The Hana Relay is an incredible fifty-two mile journey along 617 curves and over 56 bridges through the most breathtaking scenery in all of Maui. It was the best last minute decision I’ve made in a while. About 3 weeks ago my friend Anu connected me via Facebook with one of her friends from high school, who was looking for a sixth runner for their relay team. Since I am training for the Honolulu marathon and needed to do my training run anyways I decided to join. I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Since the race is 52 miles instead of running it on your own you run it with a team. Each team consists of 6 members. Each member must run 3 legs of the course which are approximately 2-3 miles long. Some legs are a lot harder than others and the longest leg is 3.5 miles. Each leg has it’s own beauty and offers it’s own challenges. There are 18 legs total.

The race starts at 5:30a.m. sharp in Kahului at the junction of Palapala and Mua street with your first runner. As your first runner takes off on foot the rest of your team takes off in your race vehicle to meet the runner at the next hand off point. Teams & vehicles dress up in all kinds of themes and shanangians and as Colt kept saying it feels more like a moving parade than an actual race.

My team was team #47 which was 3 guys and 3 girls so this placed us in the “mixed” division. Since most of us had only met the night before we didn’t have time to go all out with costumes and a theme so we decided that the girls would wear tutus and we would just have some fun with it. I was assigned leg’s 3 (3.0 miles), leg 9 (2.7 miles) and leg 14 (2.4 miles).

My first leg was from Baldwin Beach Park to Hookipa. It had a slight gain in elevation with rolling hills. It was a beautiful run and my adrenaline carried me most of the way. Leg 9 was between mile marker 9 & 10 on the road to Hana and was my best leg. The scenery was amazing and I was filled with so much gratitude as I ran the winding road. I set a personal record on this leg for my fasted mile which I ran in 7 minutes and 41 seconds. My overall pace for that 2.71 mile leg was 8:02. My last leg was leg 14 which was mostly down hill. This was probably my “easiest” leg for running but it ended up being my hardest because I had a lot of time to cool down in between. I still however managed to do my best and finished with an average pace of 8:32.

Overall I was proud of my efforts especially since I found out only moments before that headphones were not allowed (so music wasn’t going to be an option). The reason for the no headphones rule is because the road to Hana remains open so you have to be able to hear all cars coming in front and behind you. It makes sense (safety first) but it also made for a much harder run (mentally).

After my legs were done I went into full cheerleader mode to get my team through our last 4 legs and to the finish line. Everyone did their part and you could feel the team work and camaraderie through it all.

Below are pictures of the entire day from Colt’s perspective, I was so lucky to have him by my side as my #1 supporter, fan, driver and picture taker.

and it begins…Image
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….it NEVER fails, LOL

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First leg pass off from RamonaImageImageImageOne of the members from another team called the “Hana Ho’s” tried to run me off the road because I was running faster than his team! Seeing him in his thong and man bra was motivation enough to make me run even faster, hahahaha

DSC_0127ImageKale our team captain giving me a high five as I complete my first 3 mile leg in 21 minutes and 30 seconds

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My baby girl cheering on her mama!

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Hydration straight from the source before starting leg #14ImageImageImageImage…and again….ImageImageImageImageIMG_7820Imagehanding it off to Devin on my last leg, boy did that feel GREAT! ImageImageDevin, Ramona, Cameron, Chris & Rhonda finishing strong! ImageImageDSC_0146ImageImageImageImageImage

So proud of team #47! I love that even though we only met a few hours prior to this race we were still able to come together as a team and kick some serious butt!

Our ranking per the Hana Relay website is below:

We finished in 7 hours and 28 minutes with an average pace of 8:37.

Division Ranking:

We finished #43 out of 89 teams

Overall ranking:

We finished #96 out of 219 teams.

I am so thankful that I got to be apart of this wonderful race and I am sooooo READY for the Hana Relay 2014!

