R and J in the USA

January 1, 2025

Our Hawaii 5K was a 10K. This was not a gambit to gain more running time in perfect tropical weather. It was a matter of logistics. The only 5K scheduled during our Hawaii visit was on Oahu on a day when we planned to be on a different island. Altering our itinerary to accommodate the 5K would have been a logistical hassle and would have cut into how we wanted to arrange our Hawaii time, so we signed up for the Bosetti 1^st Sunrise 10K on New Year’s Day.

While it wasn’t our motivation for running the 10K, it was nice to run those extra miles. It gave us more exposure to local neighborhoods, and it gave us different views of the ocean and Diamond Head Crater. The race was also a nice way to usher in the new year. With a 7:00 AM start, we experienced Oahu’s first sunrise of 2025 during the run.

The 10K, which was organized by the Mid-Pacific Road Runners Club, began and ended in Kalama Valley Community Park, about a dozen miles from Waikiki Beach, and ran through the Kalama Valley residential neighborhood near the southeastern point of Oahu.

After a 1.4 mile roughly rectangular clockwise loop to begin the race, the course continued along an out and back for its remainder, with the turnaround coming a few hundred yards before the four-mile mark. The race director described the course as being less than a quarter mile flat, which proved to be apt.

The first mile and a half had some mild ups and downs, but generally proceeded along a level(ish) plane. Then came the hills. Two big up and downs – one of which we had to do twice – that took up most of the next four and a half miles. They were not the steepest of steep, but they were steep enough to be real hills. And they were long. Nearly a mile of uphill followed by a half mile of downhill. Then some nearly level ground for almost half a mile. Then a half mile of uphill, with continuously steepening pitch in the second quarter mile up to the turnaround. Then the same in reverse. Down a half mile. Almost half a mile of nearly level ground. The first big hill in the reverse – uphill for half a mile, then downhill for nearly a mile.

We both carried relaxed mindsets into the race, approaching it slow and steady, and those attitudes carried both of us confidently and solidly to the finish line despite this being the longest either of us had run in quite some time. They also carried Julie to a 3^rd place finish in her age group and an 86^th place finish overall. Ryan finished 6^th in his age group and 75^th overall.

Full results here.

Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds

Running a 10K instead of a 5K gave us both an opportunity to run a distance neither of us had seen in some time. Julie hadn’t run six miles since before the trip started. Ryan hadn’t run six miles in over eight years. With our focus on 5Ks, Julie had run more than 3.1 miles only a handful of times during the seven months of our trip thus far, and Ryan had run more than 3.1 miles exactly zero times during our trip, or during the year before our trip, or during the year before that.

Having not run this far in over 8 years, Ryan decided to view this as a 10K in which the miles were twice as long – seeing if he could fool his body into being capable to run twice his normal distance. In his mind he ran the usual 3.1 units rather than 6.2 units. When he crossed the two-mile mark he told himself, “That’s one.” When he crossed the four-mile mark he thought, “That’s two.”Luckily, while Ryan’s brain is very smart, Ryan’s body is super dumb, and completely fell for it. He handled the “10K” like an old pro, taking each mile as it came with a nice easy jogging pace. His goal was mainly to just go at a nice easy pace and get through it. Despite running twice the distance he was used to (no one tell his stupid body, k?), he felt comfortable and steady from start to finish (though he was glad he didn’t have to go further). 

We each had our own strategy for approaching twice the miles than we’re used to racing. Julie focused on having a good time and running her forever pace – the pace at which she felt she could go indefinitely. To fully understand her race, a little context is needed. When we touched down in Hawai’i the afternoon before on New Year’s Eve, Julie realized something while disembarking the plane. She had left her watch charger in the van, now a couple three thousand miles of ocean away. For anyone that knows Julie and how much she LOVES numbers and data, you know this is VERY uncharacteristic behavior of her to leave such a thing behind. Julie took this as a sign from her mischievous subconscious mind that she wanted to enter the new year and our first race of the year numberless – and so she acquiesced and decided to wait until after the race to make a trip to the Honolulu Walmart (that had exactly one charger left – you didn’t think Julie was going to spend an entire two weeks without her numbers – no – one day, people, one day). As soon as the run started, Julie was feeling quite happy with her subconscious mind – it was a nice freedom to have this completely open space to just get back to basics. For the year before the trip started, Julie had been running for almost 16 months without ever looking at her watch until her run was over. Her whole focus had been attuning to her body and running without focus or agenda, just to enjoy. While Julie enjoyed the focus and tracking she did when running races during the trip, it was a wonderfully refreshing way to kick off the new year – for it to just be her and the open road. That especially helped manage the double distance we tackled on this first day of 2025. Julie went into the race feeling strong and fairly rested even though we had spent all of the previous day flying and, thankfully, had been woken up mid-slumber at Hawai’i’s midnight by the fireworks we could see from our porch after having fallen asleep on our jet lag time schedule at 7PM Hawai’i time. 

Julie started the race strong and found that pace that she knew she could run forever. It was easier to find that on a 10K than a 5K. Apparently, the knowledge that it is only 5K sneaks into her brain and has routinely caused her to start out running too fast and believing that the pace feels easy and maintainable, when in fact, she had been constantly learning the hard way, ‘tis not the case. Apparently, Julie’s instinctive pacing clock works well over the course of 10K. After the race, Ryan said, “I wonder if 10K is your distance.” Julie felt strong and solid in every mile of the race, even the long uphills that came one after another. There were a few moments of pain, but they were temporary and never seemed to dampen the steady strength Julie had. 

The only downside to running without a watch could be found in the fact that this particular race did not have mile markers. This meant that Julie had no idea where she was in the race at any time. When coming through what Julie estimated was probably about the 5 mile mark, she saw Ryan not too far in front of her. She was feeling strong and had plenty left in the tank. Julie absolutely knew she could easily overtake him if this had been near the end of the race – but, still having what she guessed was a good mile ahead, she decided to continue taking it easy. That’s when Julie turned a corner and realized she had grossly overestimated the course and she was all of 500 yards from the finish line. By the time Julie realized she could have easily sped up to catch Ryan, he had already crossed the finish line. Luckily, she was so chill, feeling the rhythm and flow of the miles, basking in the glow of the Hawai’i sunrise and her hopes and dreams for the newly beginning year, she easily accepted the missed opportunity and sailed on over the finish line feeling like she could run a whole other 10K without skipping a beat – that’s when you know you landed your forever pace! Feeling equal parts strong and relaxed with plenty of fuel left in the tank to tackle whatever hills lay ahead was a great way to kick off a new year.