Flights to Hawaii are
expensive. You don’t just fly there, run
the marathon, and then fly home. If I
was going, I was going to spend a few days there. The race wasn’t until Sunday, but I arrived
on Wednesday, giving me three full days of sightseeing before the race.
As recently as a week
before my trip, I thought I would have the opportunity to see two active
volcanoes. Kilauea was still erupting,
and Mauna Loa started erupting at the end of November. By December 10th, both volcanoes had stopped
erupting. I was disappointed that I
wouldn’t see active lava flows, but I was able to pivot to other sightseeing
options.
Wednesday, December 14
Delta has direct flights
from Minneapolis to Honolulu, but I had to connect to a Hawaiian Airlines
flight to get to Hilo. My connecting
flight was delayed, so I didn’t arrive in Hilo until almost 8:00 PM. There’s a four-hour time difference between
Minnesota and Hawaii, so to me it felt like midnight.
Having been to Hilo a
year ago, I knew the layout of the airport.
Last year, it took me a while to find the Budget Rent-A-Car counter. This year, I was able to walk straight to it.
I stayed at the same hotel
where I stayed last year. It was only a
few miles from the airport, and I knew the way by sight. I also knew where to park, so I didn’t have
to waste time moving my car after checking in.
I keep my hotel room
colder than most people would. I can’t
sleep if the room is too warm. When I
got to my room, I immediately turned down the thermostat. I was tired, but I needed to give the room
time to cool down before I could go to sleep.
After unpacking, I went to the hotel bar to unwind while I waited for my
room to cool down.
Thursday, December 15
It wasn’t until Thursday
morning that I opened the drapes and saw the view from my hotel room. I had a room overlooking Hilo Bay.
I was on the top floor of
the Mauna Loa wing of the hotel. I was
high enough that I could see over other parts of the hotel. Looking to my left I could see Coconut
Island. In the distance, I could see
Mauna Kea.
I was planning to be on
the go all day, so I tried to pack up everything I might need before I left for
breakfast. I couldn’t shake the feeling
I was forgetting something, but I didn’t know what it was.
For breakfast, I went to
Ken’s House of Pancakes, which has interesting flavors of pancakes. This was a restaurant recommended by one of
my sisters. I had their coconut pancakes.
After breakfast, I drove
to the southern end of the island. As I was
driving, it started sprinkling. Then I
realized what I forgot. I was supposed
to check the forecast. I was on the
rainy side of the island, and my plans included a long hike. Thankfully, the rain stopped after only a few
minutes.
My first stop was Punalu’u
Beach. This is one of Hawaii’s black
sand beaches. The sand in most beaches consists
of rocks and sea shells that have been ground up by the action of the
waves. Black sand beaches consist of
ground up lava.
Next, I drove to South
Point, which is the southernmost point in the United States. I drove as far as I could, but after parking
the car, I still had to walk about a quarter mile and then scramble over some rocks. There aren’t any signs directing you where to
go, so I let my phone direct me. I went
as far south as I could without going into the water, but my phone showed me
just short of the southernmost point.
Then I looked up the timing of the tides. I was there near high tide. At low tide, the shoreline would be farther
out.
While I was there, I
found a message.
The beach that interested
me the most was Papakōlea Green Sand Beach. To get there, I had to hike for almost three
miles. First, I drove to the closest
place I could park my car. I was surprised
to see how many cars were already parked there.
Were there really that many people willing to hike more than five miles
(round trip) to get to this beach? When
I got out of the car, a man asked me if I was taking the shuttle or hiking? I said I was hiking. I was amazed that it was even possible to
drive a vehicle over a trail that I had read was somewhat rugged.
As I started hiking, I
discovered that there were multiple trails that all led to the same place. The original trail, which stayed fairly close
to the coast, would not have been drivable.
Now, there are also what appear to be ATV trails. Was their “shuttle” an ATV? No, it was a pickup with a high clearance. Still, it had to have been a difficult drive.
Had I known in advance
that I could get to this beach quicker, I might have done that, but I already
planned my day around having enough time to do this hike. Besides, I spent most of Wednesday sitting on
airplanes, so I really needed to get some exercise.
The hike to the beach
took almost an hour. When I got within
sight of the beach, I was up on a cliff overlooking the bay. Then I realized getting down to the beach
would be the most difficult part of the hike.
The climb down to the
beach was steep, but I could see the easiest way down by following other
hikers.
The green color comes from
a mineral called olivine, which is high in iron and manganese. There are only four green sand beaches in the
world. As a geology geek, it was worth
going out of my way to see one of them.