~ Appreciate the Moment ~

21 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by in Thoughts from Jenn

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As my final day of work as a Sales & Marketing Manager approaches (tomorrow is my official last day) I can’t help but feel overwhelmed with feelings of excitement, happiness, anxiety, nervousness, and panic. Last night while laying in bed Colt rolled over happily and exclaimed  “only two days left babe.” As the statement hit my ears one half of me wanted to leap up and do backflips on the bed as this was one of the craziest most exciting decisions I have made thus far in my adult life while the other half wanted to run in the bathroom and throw up. I looked at him mute (frozen in fear) and half smiled, what was I doing?

It’s not the actual quitting of my job that freaks me out, I quit my sales and marketing job a year and a half ago with another company and not even two months later was offered this position. I know if I really wanted to I could get another job, any job, doing the same thing for another company or this company in another market, the scary part is I don’t want to. The even scarier (but exhilarating) part is the journey of recreation. The recreation to be anything I want to be, so as that realization sinks in instead of sitting here and dwelling on all the things that scare me about it (not having as much money, fear of failure, not knowing if I am making the right decision, putting all of our eggs in one basket (so not my style)) I instead decided to focus on all the things that excite me so here they are in no particular order.

What I am most looking forward to:

  • Time

I will be getting at least 4 hours of my time back per day! That’s 20 hours per week, 80 hours per month and 1,460 hours a year that were lost because I was required to work 10 hours a day (but only got paid for 8) plus another 2 hour’s for my commute (1 hour there and 1 hour back).

  • Being Colt’s Wife

Call me crazy but I am so excited to deep clean every inch of our house and my car, do our laundry, decorate and cook! I can’t wait to do all these things without half assing them because I am too tired, annoyed or don’t have the time. I look forward to learning lots of new recipes (so if you have some favorites please send them my way) and experimenting with healthy options for breakfast, lunches and dinners. I look forward to having dinner ready for my husband and spending more quality time together.

  • Eating dinner by 5pm

This alone makes me want to run and do side splits in the air. Knowing I will be able to eat dinner by 5 or 6pm on the majority of the nights is amazing. Right now I don’t get home until after 7pm so we aren’t eating dinner until 7:30 or 8pm! It sucks to eat that late and it’s totally messing with my fitness results.

  • Kailea Loves

Having more time to exercise with her, go on walks, play at the park and beach, play fetch and add to the quality of her life. I look forward to not having to leave her home alone for 8 hours a day and only getting to play with her for 3.

  • Enjoying Maui

Being able to walk down to the beach and watch a sunset with Colt, family and friends a few times a week (instead of seeing it set as I am racing the clock to get home). Being able to stop and appreciate all the beauty this island has to offer from sunrise to sunset to every beach, hike and activity in between.

  • Getting the opportunity to grow with my father in law’s business  

I have been helping my father in law with all of his Quickbooks, admin and sales stuff for the last few weeks. It is so exciting to see the incline in growth just over this last year and how much potential his company has to be very successful. I am excited be a part of it and get to help when and where I can, not to mention how inspiring it is to watch Colt’s knowledge and passion grow for the business as he continues to grow under his father.

  • Flexibility

To be and do whatever I want. To be able to visit and spend more time with family and friends. To become a personal trainer, a yoga instructor, start my own run, be a full time blogger, a professional beach bum or a Maui mama! The flexibility to try everything and anything I have ever wanted to do but never had the guts to or didn’t know how to make it happen. Speaking of which I finally (after blogging for over a year) took the plunge and became the master of my own domain which means I am now the official owner of:

http://jenniferleestewart.com

 I am very excited and look forward to taking my blogging to the next level as it is truly a passion of mine.

  • Being an overall better me

A better wife, daughter, sister, auntie, cousin, friend, partner, motivator, runner and influence. Leading by example to strengthen all my relationships and accepting people for who they are and continuing to build a foundation of strength and understanding from there.

So as I sit here smiling & focusing on all the exciting things that lie ahead my fears (even though they are trying like hell to creep in and bring me down) slowly start to fade away. I am writing myself a new life filled with simplicity, abundance, time, love, support, health, faith, family and positive prospective and I encourage you to join me on this journey and I appreciate your unconditional love along the way.

…until next time be happy for this moment, for this moment is your life…