Iolani Sports Center

Photo by: Sidney Quan / Contributer
Iolani Finishers: (from left to right) Dustin Miyakawa('04), Nelson Quan('03), Vincent Lee('03), Martha Morrissey(Patrick Morrissey's('03) Mother). Not shown: Chris Iraha('03)

Honolulu Marathon 2001: Breaking the Wall
By: Nelson Quan, ISC-Senior Staff Writer
Updated: December 11, 2001

2001 Honolulu Marathon Results

Honolulu (December 9, 2001) -- This year, I didn’t train as much. Yet coming off cross-country season helped keep me in shape. My longest run I did was 11-mile runs from school back to my house. This year was going to be different, I planned to bring gels along my run to keep my fuel from running out, thus preventing myself from hitting the wall. My Iolani classmates: Vincent Lee, Chris Iraha and Dustin Miyakawa, were all going to run the marathon. They have trained with me for the little time I had to train for this 2001 Honolulu Marathon.

December 7, 2001: Friday night was the most important night before the marathon. All week I have been carbo-loading, but this night was the time to sleep well and stuff myself silly. My dad and I went to the official Honolulu Marathon Luau at the Waikiki Shell. We ate good food, which included spaghetti, salad, fruits, rice and chicken. They had “Get Back! Beatlemania” perform the Beatles’ songs. Their impression of the Beetles was very close to how the original Beetles were.

December 8, 2001: I went to diving practice at UH and we got to do dives off the 3m boards. I tried my front dive pike and ended up doing a full back flop. Later that day, I slipped off the diving board and scraped both of my toes. Luckily, it didn’t affect my running too much. This year I was going to do something different by bringing food along the way, so I went to Island Triathlon and Bike store and bought me some power Gels.

December 9, 2001: Race day was here. I only slept for about four hours, but since I slept well on Friday night, everything was ok. I met with Vince and Chris near the start. The gun went off at 5am and I started my watch. For the first few miles, I felt that we were going slow because our goal times was to make 9-minute miles, and our first mile split was 11 minutes. I tried to pick it up, and after the first aid station, I broke away from our group and ran a little faster. I continued down Kapiolani and down to Ala Moana blvd. On my way to Waikiki, I pulled out a Gel pack and started to suck the gel out of it. As I reached the Waikiki aid station, I was expecting to see my Iolani classmates and friends cheering me on, but I ran on the wrong side and I missed them.

I approached the 10k mark with a time of 57:49. Vince and Chris were nowhere to be seen. I kept my pace going for a while and I met with a man running with his wife. They said they were going to do a 3:30 marathon, and their pace was pretty fast for me to handle. I stayed with them until I hit the next mile marker and told them I was going to drop off. By the time I went up Diamond Head, I was gassing it. I looked at my watch and told myself, I have a long way to go and must keep my pace going. At the top, I slowed down enough that Vince and Chris finally caught up with me again. I was glad to see them because I knew this was going to be a team effort in order to complete this grueling marathon. Mile 9 and 10 passed. It was a slight downhill going through Kapiolani Community College and I told Vince and Chris to open up stride a bit and to just let the hill take us down. By doing this, we use less energy and we go faster.

When we reached the Kahala aid station, I really needed to use the restroom. Chris and Vince also wanted to go as well so we all agreed to stop in one of the porta-pottys. I relieved myself and felt much better. We began to run again, and I saw my dad. He had a digital camera in his hand and as I waved to him, he took a picture of me.

This was it; we were now entering Kalanianaole Highway. This is the highway that I trained on during the 2000 marathon and Tinman Triathlon. It was like my home turf. At mile 13, we passed Aina Haina. I saw one of my coaches, Mike Terry, who held a sign that read: “Go Chronic! Do it for Nicole.” He gave me that nickname for some odd reason, and Nicole was an Iolani girl on the cross-country team that he tried to set me up with. Mike then paced with me for a few strides, while holding another sign that read: “Pain is Fun.” The half-marathon point was coming. I did a quick gut check to see how I was doing. My legs were the only part of my body that was starting to wear down. I took another Gel and sucked it up. Our times were 2:05:50 at the half-marathon.

