Maui Marathon "We Done It"

On Sunday September 14 TeamAutism.org was again on the road. This time we surfaced in Maui, Hawaii to participate in the 38th annual Maui Marathon!!!! We had a blast. Our team was small but strong, from left to right, Rosemary (walking her first marathon), yours truly, and Stacey (co-founder of TeamAutism). Bonnie was our coach, cheerleader, and photographer for the event. Three brave souls rested and ready to pound the pavement.

Below is my terrible attempt to capture the sunrise somewhere around mile 3 or maybe 4, I can't remember. Yes I know I need to put a great deal more effort into this self-photography thing, or maybe I just need to find a better model; where were all the bikini's when you needed them.

Now this is a much better rendition of sunrise that Bonnie captured while waiting on us to show up at the first spot she had selected to provide drink and good cheer. We found out later that she not only was cheering TeamAutism along she was a favorite of many of the runners. More than a few offered her thanks after the race it seemed for being a big part of their support system as well, most of those I might add were men, and I thought she came with us to be "my" cheerleader. She is the greatest though and can also be the loudest at times too and that is great!!!

In Lahaina there was a Bubba Gump restaurant and being nicknamed Forrest at work, I couldn't resist the pose outside the restaurant. As the saying goes "There's an awful lot you can tell about a person by their shoes"...Run Forrest Run...Run Randy Run...

This trip we did find some time to tour the island and ran across several beautiful waterfalls, the colors were lush and everything was beautiful...very close to paradise I've heard.

Need I remind you that Bonnie took some of these photos and I am not responsible for the content, but did you also notice the blue water and surf, and the view was awesome. There were surfers below us that we noticed a bit later. This was part of a road trip that we made called "The Road to Hana", what an excursion into the backcountry, beauty, waterfalls, cascading waves, old lava flows, and 56 single lane bridges on the way to Hana, what a day.

Back to the grind of the marathon, here I am toiling along the way, somewhere past the halfway point. I didn't know it at the time but I had developed a kidney stone around the halfway point. I just thought I had a muscle cramp in my lower left back. It bothered me from mile 12 out to around mile 17, so I did alot of walking and tried to keep my breathing under control. I didn't find out until we got home though about the kidney stone oh was that an experience. I would gladly run a marathon to keep from going thru that again.

Yes the water and the waves are often as close as 10 or 15 feet from the course. It was like running in paradise and some water stops even included hula dancers to remind us how close to paradise we truly were. The trade winds were not blowing the day of the race thus we had to contend with something the locals called "VOG", which is the Hawaiian version of fog, generated when the trade winds do not blow and volcanic clouds settle over the islands.

Here comes Stacey on her way to a 5:09 personal best for her, she rocks as our lead runner. This was her third marathon and second in Hawaii.

These are the three women that I had to chaparone while we were in Maui, oh boy was that ever a tough job. Bonnie, our coach and cheerleader, Rosemary (she walked her first marathon in 7:46 woohoo!!!), and Stacey 5:09. I managed to finish in 6:13, better than I did last year in Honolulu, but I was sure wanting to finish under 6 hours.

And I will leave you with a look at our final sunset before we left Tuesday evening, oh yes paradise can't be far away, what beauty lies in waiting if you haven't visited these islands.