Hawaii 2023 Vacation Trip

Our summer 2023 family trip to northern Michigan and Minnesota abruptly fell apart due to conflicts with dates and scheduling.  It gets harder to get together, especially now with Mark working full-time in Georgia and Matthew in a full time grad school program in California.  When I was working on my MBA and working full-time, I was the one that our vacation schedule primarily revolved around, but now being retired, that has changed.  Such is life. 

Fortunately, timing worked out for a December vacation.  Matthew's semester was ending and he was signing up for the Honolulu Marathon, and we were able to plan around that.  It was an easy sell for Mark, for whom Hawaii has always been a vacation choice for him and he asks, "Why do we always go on vacations to cold places?!"  (Iceland, Alaska, Maine, Nova Scotia, Iceland again, Scottish highlands, etc.)

So Hawaii it is!  Not the cheapest vacation destination,
but prices were a little less in the off-season between Thanksgiving
and Christmas.

Fri Dec 8:

Friday would be a LONG travel day.  Left our house at 7am, reluctantly bade au revoir to Brady,
knowing he would be in good hands with my Mom, went to TF Green Airport and crisscrossed
the nation, arriving at our hotel in Waikiki at 1am Saturday local time (6am EST).  These flights
were no where near as long as when I frequently traveled to eastern Asia for business, but my memory
is short.  On the positive side, the outbound flights for Jana and me were free (points).

Tried to make the most of each leg of the trip.
Starting at TF Green, where the airport is very convenient
and the bathrooms are among the cleanest I've even seen in the
many airports I've been in domestically and overseas.

Lunch at CLT

After a nice sushi lunch in Charlotte, I was glad to have plenty
of leg room in an aisle row on the next segment to Seattle.

Watched the movie "Race" about Jesse Owen's
successes, bigotry in America, and the '36
Olympics in Nazi Germany.  Great film. 
---
I didn't get why Owens was using a trowel to dig holes in the
track at the starting line until I read later that in 1936 all tracks
were made out of cinders and there were no starting
blocks.
---
Source attribution:
By http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/635727-poster-for-jesse-owens-biopic-race-debuts#/slide/1, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48645609

Flew Alaska Airlines on the final segment to Honolulu, and I alternated cat-napping and just being restless.  By the time we landed Honolulu, I was pretty grumpy and just wanted to get an Uber to the hotel and lay down and sleep.

Saturday Dec 9:

Surprised myself and actually got about six hours of decent sleep.  Got up and planned out my run.  I really wanted to run around Diamond Head and get a feel for the only hill we'd be running on tomorrow's marathon course, but that would amount to six miles and I didn't want to run more than four.

Instead, I ran down to the finish line at Kapiʻolani Park.  The
park roads were closed for the finish line setup, and there were
so many runners out there practicing.  It was a warm 72°F, but my
run was short and slow, so I managed.  I'm worried about tomorrow.

Nice water views!

Beach right at the park.  Maybe I should jump
in the ocean there post race tomorrow?

Running on a pier near the beach, I almost stepped on a
few of these guys.

Had breakfast several mornings at Café Waikiki across the street
from our hotel.  Lox and bagels, açaí bowls, and iced lattes
were great!

Sunset at Waikiki Beach.  Mark arrived this evening, and
wanted to check out the beach.

Sunday Dec 10:

Honolulu Marathon day.  See full race write-up here.

Not my best marathon performance by any means,
but glad I did it and glad it's done!

My dinner tonight at a Japanese restaurant.
Look at how much wasabi they gave me!
Didn't care for the dinner overall.

Festive Christmas lighting in Waikiki.
Still doesn't compare to Christmas
displays in a colder climate, like New
England, but at least the lights and decorations
were well done, unlike the very tacky Christmas
displays I've seen in Florida with blow-up palm trees, etc.

Monday Dec 11:

We had loosely planned on activities as a family yesterday, but the marathon just wiped me out, more than usual and certainly much more than anticipated.  I believe that had to do with the effects from the heat and humidity.

As today would be our last day in Oahu, this was our only chance to get out and sightsee and hike before leaving the island.  First up was a visit to Pearl Harbor, long on my bucket list.  At the cost of $1 per person, I secured tickets months in advance for the four of us to visit the USS Arizona.

