Great Aloha Run

I ran an 8mile (13K) Great Aloha Run today together with over 23,000 people. It was fun running beside people of all ages, color and size, though I had not trained for it. There were even people with wheelchairs, baby strollers and walkers. The left side were all for the different military divisions. I'd never seen so many military men. I keep forgetting Hawaii is a strategic military post for its location. It was cool hearing their low toned chants as they ran in unison. The best was watching the mothers pushing twin strollers or fathers running alongside their sons. I liked passing those with T-shirts which wrote Pain is Weakness leaving the Body. As much as I think that is not true, it pushed me onwards towards that elusive finish line! For some reason, running among a pack of people all heading towards a finish line felt empowering even though my feet felt like they were on fire after the 4th mile. Something about being with a bunch of people with a common goal. Makes the activity less burdensome somehow...and much more enjoyable. I think when pain is shared, it feels less painful and pushes one's body to go beyond itself...albeit for the moment. Loved gorging on all the free bananas and sugar drinks afterwards. They could learn lot from all the freebies, sports giveaways and even free beer booths we have in Chicago though...