Running the Honolulu Marathon

3.5 years ago I ran my first marathon. It was hard. I overtrained and ended up with weird issues and a banged up knee from running it. However, I ran it with my sister and had a fantastic time with her. I remember for the first 10 miles my feet were numb. I think we walked the entirety of mile 23. I was glad to have finished, but pretty sure I wouldn't do another marathon.

Earlier this year, I ran my first ultramarathon. It was gorgeous and an adventure as much as a run. I loved every minute of it! The scenery was unparalleled, the people around me were friendly and awesome. My knees were shot by the end, but I don't regret a minute of it.

Because the Honolulu Marathon is iconic and local. I chose to run it. It's the marathon portion of the original Ironman race. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Also, they have a killer locals rate and I'm a frugal girl. ANYWAY... I changed the way I trained for this race. I started training around two months beforehand rather than the four I had trained before. Instead of running a half marathon or more every weekend for two months like I did for Seattle, I worked my way up from 3 miles, adding two per weekend and planned a half marathon the month before. I never ran more than 15 miles and did not hit a wall. Oh, and before you ask, yes I took screen shots of the race photos so they still have watermarks. At $37 per photo, I'm cool with crappy Paint jpgs.

The Honolulu Marathon begins in front of Ala Moana Park at 5 AM. I can't even call that "bright and early". It was pitch black out. We woke up at 330 and walked the two miles to the start line. See? Local. Easy. I love easy logistics. We joined about 20,000 other runners standing and stretching in the middle of Ala Moana Boulevard. The countdown happened and the first runners were off! We were in the middle somewhere and it took another 8-9 minutes before we reached the start line. During that time, a fireworks display lit up the night, crashing overhead and making me excited for the run to come. I mean, I vaguely felt bad for the people living next to the park. I've been known to lose my mind over loud noises when I am trying to sleep. Sorry fancy condo people!

The fireworks were a great start to the race, but it didn't get boring after that. We ran through downtown Honolulu, dodging slower runners and walkers who had started with the early groups. My calves were tight and not into the early morning run. I started an audio book and lost myself in a story of champions. Soon, I found myself running through City Lights on King Street. There was a giant Santa, shirtless, hands up in shakas (or hangloose signs for all you haoles). Aloha to you too, sir! Palm trees wrapped in lights lined the streets. Pretty cool!


Soon I was climbing Diamond Head while the sun rose around me. It was absolutely beautiful! There were so many places I wanted to take pictures. Photo taking while running leads to blurry pictures of nothing though. So I only got a few. The lens may have been a little sweaty, my bad.

Before I knew it, I was at 10 miles. I settled into a run walk routine to keep my body focused. Run four minutes, walk a minute. Run four minutes, ooh the mile marker is just ahead, keep running until the mile marker, walk a minute. My book was captivating. All around me were runners of all ages, shapes and sizes, people dressed in costumes, and others with matching running atire. Among my favorites were two young men with grass skirts and coconut bras, A girl dressed as Sailor Moon (complete with bright yellow wig!), a middle-aged woman in a traditional Japanese dress running barefoot, and several Japanese couples in wedding attire.

Time seemed to melt away and I found muself in Hawaii Kai at the turnaround. I was on the home stretch. There were so many amazing spectators in Hawaii Kai with chopped up bananas, orange wedges, grapes, pretzels, candy, etc. that they were offering to tired runners. I was beyond impressed with the encouragement, generosity, and enthusiasm. It really does mean the world when someone is out there telling you that you're doing great. I ate a 2" banana section, one grape, and an orange slice. That was my nutrition for the whole race. I like to run fasted. So I hadn't eaten that morning. I guess I had a few small cups of Gatorade along the way.

My book ran out as I was beginning to tire around mile 21. My strategy the whole time was not to think "one mile down", but to think "only 25 miles left". So, at that point it was "just over five miles to go, no big deal. We can do this!" I switched to one of my super perky dance music playlists. I'd make sure I ran to songs with the perfect run cadence. I'd walk when my body wasn't feeling it. I didn't let myself drag though. I always found a point to walk to and started running again as soon as I reached it. In the meantime, here's Mike with his tongue out likely because he stepped on a small rock.