From the ferry that takes you out to the USS Arizona.
The Arizona lies underneath this white domed structure for
visitors to walk through.  You can see rusted parts of the ship,
which itself is a memorial with hundred of entombed soldiers
from that fateful day that will live in infamy:
December 7, 1941

Names of all the military entombed here.  The vast majority
died that day; however, this also includes some survivors from
that day that were subsequently entombed by their choice
at the end of their natural lives.

The final activity on Oahu was Mark's choice, a hike up a pretty steep Koko Head:

Koko Head:
remains of railway tracks and trestles
built by the US Military in the 1940s and used
to transport troops and equipment to the
top, where radar sites were active back then.

Nice views over the Pacific Ocean from the top.

Flew from Honolulu (island of Oahu) to
Kona (island of Hawaii)

Tuesday Dec 12:

New island for me.  Another action packed day, starting off with a 93 mile drive from our condo to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the opposite side of the island from where we were staying.

Stopped at Hawaiian Coffee to fuel on way to the park.
Nice little coffee shop!

Despite them being out of both coconut milk and
pickled carrots, we opted to stay and get food there anyway.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:
today's hike was on the Kīlauea Iki and Crater Rim trails,
a roughly 4-mile loop in total.

Kīlauea Iki erupted for 36 days in 1959 (above).
Much of what we would be hiking on today was over
lava rocks and a solidified lava lake from that time.
(National Park Service photo - I wasn't born in 1959!)

First we entered the Thurston Lava Tube

 This is a 500-year-old lava cave located at an altitude of 3,900 feet
on Kīlauea Crater in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
Named for its discoverer, Lorrin Thurston, in 1913.

Here Matthew and I are on the floor of the lava lake,
December 2023.

Here is that same lava lake floor, 64 years earlier,
in December 1959.
(National Park Service photo)

At the opposite end of Kīlauea Crater 

Matthew peering into a fissure from where
lava once exploded upwards

Interesting flora on the lava lake floor

Jana climbing out of the crater,
as the trail climbs over lava rocks here.  Surreal.

After Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, it was off to lunch and a drive back to Kona, where we dropped Mark off for his two scuba dives, one in the afternoon, and one nighttime manta ray dive, where he got bitten on the head by a seal!  Matthew and I went on a nighttime manta ray snorkeling tour, where we went out on a boat for about 30 minutes and then got in the water, where we saw at least five dozen manta rays.  The rules were we couldn't touch the manta rays, but one did come up and touch me!

Manta ray that Mark filmed on his dive.
The ones we saw were up to 16' in total span!
Gentle giants.

Wednesday Dec 13:

Got up early.  Well, early for a vacation, at about 6am.  There isn't much open at that hour on the big island, but we found a neat coffee shop (yes, that's a recurring theme; I could have worse "addictions").  It was close to our condo where Matthew and I fueled up before our big hike.

We drove for about 1.5 hours, from our condo at sea level, to the Mauna Kea Visitor Center, at 9,200' elevation.  We followed the recommended advice of waiting there for 1/2 hour before starting our climb.  We had to fill out a form before departing and speak with a ranger about our hike preparedness (e.g., did we carry enough water and food, prepared for altitude change, cold weather, etc), and after he was satisfied and gave us an overview of what to expect on the hike as well as recommending that we not go to the sacred summit (more on that later), we were on our way at about 8:45am.

Starting off from the Visitors Center
2 other hikers starting their hike

Equipment and supplies:  In my backpack, I carried a huge bag of trail mix, a Clif bar, two granola bars, three 16 oz Body Armor sports drinks with electrolytes, and a liter of ice water.  I wore shorts, a long-sleeve tech shirt, Solomon trail shoes, and a tech hat, but in my backpack I also carried a pair of running pants, a 66°North tech quarter-zip from Iceland, a thick hat, and gloves.

It was 46℉ at the start of our hike, and the temperature would drop into the 30s as we ascended.  After a very short distance on the auto road, the Humu'ula Trail branches to the left, and continues upward for about 5 miles before rejoining the auto road.  The entire hike was exposed, and being a sunny day, I was glad (thanks to Jana really) that I had put sunscreen on my neck and face.  I did fine on the first mile, but by the second mile, I needed the first of several 5-minute breaks to get some food and take a break from feeling a little light-headed.  

