The Great Aloha Run 2010

One of the two largest running events in Hawai’i (along with the Honolulu Marathon) is the Great Aloha Run. Over 20,000 runners, walkers, and stroller companions enter this event every year–this is the third straight year I’ve done the event, and given my success training (at least up until my Oakland trip) and my times in the three race (5K, 8K, and 10K) Great Aloha Run Readiness Series, I was looking forward to having a great story to tell today.

I have a story, but it’s not so great. My pace time was not only worse by far than in any of the three races leading up to the GAR, it was the slowest GAR I ever ran.

I went from 1:43:47 in 2008 to 1:44:51 in 2009 to 1:49:00 in 2010.

What happened? Especially considering how not three weeks ago I was doing so well?

Mostly I think the trip to Oakland played a part, even though I came back and ran a 10K less than 24 hours after getting off the plane with decent time. But it threw my schedule into disarray and I’ve been less than at my best since.

In any case, it’s back to the drawing board for running. Next stop: Ford Island 10K in April–and remember, cycling is coming up fast with the Metric Century also in April. Today, my training officially switches to a cycling rather than running emphasis, but I feel like I must redeem myself for the poor showing today.
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This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 10:30 am and is filed under Organized events, Personal, Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “The Great Aloha Run 2010”

  1. FatJeff Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    Ryan,

    Don’t beat up on yourself. PR’s are exciting and a noble goal. But they are far from the be all/end all. You ran within your ability. You are not injured. You enjoyed the company of other runners. You even mentioned on Twitter that you hung back with someone to pace them to the finish. That last one is FAR more important than any PR. You are out training and doing events…what about the time in your life when you didn’t do such things? You should congratulate yourself for a job well done.

    PR’s are nothing really. I did the Tinman 3 times. My PR came on my last one when I did the least amount of training and almost didn’t start as I had food poisoning the day before the race. Hardly the outcome the preparation would have indicated.

    I’ll keep an eye out for you at the Metric. I love that event. It started on the North Shore during my tenure on the HBL board. Me: Fat guy on a robins egg blue Kestrel

  2. Preservation Carnival Says:
    March 4th, 2010 at 10:44 am

    […] Suenaga shares the outcome of The Great Aloha Run 2010 posted at The Athletic Diabetic.  I haven’t talked about it yet myself, but I will.  We […]