Westside LA Team In Training - Winter 2009 Marathon & Half Marathon Team

On the Tuesday prior to the big event, we had a send-off dinner at Pitfire Pizza in Brentwood for the Honolulu teammates. Check out the photos here!

The Greater LA TNT for the most part left on a team flight for Hawaii on Friday December 11. Once they arrived, everyone settled into the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Just a mile away was the marathon health expo at the Convention Center where everyone picked up their race numbers, browsed through the vendor areas buying marathon gear, gifts, marathon DVDs, books, and more. The first day of a destination TNT Marathon leading up to the Inspiration Dinner the night before is usually free for anything you want, so most of us took a dip on the beach which was just a few steps away from the lobby. Some took a dip in the pool with a water slide, some rested in their rooms with a nice oceanfront view. We also explored the surrounding bars and restaurants.

Greater LA gathered around three tables at the inspiration dinner, where a speaker from the Ohio Chapter inspired us all with his story. Coach Karla from SGV TNT, and Elise the campaign manager from SB TNT gave us a few pointers before the race. Most of us slept early because the start time of the race was 5:00am! We met at 4:00am at the hotel lobby where we all prepped writing names on our arms, wore glowstick bracelets, took pictures, and hyped ourselves up for the big event. Most of us tried weaving in and out of the start line near the front of the crowd of 29,600. There were no corrals in this one, and no one seemed to pay attention to the estimated finish time markers, so we didn’t either. By the time some of us got to an acceptable area, the fireworks marking the start of the marathon began. It went on for a good 10 minutes, and I’m sure it was a good 5:00am alarm clock for the residents who lives there.

It was dark out when the race started, and luckily it did not rain. The weather was about a high 60 to low 70 at 5:00am, so we already knew a hot day was ahead of us. Once the sun came out, we all had to make sure to take in our liquids and salts. The course was pretty flat, except having to go up the Diamond Head area twice. For the most part, our team had some really good finishing times considering it was mostly their first marathon, and given the degree of difficulty of humidity, heat, and hills. Everyone crossed that finish line and that’s quite an accomplishment! Congrats to the honolulu marathoners! The season’s not over yet, so we would still like to see you at the AZ send-off dinner and reunion at the end of the season!

View photos from the Honolulu Weekend Here!