Kauai Half Marathon

My husband and I were planning a trip to Hawaii, and it just so happened that this race was on the same weekend we'd be there! So obviously, I had to sign up.

Packet pick-up was at the Grand Hyatt in Koloa. We were staying up in Princeton, so it was a good 1.5 hour drive to the south side of the island. The Grand Hyatt was beautiful though!!! I really liked some of the race merch, and got a shirt, a sweat towel, and a beach towel. The beach towel seemed fitting for a Hawaiian race.

We were up at 2 am on race morning. We left the hotel at 3 am because we had a little over an hour drive to the race. We got to Koloa pretty early, so we slept in the car for a bit. Before the race start, they had a lot of food set up. It was pretty low key, but I really appreciated the food. I've never seen that before at a race.

The race started at 6 am. The first 4-ish miles were fine. We were going uphill, but it wasn't that bad. The sun started to rise around the 2nd mile. It's super humid right before the sun comes up, so I was ready for some of that humidity to burn off.

Mile 3.5-ish

Miles 4 through 6 were the toughest. It was a hilly climb and it seemed never ending. I never let myself walk though (I only walked at some of the water stops). We were rewarded with running through the tree tunnel. That was pretty special!

After the 7th mile, it was easier because it was all basically downhill back to the ocean. BUT, the sun was also getting really hot!!!

hot hot hot!

I had to walk a bit of this downhill portion. I was just so freaking hot. I really needed some shade. I finished with a time of 02:08:33. I'm really happy with my finish time on this course and in the heat. I did have pretty sore knees... i'm guessing it's from all of those hills!