Maui Oceanfront Half-Marathon (Maui County, Hawaii)

I started running about five years ago in order to try and keep in hiking shape during the off-season, but since then, it has become its own hobby. In that time, I've run one full marathon, seven half-marathons, and numerous races of shorter distances. I've found that half-marathons are my preferred distance and I like to find events that have scenic routes that I have never been to before. The Maui Oceanfront Half-Marathon was actually the initial inspiration for the entire Hawaiian vacation. Unfortunately between early summer and the early winter, a period of almost six months, I did almost no training. In late November, I got back on the band wagon and I have been pushing myself very hard since that time. This will be my first half in over six months and I'm anxious to see how much my training has paid off.

Rising early and heading to the area around Lahaina Harbor, I get ready for the starting gun. I'm feeling strong this morning and while I don't expect to reach my personal goal of a sub-2 hour half today, I do think I'm going to be able to make a pretty good showing. As the start time for my wave approaches, the sunlight begins to brighten the world around us and I put on my sunglasses in preparation.

At 6:40 AM, the starting gun for my wave sounds and we're off. There are approximately 300 runners in my wave, and as we make our way through a residential area during our first mile, pace groups start to naturally form. I'm feeling strong and end up passing a number of runners that came out of the gate ahead of me. After the first mile, highway 30 leaves the residential area and begins the long trek along the shoreline. With my whale-watching adventure yesterday, I seem to always be on the lookout for spouts and breaches now, but unfortunately, I don't see any this morning.

At the turn around, I'm still feeling pretty strong. The course has been mostly flat, which is good because that is what I have been training on. As I pass a couple of struggling runners, I try to give them a word of encouragement. This is an interesting event in that it combines a full marathon, half-marathon, 10k, and 5k. The full marathon is point to point and started twenty-six miles from our starting point, while the other distances are all out-and-back from the full marathon's finish line. It seems to work out well logistically.

As I approach the last couple of miles, I can feel myself really fatigued and I'm forced to walk some short distance during some very mild uphills, but I keep the walking to a minimum and when I finally see the finish line in the distance, I call on my reserves and finish strong. My official time was 2:17:37, which is my second best for a half-marathon (by 1 single second). It's not my sub-2 hour time, but I'm very happy with this performance as a check point. I'm confident I will be able to reach my goal this year and I'm going to keep pushing myself hard to do so. As far as this event, it offered some amazing scenery and I'm glad to have been part of it.