Start of the trail, turning off the road

Looking back down at the visitors center,
with neat cloud formations beyond

This is about 1 mile in.  There is still vegetation here,
including grasses and scrub bushes

Just over 2 miles in.  Are we on Mars now?  Elevation just over 11,000'. 
No more vegetation, and a dusty barren landscape. 
The summit is still not in sight.  But on a positive note,
the elevation levels out a bit here and the steepest mile
(Mile 2, 1,100' gain) is now behind us.

We will see less than 10 hikers total all day.  We pass one woman hiking alone (can't recommend that), but all the rest of the groups are comprised of two or three.  About three miles in, we come upon a couple who is taking a break.  I'm asked a seemingly odd question of how I like the laces (lock-lace style) on my Solomon trail shoes.  (I respond in truth that I hate them, as I they don't lock down tight enough the way traditional laces do.)

At about 5 miles in, we can see the lower observatories near the summit
of Mauna Kea.  It looks close, but it will take us nearly an hour
to get to the actual summit.

Near the summit, we reconnect with the road,
but still have a mile to go.  There are very, very few
vehicles here.

At 13,796'.  There are signs discouraging people from going
to the actual summit (13,803') as can be seen over my right
shoulder above.  The controversy is that some native Hawaiians
believe the actual summit to be sacred.  We did hike to the
summit, but we adhered to requests for treating the summit with respect,
including not taking photos of the ceremonial site or lingering at the summit. 

Snowfields just below the summit.  SNOW!!!  Slippery, but very exciting!
I haven't seen snow in RI this season, but I did in Hawaii!

And now the long, long, hike down.
We opted to take the road down, as we were tired and thought
it'd be easier and quicker.  But it was a long 8 miles
back to the Visitors Center.

We finally made it back to the Visitors Center, where a ranger asked us a few questions and then had us retrieve and sign the form we filled out before starting our hike.  We had left our condo at sea level at 6:45am, driven 55 miles to the Visitors Center at 9,200', started the 16-mile hike at 8:45am, and arrived back at about 5pm, with just over an hour's drive back to the condo to meet up with Jana and Mark to get dinner.  A long, long day!  But successful and rewarding.

Thursday Dec 14:

After 3 nights on the island of Oahu and then 3 nights
on the island of Hawaii (a/k/a "The Big Island"),
we flew to Kahului on our final island visit:  Maui

We would only be staying one night in Maui, largely due to the prices.  Hotel rooms seemed to start around $650/night, and we got one of the cheaper condos on Airbnb at about $400/night.  That's pretty much double what we paid on the Big Island.  Not sure if that's normal or temporary due to any reduced lodging capacity after the Lahaina fires. 

This is "inside" the Kona airport, after passing through security!

Walking to board our airplane.  There are no jetways at the
Kona airport!

First stop after landing in Maui and getting
rental car was a coffee shop for breakfast.
I promise I did not flush any kittens down
the toilet.  Hopefully no hopes and dreams either.

After breakfast, it was time to drive to our prime destination on Maui:  Haleakalā National Park.  Despite being only a 50 mile drive, it took us about 2 hours to drive there.  You'll get a sense why in some of the photos below:

This is the main "highway"

Picturesque, but in my mind I'm worried about what happens
if a car comes around the corner

And then the inevitable happens!  Now what?
(I was driving, Jana taking the pics)
In this case, the car in pic backed up quite a ways until
he found a turnout place to pull over and let me pass.

Along the way, we saw the after-effects of several horrific
accidents, just left on the side of the road.

Along the way some of the water views were just stunning, including this one where we pulled over:

Out final intermediary stop was at the grave of Charles Lindbergh.  Yes, the famed aviator of Spirit of St Louis who became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1927.

At his request, in 1974, Lindbergh was buried on the beautiful
grounds of this small and simple church in a 
very remote area not that easy to get to
(Palapala Ho'omau Church, built in 1864)

Lindbergh's self-selected final resting place, a simple
grave among lava rocks under a plum tree

I'm personally not much of a cat fan,
but as we pulled up, this friendly cat
came out of the church and purred

And about 1pm, we finally made it to our destination!

Coconut tree!

Gorgeous ocean views near the start of our 5-mile hike

Just another amazing view along our hike!

Check out this tree!

