Mal's Experiences : Class of 2021 and a Marathon

December was definitely one of the craziest, busiest, happiest times! My month was filled with some great experiences. To start off the month Gavin and I graduated together! Leading up to our graduation we were slammed with homework. And I mean slammed. I hardly saw Gavin because we were both so busy grinding. And on top of that both our families came out which made every day a lot busier.

I sat in library one night for a couple of hours one night as Gavin some how pulled of re writing his 40 page paper.... I don't know how he did but he did! He wrote it on our favorite TV show This is Us.

Leading up to graduation was so exciting. I feel like I finally understood what people meant when they said they had "seniorities." For some reason I just couldn't focus or even get myself to car bout my grades or anything. All I wanted was freedom and I was so close.

A couple of days before graduation Sarah and Anna took my pictures in front of the school. I was glad I did this because on graduation day we were too busy to take some time to take pictures. Also there were way to many people and cars. I did mine on a Sunday afternoon so campus was empty! The only thing was that I had Christmas décor in the background because campus already started setting up the lights and nativity scene.

I loved my time at BYU Hawaii. I only did 1 and half semesters of in person classes on campus because of covid. But I think I preferred online school. With school online I was able to travel to several different outer islands, visit other countries, and have the best dating experience of all time with Gavin! We would party during the day with hikes and beaches and then grind on the homework at night. I will always love my time in Laie. It really is such a special place. I loved having the temple so close to where I lived. Gavin and I would always ride his motorcycle past the temple and just look at it shinning. We loved our temple detours. I also loved the mountains behind the school and PCC. I loved the random fireworks that would go off in Hauula and Laie. So many things I loved about BYU Hawaii. I am so grateful for the chance I had to attended. Once a Sea Sider always a Sea Sider.

Graduation day was amazing! I seriously can't believe I have my bachelors degree.. I remember graduating from high school and not knowing what the future had for me. College went by so fast.. So glad that I am done. I am ready for the next stage. But for graduation. I made my own dress in my sewing class. I have always wanted to learn to sew and knew if I didn't take the class my last semester then it wasn't going to happen for awhile. Turns out I loved my sewing class. I went during all the extra sewing days so that I could sew two dresses and a tie for Gavin. For my final we had to model what ever it was choose to sew down a red carpet. It was a very awkward final... I felt like the girls in the class were big introverts and nobody seemed confident up there. I was a little bit nervous as well so I told Gavin to model his tie with me. We sure had a blast walking up and down the red carpet. Loana and Gus were our friends that we brought to support us.

The day my parents were literally only here for like 4 days. They were staying at the Marriott in Laie. They made it just in time for graduation. Callie and Graham weren't vaccinated so they had to go get a covid test every day.. when will this end?

On the day of Graduation all the graduates met in the ballroom for line up. It was so fun seeing all my fellow graduates. BYU Hawaii is so strict on their dress code that they had someone by the door with a pair of scissors snipping off the guys hair that went over their ears and collar. Gavin's was defiantly over his collar and ear but I did not want him to have to cut it to walk across the stage. I was nervous they were going to snip his as we were walking in, But we happened to walk in right behind Lima whos hair was also too long. They guy at the door was concerned about it he didn't even see Gavin and I walk by. Thankfully Gavin was able to keep his look!

As we were walking from the ballroom to the CAC it started raining and everyone was trying to hide under the coconut trees. It was hilarious. We all marched in and were seated. The graduation speeches themselves weren't that amazing. In fact I don't even think I remembered what was said. But when it was time to walk across the stage Gavin was first! We couldn't walk together because we weren't married yet so I clapped and cheered from my section. We had to wear a mask which was also too much. As I walked across the stage I took mine off and waved. I'm not sure why I waved I think it was just my first instinct or something. But non the less we graduated!

They excused the graduates first and we didn't really have a meeting place for when it was over. Thankfully Sam knowing all about Hawaii graduations told us all to find him. We asked how? And he said you'll know and see. I had no idea what that meant. But sure enough when we walked outside I saw Sam holding a flag pole with a HUGE picture of myself on it. I was seriously laughing so hard. That is the typical Hawaiian graduation thing to do. I understand why though because we all met up very easily. It was raining a bit but that didn't stop the New Zealand chapter from doing the Haka or the festivities. People were having full on BBQs. The lei giving was absolutely insane. I couldn't even see some peoples heads because of how many leis they had. Some had rubber ducks around their waist. I felt bad because I didn't even get a Lei for Gavin.. None the less we took tons of pictures outside with everyone. We had My parents, Gavin's parents, Jakob, Loana, Bob, Mya, Gus, Graham, Callie, Sam, Jansen, Kaiwi, Lori, Hank, Sarah, and Anna, It was a party!

