My Hawaiin 5K

1. I awoke this morning to a 5am wake up call.
2. Debated whether or not to run the local 5K race being held.
3. Dressed,grabbed the 20oz Diet Pepsi bottle I've filled with water, hit the lobby ATM for cash, and head out with my GPS and MP3 Player.
4. Raining. Oh well, it's just a light rain. Yep, 5 minutes later, no rain.
5. Running towards the east side of Waikiki, through the main shopping street, lined with shops for Prada, Bulovia, Rolex, Christian Dior, etc.
6. Checking the time, I don't see the barricade laying flat on the sidewalk, yep, tripped and fell. Only one observer, laugh it off and keep going.
7. Arrive at park where race is to be held, 2.5 miles from my hotel.
8. Arrive at the gas station that was, I thought, the spot for race day registration, 3 miles and it's not the right station.
9. Back track, tack on another mile and I've found the right station. No one is there. Back to the park, I'll see if someone can help me there, maybe I should just do Diamond Head, no, wet rock on a single track mule path doesn't sound to smart.
10. Find the starting line, race doesn't start at 7:30, it starts at 7:00, I'm there 45 seconds ahead of start. Oh well, so much for that.
11. What the heck, I'll run it outlaw (unregistered and no timing chip), clock it with my GPS and compare later against the results, but man I wanted a t-shirt.
12. Start at the back of the pack, picking off slower runners and moving up. Average pace shows 7:46, acceptable considering I had logged 5 miles when the gun went off. I'll hold this pace and save up for the second half of the race.
13. At mile 1 I've falling to an 8:00 minute pace and the thought of running the race and then another 2.5 miles back sobers me and I pull out.
14. Slow run back, starts to rain, starts to rain harder, rain replaces sweat in my running shorts, shirt, and shoes.
15. Shoes are now so water logged I can hear the squishing over the sound of the wind and traffic.
16. Left turn for the last 2 tenths to the hotel, ouch, gusting head wind and horizontal rain. 8 miles!!!
17. Back to room, attempt to use central air on balcony to dry out my only pair of non-dress shoes, I don't catch my flight until 10 pm, not to mention I need dry shoes to go eat breakfast.
18. Hot shower, call home, type up my post, pack up, clouds thinning (maybe I will get to the beach this trip), man I'm hungry.
19. No Race T, No race time, but the memory of a run that lasted longer than it should have, which I'll probably hold on to longer than the T-Shirt.
20. Now where am I going to eat? It has to be a buffet.....