Sunday, December 14, 2008

And They're Off.

10:00am EST (5:00am local time): The weather in Honolulu is not ideal. It's raining and windy, the humidity (starting off at near 100%) will be brutal. The huge crowd of people (22,000) will make it seem warmer and smell very oddly.

10:01:52am EST (almost 5:02am local time): Oki (running with bib 37) makes it to the start line.

11:21:43am EST (6:22am local): 6.2 miles down, 20 more to go. Oki's pace is slow, he's coming in at around thirteen minute miles. At this rate he's looking at a finish somewhere around five and three quarters of a hour. The course is slow, though-the elite male runners took over half an hour to get to this point.


12:48:35pm EST (7:49am local time): Half way there. He picked up a little bit of speed, turning in 12+ minute miles. His finish time is probably closer to five and a half hours now.


2:16:41pm EST (9:17am local time): Now it gets tough. 18.6 miles in and Oki's time has taken a hit. He's slowed to nearly fourteen minute miles, likely because he's either stopped for a breather or walked a piece of it-either way once you walk it's hard to get going again. It may well have become a battle of wills already: Oki's body telling him to shut it down v. his ability to push on. And he's got seven and a half more miles to gut his way through.


3:50:03pm EST (10:50am local time): 24.8 miles down. I've never been to Honolulu but if he can't see the finish line he can probably hear it.


4:10:26pm EST (11:10am local): Victory! With a chip time of 6:08:35, Hideki Okajima completed his first marathon. Wear your medal with pride-not many people drive 26.2 miles in a day, let alone run it. Congratulations.

And as race photos go, this one isn't too bad.

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