To celebrate Gavin went and jumped off the point in his graduation gown and then we all went to Tedds bakery for lunch. We were so tired after I think for the adrenaline that we took a nap at the hotel.

That night we went for a paint night at my friend Jojo's house on the point. We painted some pretty bugs with presents and surf boards on the top. It was a fun vibe! That night for dinner my family went out to Pounders Restaurant for dinner it was yummy.

The next morning we drove around the island the long way to so we could show both our parents where the engagement happened. This wat their first time at spitting cave. There is a cliff jump over there and I think it's 55 footer. Gavin did it and I was freaking out like usual. But he is a pro and survived. Once he got out 2 other guys came to jump. We were going to leave but had to see the end result. They were warming up before their jump doing all sorts of stretches. They were doing lunges, back stretches, soldier kicks, and squates it was hilarious. I kid you not they were doing this for 30 minutes. Finally one of them jumped off and did this fancy dive and before landing smoothly in the water. It was well worth the wait. You bet your bottom we were chee hooing and clapping for them.

The next day Gavin and I were running the Honolulu marathon. We spent all semester training and it was not easy. Because of our schedules we sometimes had to run at 10:30 pm to get our long runs in. Our long runs were some of the hardest days of training. Leading up the marathon three weeks before we ran 20 miles.... I have to say that training for a marathon is harder than actually running the marathon. If you train right you should feel good and strong during the marathon. I mean that's why you train. And our training days were brutal. We would be so tried and exhausted but some how managed to tie our laces and run. This became Gavin and I's thing for the past year. Every morning we would meet at Foodland at 5:55 am to run. Days that required more than a 10 mile had to be moved to the evening We probably ran the bike path over a thousand times this year. One of my favorite things about training and running a marathon is the journey. It's so fun to look back and see everything we did. Gavin and had some pretty great conversations while running and it sorta became our special time together. We loved it.

Anyways, we carb loaded the night before at Cheesecake factory with both of our families. Before hitting the sack as my dad would say.

The next morning my dad was the real MVP. He got up to drive me the start line at 4 am.. Bless his heart.. I found Gavin at the start line. I think there were around 16,000 people that ran. The start line was probably a mile long. We shoved some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our mouth with some ibuprofen before the gun went off. It was dark as we ran through the streets of Honolulu. They had fireworks going off as we ran through the city. Running at night is magical. For some reason everything feels less long and painful. We were feeling pretty good and I was so glad that Gavin was by my side. We decided that when we started the marathon no matter what we were going to run together and finish together. And we kept true to this. We ran by each other the whole time. I loved all the support of those we came to cheered us on. One old guy sat on his camp chair on his drive way with a huge speaker next to him. The speaker had a pre recorded audience applauding. We were sure laughing. Another lady stood in the suicide lane on the main road we ran down with pom poms. She was doing her own moves and dancing. I'm pretty sure she is the kind of person that cheers people on just to give herself a reason to put on her cheerleading out fit and dance with her pom poms. She was also our favorite lady.

Laurie and Hank were at mile 16 where it was deathly hot. They had a cooler with ice-cold water for us. It was heavenly. During the race because of covid they didn't have cups of water. Instead they just had water football style. As you run by you put your mouth under the tubes of water. Every couple miles we did this. There was also a table that had some of the gooey running energy shots. I personally hadn't ever had one before but knew that if I didn't eat I would suffer. So we gulped the thick liquid down to keep us going. And I swear that stuff is magic that combined with the ibuprofen we were cruising. I had my apple watch with data on it which was awesome. I was able to text talk and tell my family updates. I didn't really start feeling pain or fatigue till mile 24 and by that point I was so pumped we were almost there we had energy to keep running.

I am so glad I had Gavin to run with I can't believe we ran the whole thing with out stopping. As we cam across the finish line I could feel my lungs giving up. I could hear my family especially Mya yelling our our names telling us we could do it. And we did it! I think I had some tears in my eyes when we finished. I was just so grateful that I was yet able to run another marathon. Running through the finish line felt like the end of a journey. Gavin wasn't really coming back to Laie because of his job so it was like the end of an era. So many good times. When we finished the marathon I think my body was so tried. I started throwing up and what not. But ya know what I couldn't complain because I did it!