Details on Maui Marathon

Preparing for and actually running the marathon has been an awesome and very inspiring experience. It has not been easy, but well worth the effort !

During the training, I have learned a lot about running, my bodies reaction to this kind of physical stress and healthier living in general. I feel generally much more healthier, fit and energetic than before.

MAUI – I flew into Maui on Friday afternoon and had a day to rest before the race. The evening before we had a pasta party to load up on carbohydrates.

1:30am on Sunday morning, my eyes opened – minutes before the 2 alarm clocks and the wake up call I had scheduled. All clothes, gels, and other things laid out the night before, I went about getting dressed and loaded up with all equipment (6 rows of shotblocks black cherry, 10 salt packs, 4 water bottles with gatorade, shoes with running tag, running shirt with running number securely attached, YO STEVE in big letters written on it !, sweat arm band, running hat, 70 sunscreen (hey, i know i have pale skin LOL), glide – to make sure nothing rubs and gets sore during running the distance) and walked around the apartment to help myself focus. 

230am I jumped in the cab i had ordered to bring me to the meeting place. Being german, I was early LOL. The bus came, we got on, off to the start line, where 1400 other runners had come together, everyone preparing in their own way (meditating, stretching, etc.) to prepare for the race.

Then the race started ! Doing this for the first time, it was amazing and my adrenalin went crazy LOL (which accounted for me running WAY to fast for the first 6 miles!). I wont bore with details of the first 20miles, but the sunrise and running through the hills were great (relatively cool, a light breeze). It turned out that there are a bunch of people that ran the same pace on a different run/walk interval. Chasing YO STEVE became a popular activity LOL – That’s where I first met Jamie and Daisy.

For the reminder of the race we ‘ran’ into eachother and actually finished the race together. As we ran throught the more hilly areas halfway through the marathon, it didnt turn out to be very hard to ran up and down the hills, but in retrospect, it took a lot of energy out of me. What helped was that there still was some breeze and a gorgeous view.

So the first 20miles turned out to be pretty good. Then we got off the hills and for the rest 6.2 miles we ran along the highway and oceanshore, through the neighborhoods and 91degree heat on mostly dark asphalt road with hardly any wind………………..

Jaime, Daisy and me mostly ran together and when we did, we motivated each other to keep going. We experienced that talking to eachother really helped to keep the thoughts off the pain and exhaustion. At the last .2 miles, adrenalin kept us going and sprinting through the finish line together with our heads and arms held up high !!! 

The support after the race was great. Getting the medal, the sheet with your running information, food and icepacks for the legs, even a massage station (free for runners) to ease and soften the pain. It was an awesome moment for me. I was completely exhausted, but proud of myself for this achievement (easily one of the most difficult things I did in my life so far), as well as humbled by other runners (someone on crotches, someone with downsyndrom, the oldest runner (a 79 year ‘young’ lady from Japan)…

At this point (like in the Oscars LOL), I would like to thank running coach Aaron for all his support and advice, fundraising organizer Dan for his excellent coordination of everything, my family for their support and Jaime and Daisy – I couldnt have finished it with out you !

You want to do something that you can be proud of (and others will be proud of you ?

Run a marathon for a good cause !

By the way, please help me to continue fundraising for the AIDS foundation – I still got a few hundred dollars to go.. THANK YOU