You can take the boys out of the jungle,
but you can't take the jungle out of the boys.

Pretty cool hiking through a huge bamboo forest!

Our final attraction on today's hike:
Waimoku Falls, cascading 400' down

Another adventure packed day on our final full day in Hawaii.  After our two hour drive back and dinner, I was pretty wiped out.

Friday Dec 15:

Got out early for a final Hawaiian run, a 6-miler in Kīhei:

Certainly a picturesque run!

Interesting Christmas display.  They even have cotton-like
fake snow in front of the palms!

Breakfast at Kīhei Caffe.  Might as well try something Hawaiian:
pancakes with coconut and pineapple, and an iced ube latte.
(latte made from espresso, ube (purple yam) extract,
almond milk)

And our final stop before heading to the airport:  Maluaka Beach
This is one of the few times we went to the beach, and also despite each
accommodation have a swimming pool, I don't think any of us ever
made it to one.  What?
---
As Chris Garvin once said (and I'm paraphrasing), it looks like
Walker vacations are not for relaxing.  No, they're not!  I can nap on the couch
back home.  They're for packing in as much adventure as you can.

Maluaka Beach

Arriving at Kahului Airport

Goodbye, Hawaii.  6 hour flight to LAX.

On the flight from Hawaii, I finally got to watch this WWI 
movie about two British soldiers on the front lines in France.
Very good movie!
---
Attribution:  By Universal Studios, DreamWorks Pictures, and/or the graphic artist(s) - http://www.impawards.com/2019/nineteen_seventeen_ver3.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63969796

The four of us flew to Los Angeles, where Mark changed planes to fly back to Atlanta, and the three of stayed overnight at a hotel just outside the airport.

Saturday Dec 16:

Spent one day in southern California before taking an overnight flight back home.

Neat flowers at our hotel

Took us about two hours to go two miles, between the hotel
shuttle to LAX and on rental car shuttle, all jammed with
people and luggage.

Rented a car and drove north to 
Camarillo (Uber is $85 each way;
rental car $35 for the day); I have to 
credit Matthew with this research.
---
This is outside Matthew's apartment;
he and I went for a run while Jana cleaned
his apartment.  I would say she got the short
end of the stick, except that it was hot, almost
80°F on the run

Clearly the highlight of the day was
visiting Griffith Observatory (Los Angeles),
including a 2-mile nighttime hike up the
trails to the observatory

Nighttime views of LA

And then it was dropping off the rental car, and another long shuttle back to LAX.  Once we entered the airport grounds, the driver gave us two options:  1) depart here and walk about 8 minutes to get to our terminal, or 2) stay on the shuttle 40 minutes more with him for be driven there.  I'm glad he gave us that option; we had been on the shuttle long enough.

Sunday Dec 17:

We arrived with plenty of time to spare for our 12:53am JetBlue redeye flight to Logan.  Only to learn that the flight was delayed about one hour to 1:47am.   And then that became 2:26am, which came and gone as we sat in the otherwise empty airport terminal except for passengers and the cleaning crew vacuuming and steam cleaning carpets.  Each time the flight was delayed, I had to reschedule our Amtrak tickets, each time costing me more money.

Final leg delayed until the middle of the night.  Exhausted.

Finally about 3am we left LAX.  3am!  Traveled through the night, arrived Logan, took the train down to Kingston, where my Mom picked us up and we reunited with Brady, and finally got home close to 4pm.  Exhausted.

Matthew asleep in the short car ride
home.  Not sure what was Brady's excuse.
---
I would go on to sleep 13 hours straight that night!

---

Hawaii trip pros:

• Scenery:  Some pretty amazing natural views.
• Diversity of landscape:  From tropical beaches, to bamboo forests and waterfalls, to barren Mars-like landscapes, to lava fields, to snowy mountain summits, Hawaii has quite the natural diversity.
• Lots to do:  From hiking mountains and rainforests, to visiting beautiful beaches and national parks, to snorkeling amongst manta rays, many adventures await in the Aloha State.
• Safety and cleanliness:  Hawaii is in the top 10 states for safety (as are New England states), and has among the lowest gun ownership and lowest rates of violent crime in the US.
• Laid back:  Especially on the islands of Hawaii ("big island") and Maui, we never saw traffic, businesses opened later, and people just seemed more relaxed and easy going.
• Coffee shops:  Not that I would go to Hawaii specifically for coffee shops, of course, but we went to a number of them and they were all really good.