As the race continued, my legs didn’t feel like it would continue and I asked Vince how he was holding up. He told me, “I’m feeling pretty strong.” Being motivated by those messages, I decided to continue my pace and run with him. By mile 14, Chris told us that he was going to start dropping off from our pace. I nodded and I was left to run with Vincent. When we reached Hawaii Kai Drive, we felt a strong gust of head wind. I knew that this was going to be hard so I told Vince that we should take each other’s draft. Every 30 seconds, Vince and I would take turns being the front-runner. By mile 16, the wind turned into a tail wind, Vince and I were passing a lot of people. I gave Vince a Gel pack and told him that he’s going to need that for the rest of the race. He took it and I took one myself.

Right before mile 18, we decided to walk at the aid station. From that point on, we started to run again and picked up the pace. My legs felt like they were going to give out. At that moment, I thought of my friend Patrick Morrissey and his words of wisdoms. He told us during the HHSAA State Cross Country Championships that if our legs start feeling tired, we should change our stride. I did just that and open up my stride. Our pace started to change from a 9:30 pace to an 8:30 pace. For the next two miles, Vince was still with me. We reached the 30k marker and our time was 2:55:21. I made a joke that we could’ve just crossed the line and passed the 30k marker to get timed and finish the marathon an hour faster!

About a half-mile after that point, Vince began to fade. I felt even stronger, as my pace started to go faster as I open up my stride. I thought about the Gel packs that I had eaten earlier and how it was benefiting me at this point in the race. At mile 22, I was going to pass Kahala again and I was running really strong, continuing to pass people. My father was at that area and took another snap shot of me. I walked at the 22nd mile aid station, and then I continued my pace again. I sucked my last Gel pack and told myself, “I have 4.2 miles left.”

Photo by: Sidney Quan / Contributer
Nelson Quan(on left), heading towards mile-22, after completing the last 21 miles, in the 29th Annual Honolulu Marathon.

The race didn’t start until mile 22, where I had 4.2 miles left. It was a test of endurance, to see how much my body can handle at this point. My only thought at this time was a bible verse in Philippians that read “Keep your eyes on the Prize.” When I reached mile 24, I took another small walk at the aid station, for another cup of water.

Going up Diamond Head was tough; I remembered that in the previous year, I had to walk up this hill because my legs were so sore. This year was different, I ran up that hill as if it were another one of my training runs. Unfortunately, the last 22 miles made my groin cramp up a bit. I tried to compensate by running with a different stride. As I reached the top of the hill, I knew it was all down hill and I had a mile and a half to go. I used the downhill to carry me through the 25-mile marker. My watch read 3:51:58. I had eight minutes to meet my goal time of 4 hours. I began to pick up the pace even more.

When I reached Kapiolani Park, there was still about ¾ a mile to go. I skipped the last aid station and started to run even faster. When I saw the finish line, it was on a long stretch of road. It felt endless, but I told myself to “Keep my eyes on the prize.” I made it to mile 26. It was .2 of a mile to go! I started to sprint! I made it! I had completed the Honolulu Marathon with a time of 3:58:18. Making a sub 4-hour marathon and doing negative splits accomplished my goal.

I ran into the cold shower at the finish line, as people congratulated me. At the end, I found a small patch of grass under the tree, laid down and reminisced on how I did in the Marathon. I told myself, “Thanks to the Gel packs I ate during the race, I didn’t hit the wall!” My Cross Country coach, Jim Rubasch came to congratulate me on a successful completion of another marathon. Other people came by and I tried to stand up, but my legs told me otherwise. Later on, I called my dad, and we went to pick up my finisher’s T-shirt and medal. Vincent finished and so did my other friend Dustin. Together, we tried to look for Chris, but he was nowhere to be seen. After a few photos, I just wanted to go to the car and sleep.

My dad had to park the car about 2 miles away from where the finish line was. Vince, my dad and I had to walk all the way back to the car. I didn’t want to and I tried to tell my dad to just pick me up on the side of the road. Yet, I’m glad my dad made me walk because by walking after the marathon, it helps remove the lactic acid from my muscles. We finally got to the car, and I just slept all the way home.

Later that evening, I tired to complete my homework but was too tired. I slept the rest of that day. My second year running the marathon was faster by 15 minutes and I didn’t have many sore muscles as I had in the previous year. I’m glad I ran the marathon again; it was another great experience. Afterwards, I checked on the Internet and I found out that I was ranked 16th in my age division (15-19). For all the future marathoners, I encourage you all to join, practice and train four months early, and be prepared for this true endurance test.