I crested Diamond Head on the way back and forced myself to run the entire downhill. I was exhausted at this point. I'd been running for about four and a half hours. I had some long blinks that indicated my body was over it. The photo below sums it up. Can't you just feel the aloha?

I dashed down the hill, walked a few moments, and ran again. On the final flat stretch, I forced my tired legs to get me to a particular telephone pole. I could then walk for three poles before running to that bus that was blocking the intersection two or three blocks ahead. When I got to the walk point, I realized that wasn't a bus! It was the finish! I picked up the pace and ran the rest of the way through.

This was the first race I've done where no one I knew was waiting for me at the finish line. Usually Mike either runs with me or meets me at the end. This time, he hurt his leg a week prior and ended up walk-jogging the whole marathon, barefoot because he's a crazy man. The marathon committee provided showers at the end, which was unbelievable! I picked up my finisher shirt, sat on the ground and stretched for a few minutes. Oh, and when I say "sat" I clearly mean sprawled on the ground grinning like a maniac.


It probably took me an hour on my wobbly legs to make the 2.2 miles home. I sat down a bunch of times and finally made it to a Biki (bike share) station to rent a bike for the remaining 1.5 miles home. I had time to shower and relax for a minute before heading back to the finish line to cheer Mike. It was fun to watch the finishers. There were a handful of elderly runners, a man in a hand-pedaled recumbant bike, and a bunch of high school boys supporting an injured comerade across the finish line. So inspiring!!

Of course, I looked down at the tracker right as he ran past, so I only took a picture of his back. I ran to catch up, which actually felt less bad than I would've thought. I ran the race in 4:42:32 which was about 35 minutes faster than my previous race. I'm not injured. All in all, I feel really successful and proud of myself. Mike finished in 7:41 on a hurt leg without shoes. He's pretty cool.

Hiking the Stairway to Heaven

There are two ways to hike the illegal Stairway to Heaven. The first is straight up the stairs, all 3922 of them. This one is complicated to say the least. Because there is no legal access to the base of the stairs, hikers tresspass on private and government land, usually super early in the morning. While this might not be that big of a deal in some situations, the private land happens to be a neighborhood. People apparently can't be civil. They talk loudly in the night, throw their garbage wherever, and generally act like jerks. Therefore, access remains illegal. Good job, folks. Most people who hike the Stairs take a winding route through bamboo to avoid the guard at the base. Oh yeah, if the police bust you, it's $1000. Ouch!

Despite all the craziness surrounding this hike, there is an even more adventurous way to go, and it's legal. Warning: it's been four days and my legs are still sore. Moanalua Valley offers a couple of paths to the top. We took the Kaulana'ahane Trail. It's about 10.5 miles round trip. The first three miles are a nice wide road that crosses the stream multiple times. Elevation gain is minimal. Don't worry though, this hike doesn't disappoint. The next two miles are a brutal 3000' of elevation gain.


The trail wound among trees up a ridge until it turned into a vertical muddy trough with ropes tied to help with the precarious edges. Frequent stops were necessary and encouraged because this valley and the views in EVERY direction are absolutely stunning. It's lush and green with the rising sun and clouds streaming over the saddle from the Windward side. We started the hike at 630 in the morning. This meant we only passed one trio on the way up.





The steep climb peaked in the clouds on a very windy saddle ridge about a foot wide. It was delicate work avoiding being blown off the ridge or tripping on a root. Finally we reached a fork. The right path led to the other route: Moanalua Middle Ridge Trail. The left path took us to the top of the Stairs. Another bunch of scrambling along a ridge with poor trail quality and we were there. The big radio tower at the top came into sight among the clouds.

The clouds covered the views of Kaneohe and Kailua. So we ate our snacks and walked down the stairs a bit. Luckily, the winds opened the view for us. Even all socked in, it's an awesome place to be. We went back the way we came in because I'm a rule follower (ish) and don't want a big ticket. The hike down was as perilous as the way up, except add a bit of rain. It was absolutely beautiful in every direction. With the sun all the way up, everything looked just a bit different.