Hawaii trip cons:

• It's expensive!
• It's a long flight (or series of flights) away.
• Oahu (or at least Honolulu, especially Waikiki) is just too commercialized for me.
• It's hot.  We had a number of people, mostly our Uber drivers, tell of stories how they moved here from the mainland US because they couldn't stand the snow, the cold, etc.  I'm probably in the minority, but I like a change of seasons and generally cooler climates.
• There's a lot of cement here, which doesn't make it the greatest for running.  Unfortunately, that was true on all three islands we visited.

Trip highlight:  Hiking Mauna Kea.  Snow at the top was a bonus!

Trip lowlight:  The insane traffic and shuttle and flight delays at LAX.  (Of course, not really Hawaii related.)

And that's a wrap.  This was truly a great trip and fun family vacation, with many challenging and rewarding adventures.

Honolulu Marathon

 


Honolulu, HI

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Not sure what I was thinking signing up for a marathon in the heat at any time of year, let alone in December when I most certainly am not acclimated after running in 25°F weather in New England.  Almost zero training for the last month didn't help matters, but that was both unplanned and inevitable after broken rib.

Two weeks after the rib incident, doc gave me the all clear to run, and the marathon was already paid for at the tune of $240, so let's do it.

I think this pic is self-explanatory!
Picking up my bib the day before the big race.

Bought this nice tech hat at the expo

The marathon featured a 5am start in the dark, to try to limit the exposure to heat and sun, so this meant a very early wake-up and breakfast.  As I almost always do before a marathon, I laid out my clothes and supplies the night before and tried (but failed) to get a good night's sleep.

Everything laid out and ready to go.

Early morning prep:  I set the alarm for 3am (isn't that crazy?!), but ended up waking up every hour or so and was wide awake at 2:55am, so I just got up and turned off the alarm to save waking up Mark or Jana.  Had a breakfast of instant oatmeal, a yogurt parfait with granola and fruit, and an orange juice.  Left the hotel by 3:45am for the mile or so up to the hotel Matthew was staying in with his friend, then another mile to the start.

Dilly-dallying cost me dearly:  With half an hour to the start, I had to use the stall.  Again.  Ugh.  Happens frequently on races I'm nervous about.  TMI.  I wasn't nervous for any time goal at this race, but I was nervous for the heat and humidity, and with reason.  The starting temp was 74°F, with a humidity of 86%.  Ugh.

So many of my fellow runners had the same need to use the stall, and the line went VERY slowly.  Got out of there with ten minutes to spare.  Should be easy to get to the starting line now, which is almost in sight.  Nope.  Honolulu Marathon bills themselves as the 4th largest marathon in USA, after New York, Chicago, and Boston, and according to Hawaii News Now, there are 15,000 runners in today's marathon.  Hit a wall of people very quickly, and I'm a good 1/10 of a mile to the finish line.  Now what?  Fortunately, there is a fast looking kid from Korea next to me and he's very upset about being in the same situation.  At least I think that's what he's mumbling about, but I don't really know, because, well, I don't speak Korean.

He elbows and pushes his way through the dense crowd, so I just make sure to stick very close to him and ride his coattails.  I got up to within 100 meters of the start when I heard 30 seconds to start, so I just lift up one of the barricades blocking runners in, and push my way in.  A woman lets me know she thought that was rude, and told me to close the gate as she blocked any further runners from entering.  Should I have apologized?  Should I have closed the gate?  I did neither.

Race start:  5am.  The race started, synchronized to the start of a fireworks show.  It was really cool!  What was not cool was that it took me 1 minute 40 seconds to get to the start, and then I was behind runners where the majority were slower than me.  I know:  I own that.  But maybe it would be a nice for the 4th largest* USA marathon to have assigned corrals based on time?  (*4th largest may have been point in time as obviously number of runners fluctuates, but it's still one of the largest in USA)

Absolutely crowded with no room to move up at the start.  
(From Honolulu Marathon website)

Start of the 2023 Honolulu Marathon

The fireworks at start were really cool!

