Let's just get it out of the way....I'm 30. I have officially left the twenties. You know what? If feels pretty good! Many have assured me that 30 is not the new 20 because it's better. I think those wise people are right.
So my actual birthday was this last Wednesday. Not the most exciting of days to have a birthday. I went to work. Dave gave me a lei that morning (get your minds out of the gutter it was the flower kind!) that I wore all day so people knew I was something special. He made me a nice breakfast, showed up for lunch at work with my favorite fast-food indulgence, Arby's, and then took me out to dinner of my choice. I chose a place called Nick's Fishmarket which is sort of expensive but fortunately my mom and dad put money in my bank account for the momentus occasion of my coming of age so to speak so it made the thought of the bill not so horrible. I ordered a medley of seafood. Here is where I learned that no matter how nice a place looks, how much they charge or what their claims are--the food may not be great, or even good. Out of five kinds of seafood, only the scallops were decent. The rest of it was dried up, overcooked, and rubbery. The last thing on the plate I had was a bite of Mahi Mahi. Upon swallowing the bite, my mouth immediately began to itch. I drank some water and didnt think any more of it....I have had no fish allergies in the past and have tried a multitude of fish in my lifetime. Luckily, after complaining (rightfully so) about my meal, they comped it and gave me two free desserts...much better! Yummy desserts (should be called Nick's Dessert Market) and a little extra money for the weekend endeavors from the bank of Mom and Dad.
As I consider this an educational blog in addition to your pure entertainment from my somewhat strange life, I pause for a little lesson. If you eat fish and it makes your mouth itch, it means one of two things: You are allergic to the fish or you just ate old (not yet rotten but going there fast) fish. Apparently the latter was true in my case. I went to sleep that night and woke up next morning with, well, a swollen lip. Benadryls helped it but as my friend Jessica put it, I looked like I just got back from getting Collagen injections. Moral of the story, BEWARE ITCHY FISH! End of educational report, we now return to our regularly scheduled program.
Flash forward to birthday weekend/marathon weekend. My sister flew in to cheer me on and drink adult beverages. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for most of her trip to this point which included backpacking and camping on Kauai (two things my sis LOVES). But she was a good sport about the whole deal and knowing when to say when on something that just wasn't going to happen. She flew back to Honolulu a day early. We had SUCH a fun weekend! We chilled out on Friday night,watching movies and sleeping. Saturday, Dave made us a wonderful breakfast that included his artistic "Honu" (Turtle) Pancakes. We then had a leisurely morning and wandered down to the shorbird where we met with a few friends at our favorite bar/restaurant The Shorbird. We relaxed on the beach and then headed back to get ready for Marathon Sunday which started at 3 AM. I was so nervous I only slept about 3 hours.
Now, one word about the Honolulu Marathon in general: HUGE. The third largest marathon in the country. Lucky for me it started about a mile from our apartment. Even luckier for me, Dave and Teresa went with me. This marathon is extremely popular amongst the Japanese who make up approximately 85% of the 28,000 people in the run. The whole thing was beautiful. It was dark of course and it was just me, my sister, my husband and the greater metro population of Tokyo. Oh, did I mention the weather? What you say? In Hawaii isn't it always perfect? The answer is a big fat no. The race started a 5 AM and at about 4:50 what can only be described as torrential downpour descended upon us. What makes 26.2 miles more fun? SOGGY shoes and underwear and everything in between. However, by the time they started the fireworks, the rain stopped and we were off!....until about a mile in when cats and dogs descended from the sky again just to give my shoes that extra soggy feeling and add a half pound to each leg. But Teresa was with me and we laughed the whole way....
SO, my race continued on, through Chinatown, Waikiki, up Diamondhead....the first 7 miles were literally elbow to elbow (or maybe elbow to face with the Japanese--I am a giant next to them) and had a cattle herd effect. Luckily, my sister helped me out with the beginning, my friend Karen met up with me for about 6 miles, and then Dave finished the last three, all went well....mile 25 produced more downpour,almost welcomed at this point but it also produced mile 26 and then mile 26.2! That right! Not only was I crazy enough to enter, I actually finished! My time was slower than I wanted but when you consider the rain and the asian invasion, I think I did pretty well.
Today I hurt in places I didn't know I had but we had a fun day of shopping and being on the beach for my sis' last day. I am back to work tomorrow but I can't even complain about that. This whole weekend was AWESOME! SO far, thirty feels great. Thanks to all who helped make it such a wonderful event.Check out details here of my marathon http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=30036984&rsID=50629
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