Distance: 10.5 miles
Rating 5/5
Difficulty 5/5
Worth it 100%

H3 Triathlon

Last month I completed my second triathlon this year! Maybe that's nothing for seasoned triathletes, but for a girl with the exercise routine focus of a gnat, it's pretty great. Usually I want to do EVERYTHING. I love trying new things: CrossFit, aerial rope, rock climbing, hiking, running, Olympic weightlifting, Biking Body Guide (BBG), triathlon, etc. I like it all. I want to do it all. Unfortunately there are two little problems with that. First, I still have to go to work to pay the bills. I can't just play all the time. Boo. Second, my body won't stand up to doing everything all the time. So, right now, I'm enjoying triathlon.

Anyway, the H3 Triathlon: Race to the Base is a one way race that starts with a 1500m swim at Ala Moana Park, which is suuuuuuper flat and lovely. Next participants hop on their bikes for a 26 mile ride up and over the H3 interstate to Kaneohe. Once complete, shoes are swapped for a 10K run on Kaneohe Marine Corps Base. So, 33 miles(ish), no big deal.

The swim went so well! I felt good and was a little faster than normal. Hooray! I was swimming next to a friend and lost her at the halfway point, so I spent the whole time going back trying to find her and trying to pass the sprint length swimmers. Turns out, she was right behind me. Sneaky. I love this picture coming out of the water, I look like I know what I'm doing.

Mike, being the gem he is, waited for me (Men started the race 5 mins early). We hopped on our bikes and rode together most of the way. He went ahead part way to the top and waited. At the top, we stopped and took pictures, had some water and a little snack. Then we went through the tunnel which was SUPER windy, but really cool! On the other side, the wind still blasted us, but the views are amazing! We stopped several times for pictures before continuing down to the base.

The run was pretty much pure misery. I think I mentioned in the last one that I do not enjoy the transition from biking to running. I feel weird, like my legs don't work. Two miles of flat and beautiful were just as hard as the second two miles of up and over hills. The last two miles felt easier because we were back to flat. Mike stayed with me the whole time, chatting away to keep my mind off of my cramping legs. He really is the greatest. This picture reminded me that I run like a T-Rex.

We crossed the finish line together; Mike with a big smile, me looking miserable as usual. Ugh, my pain face is impressively bad. Haha! Once again, I finished right in the middle of my age group. I feel really good about that.  

Swimming with Wild Dolphins at Makua Beach

Makua beach is a lovely crescent of golden sand framing unbelievably bright turquoise waters. The green Waianae Mountains add another dimension of color and ambiance. As the sun rises, people make their way to the water listening for squeaks and clicks. A large pod of spinner dolphins lives here, using the clear water to rest.

With a handful of friends, we swam way out into the ocean to listen for these small indicators. We saw graceful green sea turtles, vibrant reef fish, but nothing resembling the curved dorsal fins and bottle noses we sought. We swam back in. Two of our group were having equipment malfunctions.

When we arrived, people started heading out in force (all fifteen of them). Mike and I shrugged at each other and followed. After a few minutes, we started hearing the chatter of ocean mammals. Then they were suddenly right next to us! A pod of twelve including two babies swam and spun, exhilarated from a night of hunting. We followed for a while, but were just too slow to keep up. As I surfaced, I noticed they were coming around for a second pass. The group had actually combined with another pod. Beautiful silver spinner dolphins were everywhere! They gossiped and played paddy cake and did little flips in the air. It was the coolest thing! 

Once we lost the pod, we played in the ultra blue water and dove around looking at the fishes and coral. What a perfect morning!

Mahi Mahi Wreck Diving

 I honestly have no idea if anyone at all cares about my diving or Hawaii posts, but since this is my online journal, I'm going to write about them. Boom. If you're interested, enjoy. If not, I have lots of posts for landlubbers. :P

Occasionally my dive club takes a trip up north to Waianae on the west side of Oahu. I finally found a day we could go with them. We did two dives. The first was a wreck called the Mahi Mahi. It was originally just the Mahi, but a storm broke the hull in two. So people were super clever and modified the name. Jokers.  Anyway, it's a cool old US Navy vessel that was sunk on purpose as a reef since Oahu's natural reefs are toast.

