13.1 Miles (submitted by Roy)

27Apr09 I ran my greatest achievement. 13.1 miles!!!!

It wasn't really planned. We new that Camp Buehring was hosting the half-marathon, but I was still debating whether or not to run it. Kevin, out of the blue said he wanted to run the event, so I figured I might as well do it also.

We met at the center stage for registration at 0300 in the morning. There were more people there than I expected. Everyone was anxious. The event didn't start till around 0430.

The first mile started faster than I expected, but as I warmed up I began to feel better. I was going strong until I hit around the 10 mile mark. Then I hit the "wall". My legs started to hurt and I had to put some effort in to my strides. As I approached about a quarter mile from the finish-line.. I could feel my calves start to cramp as I began to accelerate towards the finish.

I had to tell myself to slow down in fear that I would get full cramps and fall. I stretched my strides out as far as I could and finished in a couple of seconds after 2hours. When I came to a stop I was hurting. My toes were swore; my calves were cramping, and my feet were aching.

In fact my legs still hurt today. But all that aside, it was an experience. I can say I can run the distance from home in Kea'au to work in Hilo.

Memories and experiences...that's what it's all about.