My First FULL Marathon! by Irene Kaneko 2019 had been an incredible year for me. So many firsts – my first Mt. Fuji climb, my first 10km run, my first half marathon run and my first full marathon run. All these happened in 2019, the year I started running. My favorite running place to practice is the Imperial Garden Palace in Sakuradamon, one round of 5km of mostly straight road with uphill and downhill routes, a famous place for running enthusiasts. As early as March, I had been eyeing to join the Honolulu International Marathon for my first full marathon of 42.195km. My other reason is to be able to see my brother, Kevin and sister-in-law, Marife after 10 years of not seeing each other. Aside from my regular strength and aerobics training at the gym in preparation for the full marathon, I studied and watched You Tube on
28
nutrition, fueling, breathing techniques, running economy and more. I was lucky enough that a runner friend, Daniel Tanciatco, coached me during some of my practices. After I joined the10K and Half-Marathon events in city and prefectural running events, I became confident that I can finish the full marathon which made me decide to register for the race. I did hiking and carb loading with Kevin and Marife on the days leading to the race day on December 8, 2019, the Honolulu Marathon. I woke up very early at 2:00am to eat my breakfast. I was very excited. I only had 3 hours sleep! I wore my running wear and placed my number card on my chest. The running chip is located at the back of the number card. In Japan, we tie the running chip to our shoe. My flipbelt is filled with Energy gels and some mango dry fruit. Aside from the belt, I also have a pouch where I placed my Iphone & wi-fi fully re-charged, Pocari Sweat powders, a 350ml water
bottle and salted candies. As you can see, I was ready to run the beautiful coastline of Honolulu. We left the house by 3am. Kevin and Marife drove me to Ala Moana Park, the starting point of the marathon. However, most roads were blocked for the marathon so I need to walk about 10 mins to the
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2020