As soon as we dropped the 100' to the deck, I saw two gorgeous eagle rays soaring around the wreck. I probably spent half my time watching them gracefully fly through the water. They're sooooo pretty!! Otherwise, I think checking out the rusty deck machinery being slowly overtaken by the sea is the best part of wreck diving. So cool!

The second dive was a reef called caverns with lots of fishies, swim throughs and some turtles.

Aiea Loop and a Plane Wreck

I've now run 'Aiea Loop Trail three times. It's somewhere between four and five miles long if you don't get lost (more on that later). The loop is in the foothills above Pearl Harbor. The trail goes up for about two miles with little peekaboo views of the ocean and Pearl Harbor from time to time. There are lots of nasty little roots to trip over. It makes for a great little adventure run, which may be slow, but is so more up my alley than road running. Bleh.

So the first time I ran the trail, Mike joined me. We completed the loop in about an hour. The second time, Joe joined me. We decided to check out a different overlook (worth it!) and ended up taking a back trail down to Camp Smith. There we did a few pullups at a cool park and used Google Maps to sort of get us back on course. Really this dumped us out at Smith Airfield which is a very cool open field with a really nice road, signs from ages past, and no people. From there we cut through the woods back to the trail and completed our loop. This ended up being closer to six and a half miles according to the running watch. 

I found out there was an old airplane wreck there. So Mike, Joe and I went back to explore it. As expected, the wreck is visible right off the side of the trail. We had gone right past it twice and not seen it. There was a big branch hanging into the trail with an arrow and the word airplane written on it. We walked down the side of ravine following a path of destruction. Here was part of a wing; there was the fuel bladder. Further down the landing gear was jammed under a fallen tree. Near the bottom we found the motor. Most of the pieces of the old plane had been scavenged, but it was fun to find what we did.

The hike back out was a weird scramble up the side of the ravine since we figured we had gone too far to turn around. We were all scratched, bug bitten, and covered in little bits of leaves, dirt, mud, whatever. It was a really fun adventure. Since Mike had missed the last run, Joe wanted to take him to Camp Smith and the airfield, so we completed the longer loop again.

Mokulua Plane Wreck

I love having visitors. My mom came to Oahu for the Labor Day weekend. We had a wonderful time hiking, kayaking, and just spending time together. Our kayaking adventure was something I have had on my list of Hawaii gems for six months. We rented a double and a single kayak. Mike took the single. We loaded our boats with fins, masks, and snorkels. I love the picture below. Mom is working hard and I'm hanging out. Good job, Mom!

We used GPS coordinates found on this blog and used Mike's triathlon watch to get us there. Mike found the wreck with far less trouble than I would have thought. Basically we looked for the dark reef and the landing strip at Bellows Air base. He jumped in and swam around until the watch told him we were there. Voila! While he was splashing around, Mom and I looked for sea turtles. She saw three. I only saw too. They poked their cute curious little heads out of the water to watch us, but swam away when we unloaded our fins.

The plane is a cool old P-47 thunderbolt that's been hanging out down there for the past 70 years. The engine of the plane failed right after takeoff from Bellows. The plane went down, pilot lived. Apparently in Hawaii, if you wreck your plane, you just leave it. We've been to three plane wrecks on Oahu now. I'll post on the other one soon. It seems the wreck was still visible above the water until the 70s when a storm pushed it out to see. Now it's wedged between sections of reef about 12 feet down. The tail is ripped off and lays to one side while the engine and propeller are further beyond it. The whole plane is in remarkably good condition for 70 years of harsh ocean water. We jumped in and did a whole bunch of swimming around. Mom even leaned over the edge to check it out. I paddled her over to the engine too.

After 20ish mins, we'd seen what there was to see and jumped back in. We took off toward the Mokes, a pair of beautiful islets off the coast of Lanikai. We landed on the bigger of the two (with about 50 other people...ewwww) and did a little walking around. The islands are bird sanctuaries and smell about how you'd expect. It's about two miles to paddle from Moku Nui, the larger of the Twin Islands, back to Kailua Beach Park. We totaled 4 miles round trip paddling. Go us! Our arms were noodles.

