Two runs in Hawaii

I have been in Hawaii for the past week and a half so I have been a little slacker on the blog front. I have been spending time with Chris and the dogs and getting up at 4:30AM to work on Mexico City hours and everything else has taken a back seat. I have, however, managed to get in two races this past week. The first was an 8K race that ran each side of diamond head. It was a slow time, but fast enough for a second place AG finish. I did learn that I still need some major strengh running work. The hills killed me. The uphill was a 2 minute slower pace than the rest of the race, but I am ok with it. I just need to work harder on the hill training.
In between the races was Valentine's day. Chris went to the store and got us some stuff for a sunset beach picnic.
Here is Chris preparing the wine...


And the sunset - it was so windy and cold, but beautiful...

Here are the munchkins - they were each other's Valentines.

The second race was the Great Aloha Run that attracts about 18,000 people. Chris ended up bailing on the run, so I went with Sharon and we had our own personal chauffeur. I felt pretty barfy in the morning, but really wanted to run, so I took some stomach medicine and headed down to the race. I started at a good pace (8 min miles) and then quickly went downhill. I had that whole churning stomach feeling and when the first set of port-a-potties came up i had to stop. Stopping also included a HUGE line of people. Oh well, it was worth it not to have major issues later in the race.
After I finished, I realized that I had lost about 3 minutes. So i went back to running as fast as I could without getting sick. That lasted another few miles when I had to stop again. Another long line and loss of a few minutes. I even had the guy behind me beg me not to stop because I had been pacing him, but i wanted to tell him that he would really be mad if I didnt stop and he had to witness something that noone should have to see.
After that time I realized I had about 2 miles to go. I can do two miles with a sick stomach, no problem. So i just went for it. I went way to fast on that second to last mile, so in the last mile that was somewhat uphill I had to slow way down. In spite of everything I had a great time running again. Go figure! I like to run - well I like to run in races. The results havent come out yet, so I am not sure what my exact time was since I forgot to stop my garmin, but I am guessing it was around a 9Min mile pace including the stops. I think that really comes out to an 8 min mile pace while running, but I did get some major rest in between. I am still trying to figure out my stomach. I had a banana in the AM and water and got sick. I havent found any GUs or Gels that dont make me sick during the run, so for a race of this length I had to eat something beforehand. This has been a consistent problem for me. My stomach will determine how well I race that day.