Written by: Jamie Shioji
On Sunday, 12/10/17, I walked the Honolulu Marathon. It was by far one of the craziest things I have done in my life not because it wasn’t doable, but because all of the components to it being successful were not there. But after it was completed, the experience brought me some perspective.
I knew it was a bad idea because although I was training when I initially signed up to do this, my schedule did not permit time to devote enough training in the past three to four months. Ok, honestly, I maybe walked for a few hours on Sundays, if that. But even with that little effort, only got in possibly eight miles at most.
In weighing my options, I decided to do it because I paid the $48 to participate and the monetary value was high enough that I figured I would walk as far as I could go then figure out what to do next. The first seven miles were not that bad, but by mile 8, I began to get blisters under my feet. Mile 12, I could feel the blisters growing with every step I took and the pain became unbearable. I thought “I think this is all I can do.” By then, my hamstrings, calves and behind my knees were tight and radiated pain. My friends kept cheering me on and due to peer pressure, I kept on going. About mile 14 was when one of my blisters popped. Luckily, one of my friends had a band aid that I could use. It was a little scary because, by this time, so many ambulances drove by that I began to lose count. The heat of the day made things worse but we kept going on. I tried to map it out in my mind about how much more I could go, but walking down Kalanianaole Highway I began to think I was not going to finish. All kinds of doubt came into my head and I wanted to give up. We found ourselves using strategies to keep our minds off the pain by playing music on our phones, talking to each other, cracking jokes to each other, and cheering each other on. Some relief came when we saw people cheering on the side of the road, playing music and dancing. We took a break to stretch and to apply Vaseline to our feet and readjust our shoes to relieve some of the pain in our feet. But to start walking again was painful and took a few steps to gain momentum. Before we knew it, we had circled around Hawaii Kai Drive and were on our way back to Kapiolani Park. After about 6.5 hours into the marathon, police were using their loudspeakers to tell us to move onto the sidewalk so that the street sweepers could clean the street before reopening the roads to traffic. The sidewalk was so narrow that the dust and debris were literally swept onto us as it went by. It was upsetting because we were still going through our own personal battle, but the cleanup had begun. It was very humbling and frustrating at the same time that all we could do was make jokes, like “WOW, we are so slow that they are starting to clean up.” Comments of “I wonder if we are the last people” or “what prize can we get for being last” came up. A little later we came across people who were cheering “Almost there, almost there.” It was a brief and temporary distraction from the ever so constant pain and struggle that we were enduring. But in our minds, we still had a long way to go. When we got to mile 18, one of my friends started to count the number of miles until the finish. I kept telling myself to “look up” and used different strategies to keep myself from becoming negative. We were looking for the mile 20 banner, but it was already taken down so it was a happy relief when we saw the mile 21 sign and realized that we went farther than we had thought. Around this time was when our feet were numb but strangely we could still feel the excruciating pain. Every body part from my chest down was hurting. Back, ribs, abs, thighs, knees, calves, feet and even the base of my toenails. I definitely wanted to quit but my friends told me that we had come so far that we had to finish. We were very far behind the majority of the participants in the marathon, that even more stations were beginning to close down. Water and Gatorade stands didn’t have much left. People were cleaning up. Police came by again and told us to walk on the sidewalk. Another street sweeper came through, then the roads were opened back up to traffic. The monotony of the pain was broken up when cars drove by and honked their horn in support of us. We began to live for any sort of relief or change to get us through to the next step, the next foot, and the next mile. Mile 24 was the walk uphill towards Diamond Head and my knee started to make a clicking noise. Upon reaching the top of the hill was when I first believed I could actually finish the race. All there was left was the downhill walk away from Diamond Head and the walk around Kapiolani Park. The walk down the final stretch made me very emotional, as I knew that I was about to accomplish something that felt like was impossible earlier in the day. When we reached the last stretch to the finish, there was no cheering crowd that I had pictured in my mind. I began to tear up, frustration and a rush of emotions came to me. I kept saying to myself, “It’s right there…it’s right there…” I was dehydrated and my vision was blurred so the banner that I thought was the finish line was about 50 feet before the actual finish. But the reality of “right there” was further than I had thought. There were people cheering at the very end of the race, we pretended they were cheering for us, but knew that they were family members of others behind us. My friend’s family was there to give her a hug before she finished, watching that overwhelmed me with emotions. Crossing the finish line felt so good…I had done it! I finished in 10 hours 19 minutes and 21 seconds. At that point, I didn’t care how long it took me, I was just happy that I finished!!!!