Honolulu Tinman Triathlon

A week and a half ago, Mike and I completed our first (mostly) Olympic triathlon. An Olympic tri is 1500m swim, 40K bike, and 10K run. Tinman has a shorty swim at only 750m. This turned out to be plenty. The race started at 5:45 AM in waves based on age and sex. Mike went at 5:55. My training partner Joe followed at 6:00. My group of ladies was the last and smallest group. Small but mighty!!! (too much? k sorry) About five years ago Mike and I ran an x-terra triathlon at Deception Pass in Washington. I trained hardest for the swim and was very unprepared for the thrashing mass of bodies that swimming with a group entails. This time, I was smarter. I trained with a buddy and learned to keep an eye on him to space myself. So, during the Tinman, I started all of the way to the outside of the group and stayed there the whole time. As the pack spread out and thinned, it was more comfortable. I survived!

I had practiced the bike ride several times. I tore out of the gate and made great time. There was one intersection that wasn't protected by a police officer and I was nearly hit by a car. Not optimal. Anyway, I averaged 18 mph moving pace over the 25 hilly miles. That's my fastest overall ride yet!

Transitioning to running was really hard for me. My legs didn't want to work and I felt like I was jumping up more than actually moving forward. Imagine how a toddler runs. That was me. Luckily I came out of the transition gate with Joe, who coached me and kept me moving down the road. After a couple of miles, I felt better and ran/walked the rest of the course. My heart rate was really high the whole time. As I approached what I thought was the finish line, I heard Mike cheering me on. Then someone on the side line yelled "Pass her!" to the runner behind me. Of course my first thought was "Aw HELL NO!". I took off at full sprint and realized the course kept going around 2 more corners. So I ran and ran and ran and crossed the finish just before him. We high fived and I tried not to die. This picture was taken 3 seconds after a whole series where I look like I just took a kick to the stomach. I like to pretend I ran across the finish line with such a big smile on my face.

I had a great time and I am really excited to run the H3 Triathlon in October.

Lost in Paradise: Climbing Crystal Canyon

When Mike and I first moved to Oahu, we learned there was one climbing crag by the sea at the Northwest tip of the island with pretty good climbing. So, of course, we went to scope it out. It had poured endlessly the day before and we were pretty sure the rock would be too slimy to do any real climbing. Mountain Project gave us directions to the trailhead "located .3 miles East of YMCA between two signs." The trail was .5 miles long. Cool, found it, doesn't look like much though... Hmmm...

The trail entered through a bunch of trash and into an area that looked more like a high school kid pot hangout than a trail to a well used crag. We hiked along what was maybe an animal trail for a ways and finally arrived at a real trail. It forked shortly after. We walked one side of the trail, which clearly went out to the road. So we tried the other side. It went up the canyon. Thinking that looked pretty promising we followed the trail in until we hit a 15' wall of vines/roots with a rope hanging down. Obviously, we had to go up to continue. Challenge accepted!

From there, we ascended canyons walls using wet, muddy ropes, navigated around a big pool using chains bolted to the wall, up what obviously was a waterfall when it rains and finally up the side of the canyon to what could be a climbing wall. It was not the right climbing wall, more a project long abandoned. A few bolts, an old bucket, and some tools stashed under an overhang, were abandoned. The views of the North Shore and Mokuleia Beach were spectacular! Every time we were about to give up and backtracked, we found another rope or chain leading up.

Finally we ran out of up minus one very unstable looking cable. Command decision was to head back down. We back tracked down along the muddy ropes and vertical root wall back to our original point of indecision. We picked the other trail thinking it would be something real and ended up walking through the trees on unbalance lava rocks until we came to a really nicely maintained trail with a big sign that read "H4 Tsunami Escape Route". We used that to walk out through the YMCA and back to the car. Three hours after we started, we were mud splattered, scraped, and grinning ear to ear. It was a great little adventure!

Consequently, we drove .3 miles WEST of the YMCA, and there was a very nice, well-used trail complete with a note about stolen climbing shoes. Plenty of adventure for later. A Google search tells me the canyon is called Crystal Canyon. There isn't much on it, a local treasure not many have frequented. I loved it!