Ford Island Bridge Run/Walk

Saturday 8 April was a beautiful day to be outside in Hawaii. Although our day began early, unlike most of the events we have participated in, this run actually started after dawn had broken - 7 AM. Arriving at the start area around 6:15 in order to pick up our timing devices, we had plenty of time to take care of last minute details - like a visit to the ubiquitous porta-potties and note the fashionable black raingear seen above.

I had planned to run and walk the course but during the first mile a friend and I crossed paths and ended up walking most of that mile together. After that bit of time had passed I decided to just do a fast walk for the whole course - which I did until about the last two miles. Well, the whole course was only 6.1 miles so my "fast walk" only lasted about 3 miles. What happened during the last couple of miles was that a high schooler started talking to me and I couldn't seems to break away from the conversation. Everytime I started going faster again, she would do a quick run to catch back up again and start talking again. So I just kept to close to her pace and "kinda fast walked" the last mile and a half. She was a nice young lady and it turned out that she only found out she was participating in the event the previous evening. Her uncle was on Maui and not able to get back so her father told her she would use his entry number.

Phil finished the course in just over one hour. A couple of the young men from church also participated in the event and said that "Mr. Phil had just run by them early in the race." Here they are prior to the race. Congratulations to Taylor and Gary for finishing the race in such good time.



The next picture is Gary's mom, Shana at the beginning of the course. It was fun walking with her as we talked our way through the first bit of the course.
This picture if of something called a "sea-based radar" and from what I understand is undergoing some refurbishment or repairs here in Hawaii. Here's a link if you are interested in the arcane. http://www.raytheon.com/feature/sbx-1_05/

One last picture should overfill my quota for this day is of the USS Utah Memorial that we passed on the way around the small Ford Island. Should you want to learn more about the Battleship Utah you can read about her at this site: http://www.ussutah.org/. The picture is just after the flag had been raised on Saturday morning and evoke so many emotions. I am so blessed to be living in this time and place and thank God for the many places around me that remind me of those blessings of liberty.