Anyway, the first half mile was plain ugly.  I did a lot of weaving, jumping over curbs to run in tall grass, and was so conscious of falling, as I was sliding in some of the dirt sections in the median and avoiding construction barrels and poles.  It's completely dark, remember?

By the end of the first mile, I longer had any issues passing people by just staying to the far left of the road.  But my breathing was pretty labored for just one mile into a marathon and running just over 7-minute pace.  I had originally thought sub-3 would be a nice goal.  But since this was never a goal marathon to begin with and I had little expectations given the heat, humidity, and interrupted training, just made the decision to run easy and not check my watch frequently.  My goal was sub-3, as mentioned, but does it really matter if I do end up running 2:59 (which I don't think I can do anymore) and beat myself up or run 3:30 and run relative easy and hopefully recover quickly?

Mile 1 to Kapiolani Park (10K):  This part of the run was through downtown and Waikiki sections of Honolulu, and past many buildings.  I was clearly passing many more people than were passing me here, but that was only due to me starting so far back AND people much faster than me wrongly being on or near the starting line.

The first 10K of the route was through busy downtown streets, and brought you to (and past)
the finish area in Kapiolani Park.

The best section of the course here was the City of Honolulu Christmas light display.  I was wrongly encouraged by having a number of miles here in the 6:50 range and remembered thinking maybe I will break 3 hours today anyway.  Only later did I realize that my splits were wrong, and it was due to GPS error, likely because of obstruction with tall buildings.

Blurred runners passing part of the
Christmas light display

Kapiolani Park (10K) to turnaround (17M):  At this point, the course splits and the 10K runners go right into the park, and the marathon runners continue ahead.  This was depressing to see the finish line so close.  But yet so far ....

Shown here (from l to r):
10K out to a lollipop turnaround at ~ Mile 17;
mostly return on same route back to finish.

Next we begin our only significant hill ascent, at Diamond Head.  The elevation gain is only about 100' and I barely notice it, passing people along the way.  

I come up on a loud noise that resembles horses clomping loudly on the ground.  It's a woman runner with a very unusual and hard stomp onto the pavement with each footfall.  It takes me a little while, but I'm glad to get past "Clippety Clop" and have that noise in the background.

From Mile 11 to Mile 16, we are on the very wide Kalaniana'ole Highway headed eastbound, and then we return on the same route westbound from Miles 17 to 22.  The eastbound lanes are closed to traffic, and are coned off in the middle to separate runners outbound from runners returning.  I'm running about 7:20s pace here, and these highway miles are pancake flat.

I watch the two wheelchair leaders come through, and after several more minutes, police motorcycles come through followed by the race leaders.  The first three come through, separated by less than a minute each.  It's almost sunrise (~6:45am) as I approach Mile 15 and get closer to where the course will split.  There is a long break between runners 3 and 4, and I continued to count each runner as they go past.

I see another police motorcade and right behind them is a filming truck and the lead women's pack.  Just at the rear of the pack is Matthew.  I yell out to him that he's #13.  Just as I'm turning off to start the "pop" part of the lollipop, I see his friend Andrew and yell out that that he's #17.

It's just shy of a 2-mile loop as we reverse direction and start to head back west on the Kalaniana'ole Highway.  It's 7:10am and completely light out now, with the sun and temperature both rising.

Turnaround (17M) to Kapiolani Park (Finish):  I don't generally care for an OAB course (which much of this is), as you have to come back and repeat the same section you already did, and on your way out it's depressing to see runners already on their way back.

But at least I'm on the return now, and I have the upper-hand in watching all the poor souls who are now on their way out.  I will see runners coming at me for most of the remainder of the course now, and I do enjoy the people watching as well.

The further back in the pack that I run past,
the more costumed runners that there are.
I remember seeing this guy and thinking
how he can run in this outfit, including
sandals?

And this outfit ...
Just wow.  
It's not likely you'll see me in this anytime soon.
I don't have anything more to say.

This might be the first marathon in which they have kilometer markers at all 42 kilometer splits, and it's certainly the only marathon I've ever run that has both all mile splits AND all kilometer splits.  I am enjoying that facet, as the kilometer splits come up much quicker than waiting for the mile splits.

