Guess what? I decided to sign up for my first marathon and it's going to be in...
...one of my favorite places in the world — HONOLULU!!!
I've been feeling pretty frustrated with many aspects of my life over the past few months in terms of my long-term career goals and, to no surprise, the dating scene in NYC. Running a marathon has always been on my bucket list, and I also thought that it'd be a great outlet for me to release some stress and help me with my anxiety.
ABOUT HONOLULU MARATHON
I decided on the Honolulu Marathon because the city holds a special place in my heart. I was born in Taiwan, which is also a small, tropic island, so I feel very at home in Hawaii, and my family had started going to O'ahu once or twice a year since I was in high school.
The Honolulu Marathon is among the ten largest marathons in the world with 25,000 annual runners. In addition, it is the only world class marathon with no cut-off time, allowing all participants to finish. It starts at 5 am with fireworks, which is pretty awesome! The course itself is mostly flat with gorgeous views since a majority of it follows the Pacific coastline. The marathon ends in Kapiolani Park, the state's first public park, near the volcanic crater, Diamond Head.
SHOES
After reading a couple of articles on which shoes are the best for long distance running, the Nike Zoom Pegasus Turbo 2's caught my eye. I've generally stuck to Nike in the past since they have the best basketball and training gear in my opinion. If you like Nike and are looking for a quick summary of this year's best long distance running shoes, this article was super helpful!
The Pegasus Turbo 2 will be perfect for the speed runs in my training, which would help to improve my cardiovascular health and build towards sustaining a faster pace for a longer period. I got the shoes in Pink / Black since I didn't like any of the colors currently available, and this color combo was under $100 (on sale from $180). I can safely say that I am IN LOVE with the quality and impact of the shoe on my performance.
For reference, it would take me around 50 minutes to run 5.3 miles, which is an average pace of about 9:26 (min/mi), for my speed runs. I used to have really bad shin splints from basketball in high school and could feel my shins and ankles hurting after just a 5 mile run. With these shoes, I did not feel any pain or aches. I was pretty happy with the results when seeing the summary of my first run with these shoes, especially given that it was 20°F out, and I hate running in the cold:
For race day shoes, however, I have heard through friends and my own research that the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT% is THE marathon shoe. Apparently a lot of runners have beat their PRs wearing these shoes. You need a shoe that will carry you through that last mile, and, according to Nike, the ZoomX foam delivers their greatest energy return yet. Your legs will feel fresh with more cushioning underfoot and the reduced weight up top. They're currently sold out everywhere for most of the common sizes, but I will definitely keep an eye out for when they're back in stock!
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