In reflection I used many strategies to get through this seemingly impossible feat. I often “looked up” a strategy to use my peripheral vision to see the big picture and trick my brain to be in a light alpha state, depended on my friends where there was a comradery and we used laughter to keep thoughts positive. We utilized visualization of finishing and what we would do when we finished and we just took one step at a time. Throughout the race there were events that would have caused me to quit, but also strangers who were cheering gave us a dose of reinforcement that helped me to keep on going.
As I reflect, some of the preparation done was bringing a camel pack with my own water (but ran out early), packing snacks and bringing along other necessities. However I should have done more prior to the marathon such as carbohydrate loading the day before, sleeping early, buying shoes one size bigger since my feet would swell, using dri-fit socks, hydrating starting a week before marathon day, and most importantly, training by gradually increasing distance and rate.
The rewards for completion were crossing finish line, receiving my finisher shirt and medal, being treated to a Zippy’s mixed plate dinner, soaking in the tub and my family buying me a pair of dress pants that I’ve been wanting.
I share with you this personal struggle as an example of the use (and not the best use) of strategies during, in preparation for the marathon and reflection of the process. We are all in a marathon of our own, dealing with our own struggles that are often times not apparent to others. This experience has brought me perspective about life and myself that I would have never thought I’d have if I did not go through it. Was it crazy? Yes, but I’m glad I did it because I learned that I am stronger than I thought. I’m realizing that we are never fully prepared for what life bring us due to the many factors or obstacles that we come across. I’ve learned to keep on trying and take things one step at a time. They say that when a person goes through change, there are phases of anticipation, survival, disillusionment, rejuvenation, reflection and anticipation. This marathon took me through all of those phases and really forced me to deal with my negative thoughts. Ben Franklin said, “You can do anything you set your mind to.” After completing the marathon, I feel like I can do just that! I am thankful for my friends who were my big supporters who pushed me through the pain and struggle through the marathon and my family who supported me before and after. If not for them, I would have probably given in to the negative thoughts and not finished. I hope that this will encourage everyone to keep on going, keep on striving to “do better as we learn better”. Keep those good people around you who cheer you on, acknowledge and reward yourself for progress and successes. Keep taking one step at a time AND look up!!! Enjoy the view because that’s when the best memories are made. How will you finish your race?
On Sunday, 12/10/17, I walked the Honolulu Marathon. It was by far one of the craziest things I have done in my life not because it wasn’t doable, but because all of the components to it being successful were not there. But after it was completed, the experience brought me some perspective.
I knew it was a bad idea because although I was training when I initially signed up to do this, my schedule did not permit time to devote enough training in the past three to four months. Ok, honestly, I maybe walked for a few hours on Sundays, if that. But even with that little effort, only got in possibly eight miles at most.
In weighing my options, I decided to do it because I paid the $48 to participate and the monetary value was high enough that I figured I would walk as far as I could go then figure out what to do next. The first seven miles were not that bad, but by mile 8, I began to get blisters under my feet. Mile 12, I could feel the blisters growing with every step I took and the pain became unbearable. I thought “I think this is all I can do.” By then, my hamstrings, calves and behind my knees were tight and radiated pain. My friends kept cheering me on and due to peer pressure, I kept on going. About mile 14 was when one of my blisters popped. Luckily, one of my friends had a band aid that I could use. It was a little scary because, by this time, so many ambulances drove by that I began to lose count. The heat of the day made things worse but we kept going on. I tried to map it out in my mind about how much more I could go, but walking down Kalanianaole Highway I began to think I was not going to finish. All kinds of doubt came into my head and I wanted to give up. We found ourselves using strategies to keep our minds off the pain by playing music on our phones, talking to each other, cracking jokes to each other, and cheering each other on. Some relief came when we saw people cheering on the side of the road, playing music and dancing. We took a break to stretch and to apply Vaseline to our feet and readjust our shoes to relieve some of the pain in our feet. But to start walking again was painful and took a few steps to gain momentum. Before we knew it, we had circled around Hawaii Kai Drive and were on our way back to Kapiolani Park. After about 6.5 hours into the marathon, police were using their loudspeakers to tell us to move onto the sidewalk so that the street sweepers could clean the street before reopening the roads to traffic. The sidewalk was so narrow that the dust and debris were literally swept onto us as it went by. It was upsetting because we were still going through our own personal battle, but the cleanup had begun. It was very humbling and frustrating at the same time that all we could do was make jokes, like “WOW, we are so slow that they are starting to clean up.” Comments of “I wonder if we are the last people” or “what