I stopover in Hawaii where I lived for 3 years back in the mid 1990s. People are aghast that I did not become a triathlete during my years in Hawaii. Instead I just worked a lot and occasionally jogged and grew terribly out-of-shape.
I try to make up for this during my few days in Hawaii by extensively swimming and running along Kailua Beach on the Windward side of Oahu. Kailua Beach is a 4.5 kilometer stretch of white sand and turquoise water ideal for open water swims and beach runs.
My schedule allows me to watch much of the Honolulu Marathon before hurrying off to the airport. 17,000 of the 29,000 field is composed of Japanese who are attracted by the idea of a Hawaii vacation, the scenic course, and the lack of opportunities in Japan to run marathons without harsh finishing time restrictions. Apparently many, many more runners would come but for the lack of seat capacity on the flights between Japan and Honolulu. The 17,000 runners from Japan create a reported $100 million economic benefit to Oahu, so the limited casual marathon opportunities in Japan are a windfall for Hawaii.
I cheer on a seemingly endless stream of remarkably festive, smiling runners (at least during the first half of the race). I jump in with Taro Agui who is pacing his Harrier team to a 6-hour finish. This time may not sound impressive to some of the more elitist readers of this blog, but it is faster than more than half the finishers. I see my archrival from Ome, Mike Taratko who finishes 541st in 3:29:55.
Perhaps what amazes me most is that the runners from Japan are doing the race on almost zero sleep. The marathon starts at 5am in Honolulu which is midnight in Japan. Talk about jet lag. I have been pondering various triathlons in the US, but early to mid-morning is the worst time for me to overcome the 5-11 hour time zone difference. Several of my Tokyo teammates have complained of feeling tired at the start of North American marathons (Anthony in Portland, Carol in NYC), and I am convinced jet lag is a big factor. Moreover, most of the Japan participants at Honolulu arrive on package tour red-eye flights on Friday morning meaning they are lucky to get one real night of sleep in the 72 hours leading up to the race. My friend Akiba-san, in the fashion of the typical Japanese salaryman, had been working 20-hour days in the week leading up to the trip, so he was in a sleep deficit even before getting on the flight to Honolulu. Amazingly he was able to finish in 5 hours.
The other Honolulu Marathon challenge is that after the sun begins to rise at 6:30am it becomes hotter and hotter, and the participants who take 9 hours to finish find themselves being cooked in midday heat. But Sunday is such a cool morning that I am inclined to jump in the race myself.
Would I do this event next year? The Naha Marathon in Okinawa which is a week earlier provides a tropical vacation and avoids the jetlag and much of the heat (teammate Hideo reports average race temperatures in Naha of only 20 degrees). Moreover Okinawa is more affordable - the price of everything in Hawaii has risen far beyond my meager budget with many accommodations costing 4 times the local rates I payed a decade ago.
I cheer on a seemingly endless stream of remarkably festive, smiling runners (at least during the first half of the race). I jump in with Taro Agui who is pacing his Harrier team to a 6-hour finish. This time may not sound impressive to some of the more elitist readers of this blog, but it is faster than more than half the finishers. I see my archrival from Ome, Mike Taratko who finishes 541st in 3:29:55.
Perhaps what amazes me most is that the runners from Japan are doing the race on almost zero sleep. The marathon starts at 5am in Honolulu which is midnight in Japan. Talk about jet lag. I have been pondering various triathlons in the US, but early to mid-morning is the worst time for me to overcome the 5-11 hour time zone difference. Several of my Tokyo teammates have complained of feeling tired at the start of North American marathons (Anthony in Portland, Carol in NYC), and I am convinced jet lag is a big factor. Moreover, most of the Japan participants at Honolulu arrive on package tour red-eye flights on Friday morning meaning they are lucky to get one real night of sleep in the 72 hours leading up to the race. My friend Akiba-san, in the fashion of the typical Japanese salaryman, had been working 20-hour days in the week leading up to the trip, so he was in a sleep deficit even before getting on the flight to Honolulu. Amazingly he was able to finish in 5 hours.
The other Honolulu Marathon challenge is that after the sun begins to rise at 6:30am it becomes hotter and hotter, and the participants who take 9 hours to finish find themselves being cooked in midday heat. But Sunday is such a cool morning that I am inclined to jump in the race myself.
Would I do this event next year? The Naha Marathon in Okinawa which is a week earlier provides a tropical vacation and avoids the jetlag and much of the heat (teammate Hideo reports average race temperatures in Naha of only 20 degrees). Moreover Okinawa is more affordable - the price of everything in Hawaii has risen far beyond my meager budget with many accommodations costing 4 times the local rates I payed a decade ago.
1 comment:
Jay, How come you didn't pace me to the finish? Little did I know that my bro was merely minutes ahead. I could've used the moral-support boost in those final km.
My motivation was a 500yen bet with a cyclist who said I could never finish under 3:30! I proved him wrong, (had to run a 4min last k!) and am 500 yen richer...although only on paper.
Thanks for the support!
arch-rival-Mike (not really, since I'm not even half up to running like the wind, as your reputation holds) Maybe see you at Ome-Takamizu, if I make it to town...running the Hawaii-scene at the moment...trying to work on my speed...
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