This past weekend Colt & I ran our first race of 2013 with my sister & her friend Jen in Oahu. We had signed up for the Great Aloha Run back in January when we made our New Year’s resolutions to run 200 miles over the course of the year. At the time I thought that goal would be attainable without it being too easy or too hard. I liked the idea of attaching miles to my workouts and signing up for some races as well.
The Great Aloha Run or GAR is an 8.15-mile foot race in Oahu that begins at the Aloha Tower and finishes in the Aloha Stadium. The Great Aloha Run has been recognized nationally as one of the top “100 Great Road Races” to participate in by Runner’s World Magazine and this year they had over 18,000 runners. It is a relatively flat course with several aid stations and a ton of entertainment which makes it perfect for any runner.
Here I am with my sister at Aloha Stadium getting ready to catch the bus to Waikiki at 4am (fun fact: it was her birthday and she still got up to run 8.15 miles)
Riding the bus from Aloha Stadium to Aloha Towers to the starting line. I look way to excited considering it is 4am and we are about to run 8 miles.
At one point of the course you run under the highway so there is a lot of shade and the temperature is cool. This was our favorite part of the run and lasted for a good two mile stretch. They also had multiple aid stations with water, bands and tons of people cheering you on!
A kids band playing awesome music and cheering on all the runners.
You run into the stadium to cross the finish line and it is pretty awesome. Colt said as he ran in he could just imagine the whole crowd erupting and screaming “COLT” as he crossed the finish line. I am going to have to agree, the energy was AWESOME!
So happy to be done and run right into Colt’s arms! (I will have more pictures of all of us crossing the finish line once the photographers upload all of them onto the GAR website)
Going to see my Mom, Kai, Addie and Brandon after the race. It’s so fun to have people waiting and cheering you on.
Colt, Jess and I with our Mama. She was so proud of us.
Colt’s official time was 1:15:19. I could not have been more proud of him. He did so amazing and ran 9:13 minute miles. He truly inspires me.
My sister & her friend Jen rocked it and finished in 1:25:15! This was amazing considering my sister predicted upon signing up that she would finish in 2 1/2 to 3 hours haha she is so funny!
I beat my personal goal by 2 minutes and finished in 1:18:21 about 3 minutes behind Colt. He really set the mile pace for me and pushed me to run faster and harder. I couldn’t believe I finished 145 in my age category out of 1258 other runners! I’ll take it for my first 8 mile run.
Go Team!
Now for the fun part! Rewarding ourself with fresh Acai bowls from the North Shore truck and pieces of pies for Colt and Jess.
Great Aloha Run Finishers. I am so blessed to have this man by my side. Team work makes the dream work. Thanks GAR for a great run! We will see you again next year.
As of today I have already ran 73.16 miles (in January I ran 42.88 and so far in February I ran 30.2) only 126.84 more miles to go until I hit my goal for the year!
Chasing the Maui Son ✨ 