88. RUN A 10K

Miles and miles were ran over the course of my lifetime. Hundreds?? KILLED IT.. Thousands?? GRAVY.. Tens of thousands?? MORE THAN LIKELY..

Though miles and miles have been walked, jogged, skipped, and sprinted, among any other speed, I have never had the chance to do an organized run. Saturday, November 7 was the day I ran my first 10k. it was for the day of hope contributing to cancer research.

18 hours to starting line.. I seen the flier around town and mentally wanted to take part but physically I'd brush it off. I haven't been running for a few weeks due to laziness so I really thought that I wasn't about to do this.

12 hours to starting line.. I had bought a runners world magazine like I do when I get in my work out phase. I would look at all the pictures and read all the articles. I'd fantasize about what I had seen and read then dismiss it as if it were a parking ticket. WHATEVER.. but I knew that I somewhat made up in my mind that this was very possible.. all that stopped me was becoming the pessimist/realist that I am almost to a fault.

6 hours to starting line.. SLEEP.. Forcing myself to sleep was pretty damn tough considering all the adrenaline is starting to take shape.

30 minutes to starting line.. I make it down to the parking lot.. CASH.. check.. SHOES.. check.. GLASSES.. check.. PHONE.. check.. EARPHONES.. check.. ... And I'm off to the shuttle to go to the registration area. I'm one of the last 10 people to register. The lady asks me, "Which do you wanna do? the 5k.. or the 10k.."  hmm.. I know the 5k for me is cake.. but a 10k sounds out of my reach.. especially considering that I haven't really been running.. hmm.. FCK IT.. I'll do the 10k.. *pay $40*.. collect the bag.. collect the shirt..

5 minutes to starting line.. I find myself right next to the toxic smell of coffee. GROSSAGE. Next to it is a huge jug of OJ.. I'm there.. hoping that its not the meadow gold orange flavored water crap I'm happily surprised that it wasnt. cup 1.. gulp.. cup 2.. gulp.. cup 3.. gulp.. cup 4.. gulp.. The emcee/ fitness person stretches everyone out and I cooly stretch along on the side only following some of her directions. The runners/walkers make their way up the hill from wailea beach and get into line along Wailea Alanui. Newscaster Howard Dashefsky is in the mix of people doing the 5k.. I find that admirable.

NO GUN SOUND.. The line is moving. Okay, here we go!!

First starts the weaving in and out of people. Onto the street and back. Onto the grass and back. Thinking which will probably do me better, I continue dodging people and their strollers. No biggie. For those of you who I may have offended for whatever reason, I'm sorry. lol.. Uphill and downhill I go. Man, doing this is so fcking exhilarating! On the far side of the street there are high school volunteers cheering people on and it's seriously bringing a tear to my eye. like f'reals. As gay as that sounds, it was touching. For a few minutes, the thought "I'M DOING IT.. I'M REALLY DOING IT!", was passing through my mind. It was an adrenaline high that I really enjoyed. I was passing people and other people were passing me. The uphills and downhills continued. My sweat glands are at full force. Hip hop song after hip hop song passed through me. BlackStarr and Talib, amongst others were helping me cope with those grueling uphills that the damn lava caused. ha ha. I see the sign.. 1m.. and I think to myself..WTF.. thats it. I still had a way to go.. but it's cool. I was in my zone. It's an early morning. No sun beaming down on me. Just the chill breeze. Run. Stop. Walk. Run. Stop. Walk. Run. Stop. Walk. RUN! I see the sign 5k and surprisingly it didn't hurt as much as seeing the 1m sign did. I don't even know why. I pass drink stations and see variously placed teens cheer and get somewhat annoying much like I would have had I been that age. Hell, even at this age, I'd be irritating. I'm passing different properties. I pass the newly named Makena Resort, no longer the Maui Prince.. I cut the corner behind the hotel and run on the cobblestone path as tourists are smiling and wishing me a good morning. And oddly enough I didn't think to myself, stfu.. stupid fck. This time i wasn't behind the desk, this was just their human side coming out. It wasn't the sarcastic tourist behavior that I normally get. LOL. I pass the vacation home that David Bowie and wife Iman rent out when they come to the island. The address is either 5410.. or 5910.. one of the 2.. I mosey on through my run walking at times then going back into running. Tired of my blackberry radio, I youtubed and repeated Jay-Z's "Death of Auto-tune" to pass about 30 minutes. 30 minutes later I move to some slow song that I can't think of the name. Then Du Hast from Rammstein is gonna be the song to carry me through the finish line. The entire time, I pass and get passed by a lady who vacations here from Washington. She tells me how they come every year and how she ran the 10k 6 of her last 7 years. As we pass the last water station her spirit's up as it lifts mines. She gives a thumbs up to the volunteers and thanks them for their services. She cracks jokes with them which frees my mind from the rest of the run ahead.

"FINISH" IS IN SIGHT.. 2 more hills.. I know I can make it. It's almost there.. c'mon dude, PUSH! Random encouragement is getting me through. The closer I get, the more I'm yelling at myself, "Dude, you're there. 10ks. Hell yeah." The Washingtonian is right in front of me and I figure, I can definitely out sprint her but how about we cross at the same time, TOGETHER. We do. As the helper rips the bottom of the paper from my chest, I get introduced to Melissa. "Brandon", I say exhausted.  Whew, I catch my breath. My earphones are dangling from the collar of my shirt. My glasses I could give a rip about. I put the cool wet rag on my head and walk through the cool down sprinklers. I have a different stench of odor, not just sweaty, but SUH-WET-E. And I'm savoring each and every drop of it.

I've run thousands and thousands of miles. Whether it be playing around, playing basketball, jogging for whatever god forsaken reason, its been done. But not to this extent.. one of my life's biggest accomplishments has been reached today. The shirt is my trophy.. the pride of doing this will always be there.

I DID IT!! .. Now when's the next race??