Love Training More is excited to bring this guest blog post to you by our athlete Meghan Ferguson.
The Pineapple Express. This was not the pace I planned but it was the race I planned.
Little aside: Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent flow of atmospheric moisture and associated with heavy precipitation from the waters adjacent to the Hawaiian Islands and extending to any location along the Pacific coast of North America.
I wanted to write this race recap about the Hapalua Half Marathon on April 8 in Honolulu, Hawaii mostly for me, to reflect on where I was 10 months ago and where I am today. But maybe it will also be something that hits home to another runner out there so here it is.
Before the race today there was a whole, intense, amazing journey to get here. It’s worth touching on briefly as it makes my race day that much more special.
I am a mother to two amazing little boys. Three and a half years old and 10 months old, almost to the day of the race. I have run for a long time, dabbled in triathlon, and overall love to be active. What being active means to me has changed with pregnancy, birth, age, and life but I adapt.
In the early summer of 2017, I had a life or death pregnancy complication that resulted in my youngest son being born before 34 weeks. Birth is supposed to be beautiful right? Not for me this time around. It was hands down the most traumatic experience of my life. The stars were aligned the day my son was born because he is here and he is amazing and happy and a miracle honestly. After a month in NICU he came home with us and the next few months were difficult. Looking back I feel I had some form of PTSD from his birth and mentally I needed to dial in my coping strategies.
Running. Not just a sport. It’s my outlet. In September I started working with Coach Erin and right from day one I felt a connection to her and her experiences. I started running Just two days a week, maybe 4-5km. Slow and steady to get me to build a base. I started going to Rogue Fitness Studio regularly and always took my son with me 🙂 my mainstays Jody and Sylvia were always there to help me get stronger. Plank to fail!
Fast forward a few months and I was crushing my running workouts. I had a solid and amazing training schedule for this race! Of course I had bad runs, I DNF’d the MEC Race 1 but I also killed the Hypo 10 miler and was the second over all woman. Note: I don’t mind the cold compared to humidity!
People don’t open up about their time goals too much for fear of jinxing it. I was running workouts that gave me the strength to run this race at a 5:05-5:10/km. I was ready, strong and mentally on point.
Race day: Jet lag was full on especially for the kids. I was awake 3x to nurse a baby, up at 330am panicking about the humidity! Insert coach Erin: “Get the best out of your body today“. Her race plan included the phrase ‘don’t be an idiot’ but that was more so to hold back in those first 10km. Today, “don’t be an idiot” it took on a new meaning.
So I left in the darkness and walked along the main drag in Waikiki to the start, about 1.5km away. Taking it all in. It was HUMID, over 90% with a ‘feels like’ in the mid-30’s. Don’t be an idiot meant be safe today. These running conditions can be very hard on a runner especially one coming from Nova Scotia! I talked to myself the whole way to the start. I let my initial pace goal float away and reset.
And go time! There were maybe around 7000 runners! The first km was tricky but I relaxed and didn’t want to waste energy dodging people. I was aiming for around 5:15 for my first 5km and then I was going to reassess to see how I felt. At 5km in, I was ok; I had a good pace and felt strong. It’s amazing how quickly that can change. The sun rose. The darkness was gone and we were pushing our way through thick, hot, wet air. I knew I needed to be careful as my skin was all-over tingly and my insides weren’t happy. Water and Gatorade at every stop. But happy, I was running in paradise after all.
I was happy wirh my 10km effort. My husband and kids were at kilometre 12. I needed to get to them. Around this point I started to walk regularly. I had to, both physically and mentally to gear up again. I watched the other runners suffering like me. It was then I decided to do it all with a smile on my face. My oldest son was beyond excited to see me!!! When you have little eyes watching you, you need to remember that they learn from you. He was seeing his mommy happy and working hard.
Diamond Head. Kilometre 14 or so. An old volcano I had to run around. How cool is that?! Training in Halifax you’d think it would be a breeze! I crawled up it practically. Be smart. There’s a downhill on the otherside.
“Once you get to 19km you get let ‘er rip if you can,” Coach Erin said.
I grabbed a bag of ice to put inside my bra (ha) and I held on to the ice cubes as well. 19km came. I could not go any faster at all. It was a struggle to get to the finish today.
But I did it.
And all of my boys were waiting for me at the end.
“Mommy did you run fast?”
“No, not today but I ran strong and hard and I did it.”
“Oh ok, mommy can you take Zuma and we can walk to the beach?” Life moves on quickly for a toddler.
So. Was it my time goal? Heck no!!! Not even close. I’m going to mourn that for one day only. You all get it. I know what I can do and it didn’t happen today. But I remember that 10 months ago, I could not get out of bed without help. I was physically broken. I felt like my body let me and my baby down. I was mentally and emotionally broken.
But here I am!!! I have the most amazing family who supported this running endeavor. They are all proud of me. I took control and became stronger than I’ve ever been in running and in life.
What’s next? Well obviously I have to crush the Blue Nose and the Cabot Trail Relay.
