2012 Tahiti Moorea Marathon

I think I could get used to racing here.

We arrived in Moorea on Saturday morning and checked into the Hilton, which was very nice.  Packet pickup was the same day several miles away down near the airport.  As we wandered around the common area trying to figure out how we would get to packet pickup, we ran into Team Austria who was staying at the Hilton as well.  Three men and three women were completely decked out in Austria running kits and one guy was waving a giant flag around.  It was great!

Team Austria

After trying to figure out why the shuttle to the packet pickup had not arrived, we started fending for ourselves.  The parking lot guard, Serge, had an interesting idea for getting our packets—he tossed me the keys to his car.  Well, at least I assume it was his car.  At any rate, the car sat the four of us and I hopped in the driver’s seat and got a quick refresher on driving a manual transmission.  It had been a few years, but I got it all sorted out pretty well and we were on our way.

Packet pickup was on the beach and, as one might expect from a low-key affair, it was pretty basic.  Chris and Genevieve had their packets waiting for them, but Alida and I were not on the books.  That was annoying, but after a bit of finagling, we managed to convince them to let us run anyway.  I have no idea where the money went, but I know we paid entry fees so I don’t feel the least bit worried about them getting paid.

After packets were sorted out, we wandered around the “expo” for a bit while they got things set up for the pasta dinner.  I have to give them credit, they did everything right, it was just a very basic version of it, but when you are in paradise, you learn to go with the flow and so we did.  We browsed some of the vendors and sat around listening to some music for a while as we watched the ocean.  Eventually, we all had some very simple pasta and chicken, then headed back and returned the keys to Serge.  It was off to bed early for a 3:30 wakeup the next morning.

The alarm went off and we grabbed out gear.  The Hilton had very kindly prepared breakfast boxes for us since the dining area didn’t open until 6—long after we would be on the road.  We got all of our gear together and met up with Team Austria as we waited for the shuttle to the race.  After catching a ride to the Total Gas Station, which also doubled as the race start, we had some time to kill as we got ourselves situated and figured out our game plans for this race.  Chris and I were running the full marathon, starting at 4:30AM, and Alida and Genevieve were running the half, which started at 5AM.

My game plan was to throw all expectations out the window.  I knew I had a pretty nasty sinus infection and I really shouldn’t even be running this race.  I refused to take any Tylenol or Advil because those do not mix with endurance activities.  I just had to tough this one out.  The cutoff was six hours and I planned to keep my heart rate under 150.  I knew it would be hot and humid so I decided to run with my two liter hydration vest and I brought eight Pedialyte packets.  Water stations were scheduled every 2.5k so I planned to have a Pedialyte packet with water every 5k.  This should keep my chemistry pretty solid and all the water should keep me hydrated.  I had no idea how recovered I was after my bout with Rhabdomyolysis only two weeks prior, but I planned to take no chances.

The gun went off and so did we.  Chris and I were right back in the rear of the pack heading out as I monitored our pace and my heart rate.  I wanted to get into a flow of slow and steady right from the start and not get too excited and go out hard.  The first few miles went well and we settled into an easy pace that allowed us plenty of conversation.

I should take a moment to describe the water stations.  The day before the race, we saw the people constructing them on the side of the road.  The people built a framework of bamboo and then thatched the roofs with palm leaves.  They were completely homemade and absolutely perfect!  They offered cups of water, various fruit drinks, and lots of chopped fruit.  I really felt like Moorea takes this marathon seriously, which made me very happy.  Many stations also had people playing music and dancing.  It was exactly the way you would expect a Tahitian marathon aid station to look and sound.  The Pedialyte was a bit hard to choke down sometimes and I really felt like I was drinking more of it than I needed, but I knew the reward outweighed the risk so I chugged away.

The course is a 42 km out and back with the turnaround just before 21km, which means we overrun the end and ended up at the beach near the packet pickup area.  I’m not one to complain about finishing a marathon on a beautiful tropical beach, but first there was a race to run.

Chris and I plodded onward having a great time, chatting, taking photos, and dancing along with the musicians, which always brought some laughs.  Chris started struggling a bit before the turnaround and I stuck with him for a while, but he waved me on and so on I went.  I hit the turnaround and picked up the customary red garter belt, which was how they knew you ran all the way to the turnaround before returning.  After the turnaround, I saw that Chris wasn’t very far behind me and he was still in good spirits, so I wished him well and continued.

The sun had come up by this point and I was over two and a half hours into the race.  I was starting to get a little bit tired even though I wasn’t exerting the intensity I normally do on a marathon.  I jogged onward, taking walk breaks whenever my heart rate would top 150 and then walking until it got back under 130.  This was a pretty good system and I knew I was ahead of cutoff pace, so I saw no reason to change things up.  It would just be a long morning.

About 30k in, I jogged up on a couple of guys who were walking at a strong pace.  I ran up on them and tried to make some light conversation.  They were both Tahitian and spoke not much English, but we exchanged thumbs up and general encouragement.  I walked with them for a while and then decided it was time to jog onward.  The views of the two bays were spectacular, especially during and after sunrise.  I stopped many times for photographs of the stunning vistas.

After leaving the two Tahitian gentlemen, I eventually came upon another runner near the 35k mark.  This guy did speak some English.  His name was Christian and he was from France.  He was an older gentleman and this was his 85^th marathon.  He had just flown in from a diving trip in the Marquesas Islands, which are the most remote islands in French Polynesia.  We walked some, jogged some, and chatted a while.  We were moving along nicely and the much-awaited 40km mark finally fell to the wayside and I knew we didn’t have much more to go.  After we passed the gas station where we started, we went further then split off into the jungle.

The last bit of path was through the jungle eventually, dropping us on the beach as we ran up to the finish line were we found Alida waiting for us.  My finishing time was 5:42:29, which is by far the slowest marathon I have ever run (not counting Ironman) but I have no regrets.  The sinus infection was a bummer, but I took care of business and I banked my third continent.  French Polynesia counts as Oceania.  The finisher’s medal was even pretty neat and I got a shirt as well.  The best part—The vacation was only just beginning!

Here’s the tale of the Garmin.