great aloha run

this monday my friend tonya and i ran the great aloha run...yes, you might ask...what made katy decide to run a race? especially since i really hate to run...and i do mean hate to run. running is just not fun. never has been and probably never will be. and yes you might say...but katy you run in soccer....but running in soccer is so much different that just running. or at least it is to me. in soccer i am running to get the ball, keep it away from the other team, and especially keep it from getting to my goalie. running...even in races...has no goal for me. even though your goal is technically to get to the finish line, thats not really a good enough goal for me. i come from a long line of a.d.d. family members (which makes soccer a great sport because there is always something going on and its never the same game twice) and running just holds no interest, and its even worse running on the treadmill...i just dont know how people do it. even watching tv or listening to my ipod...i can do that from the comfort of my couch. thanks anyways though! and yeah, we ran some to train, but my longest run until then was only 3.5 miles. mostly we walked our 3.7 mile loop which consists with only about 1 mile of sort of flat land and the rest is hills (big ones).

so tonya picked me up at about 5:10 am (i got up at 4) so that we could head to the stadium and catch a bus to town. once on our (school) but we were ready! we got into town at about 5:35, we went to find our staging area and wait. when we started to hear the military chants we knew we were getting close to time. we went and watched them line up and watch the sun come up. at about 6:45 they started with the national anthem and the hawaii anthem. at 7 we heard the shot and we slowly started moving. finally around 7:20 we crossed over the start line and we were off! we started with a run, as our strategy was the run as long as we could and then finish with a run/walk. we checked the watches at mile one and we had been running for 10 and 1/2 mins...awesome! we hit mile 2 and we were at 21ish. still good and we were still running. we made it to mile 3 and were shocked to find out we were still running a good pace and that we were still running....we made it to mile 4 in 43 minutes, we couldnt believe it! not only did we have a good time, we were still running! we decided we would walk , but then quickly changed our minds when we started to get stiff and picked up the running again. miles 5 and 6 came and went and we were still going. miles 7 and 8 were by far the hardest but we werent about to stop now. the last .3 miles consisted of running into the stadium parking lot down into the tunnel, and out onto the field to cross the finish line. pretty cool, but so glad to be done. we got to walk across the rest of the field, through the locker rooms, and out to get our shirts and all of the wonderful goodies! water, oatmeal creme pies, and POG-pineapple orange guava juice-yummy!

im still not a runner, and i dont think i really ever will be, but i think that if i were to actually train....i could finish a half marathon. and that will be my next goal... i think the one on kauai would be awesome!

here are some of the pictures-i will post the rest on facebook :)