I had a friend of mine pick me up from the airport and he drove me back after the marathon. It was nice to have a local guide for Honolulu!
The expo was meh unfortunately. There weren’t goodies to take home. The only things offered were clothing items and spa/massage related things. These items would be hard to bring back to the mainland and the spa information would be useless to me since I don't live in Hawaii.
HOT HOT HOT! Weather is between 75-80 degrees, even when starting at 5 am
Diamond head is the only part of the course where there was an extreme elevation change. The rest of the course is flat
Not at many spectators as I hoped. There were some spectators, but there were tons of empty parts of the run. The only signifant specatators were the following:
Around mile 18-19 there was a cooler for beer. I shared a beer with a fellow runner and we chatted for about a mile. She talked to me about marathons in Oklahoma and other Southwestern states
Around mile 22-23, a spectator used a water hose on consenting runners to cool off!
Highlight of the race: a couple got married the day before and ran the marathon together! This is very sweet and if I get married, I'll definitely do this!
There was zero corral control. Even though we are assigned a corral to start, no one paid attention, so people started wherever they felt like it. We all started at the same time, so the race started off very crowded.
Pacers? No
Fireworks in the beginning, so tons of people stopped and took out their phones
The Honolulu Marathon is known for not having a time limit, so tons of people walk, use strollers, have kids on the course. This course isn’t good if you want to PR
No challenge options (technically there’s an option to run 1 mile the day before).
If you don't like crowds of people, then this marathon isn't for you. I decided to run this race because it was the 50th anniversay and it lined up with my running schedule. I feel like no matter what marathon I would've picked in Hawaii, it would've been ridiculously HOT!
Race Website: Honolulu Marathon | 26.2 miles in Paradise | December 10, 2023 : Honolulu Marathon