"Nobody gave it to me, son. I fought for it." — Louis L'Amour's "Conagher"
On the schedule Friday was a two hour run. Distance didn't matter, just going for time on my feet. My only goal was to make the second hour faster pace than the first. I decided to run Queen K to the Energy Lab (the turn around for the Kona Marathon.) I've never run along Queen K, at least out in that area, so I thought it would be a good experience for my upcoming marathon.
When I run I'm like a mobile aid station. So for this run I had three water bottles, two bananas, two gels, some enduralite capsules and a very full bladder. Hey, like you've never forgot to go before you ran??? (I discovered it's hard to stay hydrated with a full bladder).
When I started running, my legs hurt so bad that I could barely muster up anything beyond a walk. After a quarter mile I nearly decided to stop and walk back to my moped and go home. But then I realized that the pain I was feeling was a "good pain." It wasn't from injured muscles or joints, it was from sore muscles. From running hard two days before and from lifting weights.
This was a good hurt I decided. I like that kind of pain. It's something I earned from hard work. Not the kind of pain I usually feel from a torn or strained calf muscle. So I just kept hobbling along and waited for my muscles to warm up and stretch out. After five minutes or so, I was feeling pretty good.
(PHOTO: The beach at the Natural Energy Lab)I figured the turn around point at the Energy Lab was about 4 miles away according to the Marathon website map. But when I got to the Energy Lab road it didn't seem that far so I ran on up to the airport before turning around and running down the Energy Lab road.
Queen K is a lot different when you run it than when you bike it. It's hotter and longer.
After a quick rest room stop at the park, I jumped onto the trail that runs along the beach and ran along it for a while. It brought back memories of Lavaman. I made another quick stop at one of the tidal pools to cool off, take some photos and eat a banana. A perfect day. The waves were really crashing against the lava rocks. My phone's camera is a little slow so I wasn't able to capture the drama of the waves crashing, but they were wintertime big.
(PHOTO: Part of the trail at the beach)
My run back was hot but at a faster pace than my first hour. I finished off my run by running up Hina-Lani to the Cycle Station, stopping there to say hi to Oliver, grab something to drink then head down hill to my moped. My legs felt great, it was a beautiful sunny day, and once I got warmed up my run was virtually pain-free. And that's a rare day indeed.
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