First there was the helicopter.
I don't know about you, but it's extremely annoying to run with chopper blades overhead. It's distracting and you don't need to be looking above you when you need to be paying attention to the ground.
I was on mile 6 of my last 10-mile tempo run (12 miles total) before the Dec. 14 Honolulu Marathon. I basically wanted to bore myself by running 10 times at marathon pace around Lake Clara Meer.
Turned out it was anything but boring. On my seventh lap, still having to deal with the noise from the helicopter overhead, I made my way around past the Park Place bridge. There had been a few young women and a dude mulling about with an orange cardboard sign the last few times I passed by.
This time, right as I ran by, one of the women said, "Excuse me sir, can you run over here?"
Huh? I pretended not to hear her and just ran by. It wasn't like there were any signs or any indication some commercial event was happening.
When I turned the corner, coming from the other direction was another young woman with neon blue shoes running toward me. After I passed, some guy who was hiding behind a tree with the orange sign said, "Go!"
I thought at first maybe she was doing some kind of interval.
But near the other side of the lake, I saw a security guard in a golf cart. I got his attention and said, "Hey, is there filming going on? Some lady tried to make me go the other way. They need a permit right? Last time I checked this was a public park."
He agreed and drove out the way I came. I met him near the entrance of the pool. He said he saw the women but really nothing else. I told him I'd let him know if I saw anything else.
When I got to where the other women were, the one who tried to get my attention actually stood in my way and tried to get me to run along the path.
I cut her short -- "You got a permit? I already talked to security." Her colleague said "Huh?" in the absolute dumbest matter possible. I continued on, saying "I got two laps left and this is a public park."
They couldn't say anything. They let me go on.
When I passed them the third time I just kept running. The model was running toward me again but the guy behind the tree had her turn around and run the other way.
She wasn't running that fast so I easily caught up with her. I asked her, "You filming a commercial?"
She turned and said yes. "Just running around crazy."
I felt sorry for her, wished her luck and continued on my way. By the next pass, the helicopter had left and the group was conferring in between the path and the lake. I continued on and then finished my 10th tempo mile and ran home. The fact that they stopped me got me fired up and I ended up breaking my marathon pace, easily sliding into splits that I ran in the Marine Corps Marathon.
Yet the run was great. I don't know how I will run in the marathon but at least I know I will be able to run half of it?
Time: 3:01 p.m.
Temp: 64 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (Marine Corps Marathon - "Mission Accomplished", shorts, Skechers Go Run 3.
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