prize can we get for being last” came up. A little later we came across people who were cheering “Almost there, almost there.” It was a brief and temporary distraction from the ever so constant pain and struggle that we were enduring. But in our minds, we still had a long way to go. When we got to mile 18, one of my friends started to count the number of miles until the finish. I kept telling myself to “look up” and used different strategies to keep myself from becoming negative. We were looking for the mile 20 banner, but it was already taken down so it was a happy relief when we saw the mile 21 sign and realized that we went farther than we had thought. Around this time was when our feet were numb but strangely we could still feel the excruciating pain. Every body part from my chest down was hurting. Back, ribs, abs, thighs, knees, calves, feet and even the base of my toenails. I definitely wanted to quit but my friends told me that we had come so far that we had to finish. We were very far behind the majority of the participants in the marathon, that even more stations were beginning to close down. Water and Gatorade stands didn’t have much left. People were cleaning up. Police came by again and told us to walk on the sidewalk. Another street sweeper came through, then the roads were opened back up to traffic. The monotony of the pain was broken up when cars drove by and honked their horn in support of us. We began to live for any sort of relief or change to get us through to the next step, the next foot, and the next mile. Mile 24 was the walk uphill towards Diamond Head and my knee started to make a clicking noise. Upon reaching the top of the hill was when I first believed I could actually finish the race. All there was left was the downhill walk away from Diamond Head and the walk around Kapiolani Park. The walk down the final stretch made me very emotional, as I knew that I was about to accomplish something that felt like was impossible earlier in the day. When we reached the last stretch to the finish, there was no cheering crowd that I had pictured in my mind. I began to tear up, frustration and a rush of emotions came to me. I kept saying to myself, “It’s right there…it’s right there…” I was dehydrated and my vision was blurred so the banner that I thought was the finish line was about 50 feet before the actual finish. But the reality of “right there” was further than I had thought. There were people cheering at the very end of the race, we pretended they were cheering for us, but knew that they were family members of others behind us. My friend’s family was there to give her a hug before she finished, watching that overwhelmed me with emotions. Crossing the finish line felt so good…I had done it! I finished in 10 hours 19 minutes and 21 seconds. At that point, I didn’t care how long it took me, I was just happy that I finished!!!!
In reflection I used many strategies to get through this seemingly impossible feat. I often “looked up” a strategy to use my peripheral vision to see the big picture and trick my brain to be in a light alpha state, depended on my friends where there was a comradery and we used laughter to keep thoughts positive. We utilized visualization of finishing and what we would do when we finished and we just took one step at a time. Throughout the race there were events that would have caused me to quit, but also strangers who were cheering gave us a dose of reinforcement that helped me to keep on going.
As I reflect, some of the preparation done was bringing a camel pack with my own water (but ran out early), packing snacks and bringing along other necessities. However I should have done more prior to the marathon such as carbohydrate loading the day before, sleeping early, buying shoes one size bigger since my feet would swell, using dri-fit socks, hydrating starting a week before marathon day, and most importantly, training by gradually increasing distance and rate.
The rewards for completion were crossing finish line, receiving my finisher shirt and medal, being treated to a Zippy’s mixed plate dinner, soaking in the tub and my family buying me a pair of dress pants that I’ve been wanting.
I share with you this personal struggle as an example of the use (and not the best use) of strategies during, in preparation for the marathon and reflection of the process. We are all in a marathon of our own, dealing with our own struggles that are often times not apparent to others. This experience has brought me perspective about life and myself that I would have never thought I’d have if I did not go through it. Was it crazy? Yes, but I’m glad I did it because I learned that I am stronger than I thought. I’m realizing that we are never fully prepared for what life bring us due to the many factors or obstacles that we come across. I’ve learned to keep on trying and take things one step at a time. They say that when a person goes through change, there are phases of anticipation, survival, disillusionment, rejuvenation, reflection and anticipation. This marathon took me through all of those phases and really forced me to deal with my negative thoughts. Ben Franklin said, “You can do anything you set your mind to.” After completing the marathon, I feel like I can do just that! I am thankful for my friends who were my big supporters who pushed me through the pain and struggle through the marathon and my family who supported me before and after. If not for them, I would have probably given in to the negative thoughts and not finished. I hope that this will encourage everyone to keep on going, keep on striving to “do better as we learn better”. Keep those good people around you who cheer you on, acknowledge and reward yourself for progress and successes. Keep taking one step at a time AND look up!!! Enjoy the view because that’s when the best memories are made. How will you finish your race?