Ku'ikahi 10K: I won my age group

I want to be upfront: I didn't go into this race thinking about winning anything. I went in thinking about my rib.

What was going on

Four weeks before this race I hurt my ribs falling over at a stop on my bike. It happens, not proud of it, but kind of one of those rites of passage with bikes. Since breathing is most of running, the injury hampered my training for a few weeks as the pain just lingered and wouldn't just go away like I wished it would.

I raced anyway, at a distance short enough not to be dumb about it, on a day the ribs allowed me some grace. Did I think that was smart? I thought it was a 10K that I had signed up for and that was about as far as the thinking went.

The result

First in my age group! I can't remember the official time but you don't forget the first time you win something with a number pinned to your shirt. I was confused as I didn't think I ran that fast. I did enjoy the moment though.

What it says about training

A race isn't the last three weeks leading up to the event, it's the two years before. I had a marathon in December, a half-marathon in January, and a consistent, boring, routine-based year behind that (that's me in a nutshell and it turns out boring wins age groups). A month of messed-up training didn't erase it. That's worth remembering at this age: a bad month is a bad month, not a lost year.

Also that week

Jay was cycling THE Hill, a climb on the island that earned a definite article on the channel and kept it. It's in this video along with my podium.

The age-group win is from the video and the podium. The times are from our watches, since Aloha Racing's results aren't posted anywhere we can read.