Honolulu Marathon

Danny Bon-Ray Y

I'll be running the Honolulu Marathon in December (my first marathon!).
Has anyone run this marathon before? With the heat, humidity, and crowds,
is this marathon slower than average? I'm trying to figure out what a
reasonable goal would be.
thanks!
danny
http://xenon.stanford.edu/~dbyang/running.html

Don Kirkman

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Danny Bon-Ray Yang wrote in
article <ca4mka$gsm$1@news.Stanford.EDU>:

>I'll be running the Honolulu Marathon in December (my first
>marathon!). Has anyone run this marathon before? With the
>heat, humidity, and crowds, is this marathon slower than
>average? I'm trying to figure out what a reasonable goal
>would be. thanks! danny
>http://xenon.stanford.edu/~dbyang/running.html

I ran it several years ago. From what I've heard the weather
is different every year, ranging from rain with strong winds
to blazing hot sun with high humidity. The crowds are horrendous--
when I went many Japanese runners were there, most seemingly
inexperienced (I understand they use it as a qualifier to
enter marathons in Japan). My first open space to begin
really running was several miles from the start, and part of
the course doubles back with outbound and inbound runners on
opposite lanes of a highway with no center dividers except
the traffic cones. I was hit head on by one runner when I
was in my own lane.

OTOH, IMO it's an experience not to be missed, so long as
you run it as an experience and not with dreams of a
outstanding finishing time. All in all I enjoyed it a
great deal.
--
Don donkirk@covad.net

Sam

"Don Kirkman" <spambuster@covad.net> wrote in message
news:6m7cc0tp5kpmrp04nk8jc8ffn915n5gcdp@4ax.com...
> It seems to me I heard somewhere that Danny Bon-Ray Yang
> wrote in article <ca4mka$gsm$1@news.Stanford.EDU>:
>
> >I'll be running the Honolulu Marathon in December (my
> >first marathon!). Has anyone run this marathon before?
> >With the heat, humidity, and
crowds,
> >is this marathon slower than average? I'm trying to
> >figure out what a reasonable goal would be. thanks! danny
> >http://xenon.stanford.edu/~dbyang/running.html
>
> I ran it several years ago. From what I've heard the
> weather is different every year, ranging from rain with
> strong winds to blazing hot sun with high humidity. The
> crowds are horrendous--when I went many Japanese runners
> were there, most seemingly inexperienced (I understand
> they use it as a qualifier to enter marathons in Japan).
> My first open space to begin really running was several
> miles from the start, and part of the course doubles back
> with outbound and inbound runners on opposite lanes of a
> highway with no center dividers except the traffic cones.
> I was hit head on by one runner when I was in my own lane.
>
> OTOH, IMO it's an experience not to be missed, so long as
> you run it as an experience and not with dreams of a
> outstanding finishing time. All in all I enjoyed it a
> great deal.
> --
> Don donkirk@covad.net

It will be hot, humid and possibly windy. The 5:30am start
helps, but by
8:00am it can be miserable.

The crowd makes it slow. The Japanese have even less
understanding that slower runners should line up toward the
back than Americans do. A friend who ran it one year lined
up at the 2:50 mark (there was a sign) and there were
several overweight Japanese women in the same area. Now who
do you think was out of place?

The Japanese come in droves and few are there to qualify for
anything unless the qualification times in Japan are really,
really low. I saw one Japanese runner stop and light a
cigarette around mile 13!

It is beautiful. If you have a friend coming with you have
the friend rent a scooter from Wiki Wiki Wheels on Ala Moana
near the Sheraton. You can get around the course fairly
easily on a scooter. If the person picks it up at 5pm on
Saturday you can keep it overnight and all day Sunday for
only a few extra bucks (otherwise you cannot get the scooter
until the next morning when it will not do much good).

Danny Bon-Ray Y

thanks, guess i better not set my goals too high for my first marathon.
btw, I'm running it to raise money to fight AIDS. If you want to help
fight AIDS, or just follow my progress, I set up a little page:

http://xenon.stanford.edu/~dbyang/running.html

-d

Don Kirkman <spambuster@covad.net> wrote:
: It seems to me I heard somewhere that Danny Bon-Ray Yang
: wrote in article <ca4mka$gsm$1@news.Stanford.EDU>:

:>I'll be running the Honolulu Marathon in December (my
:>first marathon!). Has anyone run this marathon before?
:>With the heat, humidity, and crowds, is this marathon
:>slower than average? I'm trying to figure out what a
:>reasonable goal would be. thanks! danny
:>http://xenon.stanford.edu/~dbyang/running.html

: I ran it several years ago. From what I've heard the
: weather is different every year, ranging from rain with
: strong winds to blazing hot sun with high humidity. The
: crowds are horrendous--when I went many Japanese runners
: were there, most seemingly inexperienced (I understand
: they use it as a qualifier to enter marathons in Japan).
: My first open space to begin really running was several
: miles from the start, and part of the course doubles back
: with outbound and inbound runners on opposite lanes of a
: highway with no center dividers except the traffic cones.
: I was hit head on by one runner when I was in my own lane.

: OTOH, IMO it's an experience not to be missed, so long as
: you run it as an experience and not with dreams of a
: outstanding finishing time. All in all I enjoyed it a
: great deal.
: --
: Don donkirk@covad.net

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 04:45:16 GMT, "Sam" <marathonman@mindspring.com>
wrote:

>
>It will be hot, humid and possibly windy. The 5:30am start
>helps, but by
>8:00am it can be miserable.
>
>The crowd makes it slow. The Japanese have even less
>understanding that slower runners should line up toward the
>back than Americans do. A friend who ran it one year lined
>up at the 2:50 mark (there was a sign) and there were
>several overweight Japanese women in the same area. Now who
>do you think was out of place?
>
>The Japanese come in droves and few are there to qualify
>for anything unless the qualification times in Japan are
>really, really low. I saw one Japanese runner stop and
>light a cigarette around mile 13!
>
>It is beautiful. If you have a friend coming with you have
>the friend rent a scooter from Wiki Wiki Wheels on Ala
>Moana near the Sheraton. You can get around the course
>fairly easily on a scooter. If the person picks it up at
>5pm on Saturday you can keep it overnight and all day
>Sunday for only a few extra bucks (otherwise you cannot
>get the scooter until the next morning when it will not do
>much good).
>
>
>

According to the honolulumarathon.org sumary of past
marathons temps have been mid 60's to mid 80's. It does seem
like wind and atleast mild humidity is common.

_!_ Grabber

Danny Bon-Ray Yang <dbyang@Stanford.EDU> wrote in message news:<cabghd$6r7$1@news.Stanford.EDU>...
> thanks, guess i better not set my goals too high for my
> first marathon

If it's your first one, I wouldn't smoke more than one
before the race. One will psych you up, more than that and
you'll say "oh wow man, maybe I'll do it tomorrow"...