My pace slows dramatically on this return section, despite now going with the ~12mph wind out of the east.  I'm guessing the rising temps to near 80°F are affecting me more than the wind is.  From 7:20s on the way out, I am now running about 7:50 pace.  I am getting frequently passed now, including by Clippety Clop and other runners that I passed early on in the race.  It's frustrating, but I have no other gear but slow at this point.

The return up Diamond Head and its 100' elevation gain is very different than the climb on the way out.  This time I am struggling even with this small hill, and the vast majority of runners around me are walking.  Fortunately, I resisted the urge to join them and soldiered on at a less than blistering pace of 9 minutes.  Yikes.

View of runners on their way out at Diamond Head, the only point on the course where
you have a view of the ocean.

Similar to Boston's Heartbreak Hill and Vermont's Battery Street hill,
there are drummers at the top of the hill at Diamond Head.

Finally, we are at the entrance to Kapiolani Park, and someone calls out that we have 0.6 miles to go.  The guy in front of me takes a spill on the asphalt and tumbles around on the ground before getting up and giving a thumbs up sign.  He's clearly not doing well and stumbling a bit, but fortunately he makes it to the finish line without further issue.

Very close to the finish
(from marathon finish line video)

I hear the roar of the crowd as the finish line is in sight.  It's an ugly time for me, but I completed it.

Crossing the line.
3:21:09 gun, 3:19:31 net.
(from marathon finish line video)

Finish line shot (from Jana)

Final result:  3:19:31 (net), 152nd out of 15,140, 6th out of 760 in age group.  Full results here.

Crossing the finish line, I immediately feel unstable.  I hold out my arms to balance myself, and fortunately, unlike some others around me, I don't fall to the ground.  Jana has a cold Gatorade for me, and then it's off to the cold showers.  

Holding out my arms to balance myself after finishing.

Not happy with my performance, but glad to have completed this, my 25th marathon.

Happy to be done!

I must've stayed under that cold water shower for five minutes.

Happy for Matthew's debut (2:39)

Often I feel fine after a marathon, or at least a few hours post-marathon.  But today, I was wiped out for the rest of the day, and felt some heat sickness late afternoon.

What went well:

• Pre-race communications were great.
• Expo check in was quick and efficient.
• Fireworks show coordinated with race start.  Really cool!
• Markers at every mile AND kilometer!
• Cold showers at finish.
• Shirt and medal are nice.
• Getting a printed certificate the next day was a neat touch.

What could have gone better:

• Probably my biggest criticism of this race is that with over 15,000 runners, there were no corrals or any enforced line-up by a previously run marathon time.  This just made for a disaster of a start.
• The heat and the humidity.  Obviously, I knew this before I registered, but I seriously underestimated just how much it would affect me.
• Post-race food was pretty much non-existent.  A banana and a "malasada".  I don't eat bananas, and I took one bite of the malasada (essentially a very sugary fried doughnut) and threw it in the trash.  Some fruit in the heat might be nice, and something more substantial.

Take-aways:

• I'm glad I ran this, and it was a "fun" destination race.  Never say never, but after this experience in the heat and high humidity, I can't see myself running a marathon in a hot climate again.  I originally had a bucket-list goal of running Miami Marathon one day; that one is now out the window for me.
  
  
  

November 2023: Month of Malaise

Running stats:

Miles run:  218

Elevation gain:  12,769

Weekly miles (for weeks ended in month):  59, 39, 47, 64

November mileage should have increased from November, not decreased, but alas, the training plan became completely unraveled due to setbacks as noted below.

Primary running surfaces:  Trails (146 miles), roads (74)

Primary running locations:  Charlestown (105 miles), then Westerly (44) and West Greenwich (26)

Other disciplines:

Walk / hike:  7 miles

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Miscellaneous:

This month did not go well, as I had a number of setbacks during the month:

Nov 1:  Trail fall.  Started the month off with a trail fall.  Finishing up an 11-mile Arcadia run with Brady, I was on a very non-technical section of JB Hudson trail when all of a sudden I tripped and went down.  Landed on my chest on dirt in the middle of the trail.  Oof.  Got the wind knocked out of me.  Brady of course ran back to check on me.  What happened?   A fallen tree limb sticking out into the trail.  I should've seen this.

