Valley to the Sea : The results

This race was kind of an adventure, and I might need several blog post to explore the implications :)
Still, globally, I finished the marathon. Which is good.
2 minutes short from my goal. Which is less good, but not that bad.
4 hours 02 minutes.
Which is a good 15 minutes faster than last year, even if not as fast as I wanted it to be.

The context : this race was a b**tch.  First, we started late on an already late time line, i.e. 6:45AM, which means that coming back around 10AM in Kihei was hot. More than 80F, 27 degrees.
There was a really mean climb at the middle, 1000 feet, on 3 miles. The kind of climb that burn all your reserves, if you had any.


The story: Started quite fast, around 8:30 to the mile, faster than I wanted originally. I was feeling well and the others were dragging me forward. Felt really good for the climb, where I actually pass most of my nearest runners. Around 3hours, things got a little more hairy. It was getting hot, and I was getting tired.
You remember, this final elusive final hour ? But I was maintaining a good 9 to 9:30 pace, and I was targeting a 3:45 time, which was kind of surprising, as I was not happy with my training overall.

I could have cried.
I was totally burnt out.

I should have expected it, it was too good to be true. At 3:20 I hit "the wall" pretty hard. Technically speaking, the wall happens when you burned all your 'easy' resources (carbs) and need to rely on the slow ones (fat..). It usually means pain, slow pace and struggling. Some people stops there.
I drop the pace and push it until 3:40, maybe 2 miles from the line. I was ready to collapse, and for the first time in two years, I slow down to a walk for a couple of minutes. I needed my heart to drop a bit. After that, I continue to  crawl at 12 minute pace, and my dreams to beat 4 hours disappeared.
I was actually relieved to see I was just behind that.

It could have been way worst.
During that last hour, several cramps came to my thighs and calf, without stopping me. Past the finishing line, They actually forced me to lay down for a while pretty bad. One almost made me cry.
Could not get rid of it.

Grimacing in pain

Nevertheless , I got a 3nd place trophy. It feels good, even if that was very few participants, and maybe only a dozen in my age category.
But there is no small reward.

Such pain for such reward :)
A beautiful Maui Honu.

In short:
I did finish.
The first 3 hours were -certainly- my best official running hours ever.
The last hour was -for sure- the most painful one.
I ended to walk a bit, and that open a door I did not want to open.
I ended up 2 minutes shy of my goal.

Frankly, I would not have signed for the Honolulu Marathon today, even for free :), or forced.
Unfortunately, I already signed up couple of months ago.
Well, back n the road in November then :(