Nov 3:  Bleeding.  Planned 21-miler with 10 x (1 minute on, 1 off).  Felt fine until about 13 miles in, when I unexpectedly just felt sluggish.  Stopped 15 miles in to pee, and felt very lightheaded as I unexpectedly peed out a lot of blood.  Rested a while, and then cut the run short as I jogged the mile and a half back to my car.  Don't know if this hematuria was due to some internal injury from the fall two days ago, or the hard run today, or a combination of both?

Nov 8:  Bad fall.  Similar to the trail run a week ago today, I fell with about a mile to go and got the wind knocked out of me.  But that's where the similarities end.  This was a really bad fall.  Running downhill on Sammy C's trail, when I got my left foot caught under a root.  If my foot came free, I probably would've just fallen forward and banged my knees up, but that root would not release my foot.  With my foot still stuck beneath the root, my body twisted around hard and I came down hard on rock, landing first on my upper back, then hitting the back of my head and my right forearm both into rock.  With the strain and pressure on my foot, it actually tore my shoe until released from the root.  This was extremely painful and I lay on the ground for quite a while.  Brady ran back right away, licking my face, and whining for me to get up.  Not that he could do much for me, but his loyalty and attention was certainly appreciated.  I groaned as I touched the area of my head that hurt, and felt the blood running through my running hat.  Ugh.  Finally and very slowly got up and hobbled back to the car.

Took 48 hours off, then tried running but too painful.  Three days later I was able to run-walk, but still painful.

Nov 14:  Broken rib.  Six days post fall, this still hurt nearly constantly.  Went to the local urgent care to get this checked out.  After an x-ray, I found out why it hurt so much:  I broke a rib!  Ugh.  Not that they can do much, but at least I knew this now as well as that I shouldn't be reaching, twisting, lifting greater than 5 pounds, and should only be running easy.  Well, that's it - no racing Li'l Rhody.  

Nov 20:  All clear.  Another six days later, coming up on two weeks post-fall, had a follow-up with my new PCP.  (Side note:  happy that he is a runner.  He said he's run Blessing many times, but now runs less and enjoys running the Ocean Road 10k.)  All restrictions are now gone, except that he cautioned me to listen to my body and adjust accordingly.  Progress!

Nov 27:  Shin splints?  Dull pain running down the inside of left leg below knee.  Symptoms certainly resemble shin splints.  I feel like I just can't get a break this month.  Took three of seven days off, elevated my left leg when possible, and avoided hard surfaces.  Hopefully I get lucky with recovery.

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Races:

None.  An unintended streak comes to an end.  After 31 straight months of racing at least once (since April 2021), I backed out of all planned and tentative races this month.  Will be back at it in December.

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Miscellaneous:

Not that I ran much in November, but it seemed to be New Shoes Month!
Starting off here is my 2nd pair of VJ Spark.  The "Best Grip on the Planet"
moniker is no joke.  Just love these shoes.  Even wore these during
my Quebec Mega Trail 50K, despite the shoes being rated for
"short distance", but the lightweight just works well for me.

NB Rebel 3.  My go-to road shoe.  Love these shoes.
This is my 3rd pair of the Rebel 3, after multiple Rebel 2
as well, but these hold up better.

NB Elite v3.  Carbon fiber.  I haven't worn these yet, but I really liked
my Elite v2, which I wore to a PR in Detroit at 2:47:57 a
year ago.  Hoping these last me through middle of next year
in road races, as they're not cheap.

Nov 2:  Leading a group hike at Yawgoog,
stopped at one of the campsites explaining summer
scouting at Camp Yawgoog from my youth perspective about
45 years ago

Yammering on about something.
Brady got tired of listening to me and went into
the water (Yawgoog Pond).

I love this log bridge personally, but truth
be told as hike leader it made me nervous
that someone might slip or fall into
the drink.

Thanksgiving dinner at our house.  Ironically the first time
the four of us were together all year.  (Jana took the photo).
Nice to spend the holiday with my Mom as well.

Nov 29:  Big River Management Area, at the dam
at Capwell Mill Pond

This is at Carr's Pond, and appears to be some
long abandoned water pipes that led to a dam 
and raceway.  Pretty neat.

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Monthly highlight:  Finally getting back to a long run with 16+ miles at Big River on November 29.  

Monthly lowlight:  Yeah, that's pretty easy.  The broken rib and ensuing pain and running interruption.  Pretty much killed my marathon training, but small in the scheme of life.  Onward.