I got lucky on the
weather. It didn’t rain at all while I
was hiking. I realized, however, that I
forgot something else. I left the hotel
without applying any sunblock. I didn’t notice
the sunburn until later in the day.
After my hike, I drove to
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which was on the way back to Hilo. It rained heavily for about half of the
drive, but the rain stopped by the time I got to the park. After stopping at the visitor center to talk
to one of the rangers, I went to the Kilauea Overlook. There’s no longer any new lava entering the
crater. All you can see now is older
lava and steam.
It wasn’t raining, but
there were still dark clouds, so I didn’t do any hiking in the park. Instead, I drove back to Hilo.
By the time I got back to
Hilo, I had been hiking or driving for eight hours. I stopped at the hotel to recharge until
dinner time. For dinner, I went to Cronie’s
Bar & Grill, which was another restaurant recommended by my sister. They have a pizza with Kalua pork & pineapple.
When I went to bed, I finally
noticed the sunburn on the back of my neck.
My forearms were also pink, but they didn’t feel as irritated. For the rest of my trip, I was more diligent
about applying sunblock.
Friday, December 16
On Friday, I did some sightseeing
north of Hilo. After breakfast, I drove
to Akaka Falls State Park, where they have a short trail loop leading to
viewpoints for two waterfalls. It was raining
intermittently, and I could see a rainbow in front of me for most of the drive. The first of the two waterfalls was ‘Akaka
Falls.
The other waterfall was
Kahuna Falls. My view of Kahuna Falls
was partially obstructed by the trees.
Next, I continued up the
coast to see some scenic beaches. I
wanted to go to Hakalau Beach Park, but the road leading into the park was
closed. I suspect the road is impassible
because of damage from a recent storm. Everywhere
I drove, I was seeing utility workers clearing tree branches.
I continued up the coast
to Laupehoehoe Beach Park. Like many of
the beach parks, this isn’t a swimming beach.
It’s a place where you can have a picnic lunch while getting views of
waves crashing on a rocky coastline.
There are more beaches
further up the coast, but the farther north I drove, the farther I’d have to
drive to get back to Hilo. I had been
noticing sciatic nerve discomfort after long drives, so I decided to head back
to Hilo. On my way back, I stopped at
Onomea Bay.
I didn’t realize it until
I got there, but I’ve seen Onomea Bay before.
Last year, I got views of this bay while hiking the trail loop through the
Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve & Garden.
This time, I hiked down from the highway on a public access trail. From the trail, I got different views of the
bay from the ones I had last year.
When I got back to Hilo,
I went to the hotel fitness center to do a workout. By now, I was getting hungry. I was tempted to eat lunch, but I was
planning to have a big dinner, and I didn’t want to eat too many big
meals. Instead, I went to the hotel bar
to rehydrated with pineapple juice.
There’s a bridge from Liliʻuokalani
Gardens to Coconut Island, and the walking distance to the island from my hotel
was only half a mile. The island has
swimming beaches, so I spent part of the afternoon swimming and relaxing on the
island.
It’s about two miles from
my hotel to the downtown restaurants. After
checking the forecast, I decided to walk to dinner. I had dinner at Café Pesto, which is my
favorite restaurant in Hilo. They also
have a pizza with Kalua pig and pineapple, but they call it a luau pizza.
Saturday, December 17
It was a clear
morning. While I was eating breakfast at
the hotel, I had a nice view of Mauna Kea in the glow of the morning sunlight.
After breakfast, I drove
to Kaumana Caves, which are just outside Hilo.
The caves are actually a lava tube formed by a lava flow from Mauna Loa
back in 1881. From the main entrance, the
caverns extend to either side. In one
direction, you can only go a short distance before reaching the end of the
cave. In the other direction, the cave
extends for two miles, but most of it is under private property.
On my way back into town,
I stopped at Rainbow Falls. I’ve seen
the falls before, but it was only a minute or two out of my way. The water looked cleaner this year than it
did last year.
When it got warm enough,
I went swimming. I skipped lunch again,
in anticipation of having an early dinner.
Packet pickup was Saturday
afternoon. In the past, packet pickup has
been at a Boy Scouts of America camp that’s right next to the finish line. This year, we weren’t able to use the Boy
Scouts camp. There was some type of
accident at a Boy Scouts camp a few months ago, and none of the Boy Scouts
camps are currently taking reservations from outside groups. This year, packet pickup was just outside the
gate of the Boy Scouts camp. I had to
find parking along the road, so I got there shortly after packet pickup
started.
I had dinner at the hotel’s
restaurant. Their menu included pizza,
and one of their pizzas was – you guessed it – Kalua pork. Pineapple was an option on all pizzas, so I
added that as well.
Since arriving in Hawaii,
I had done my best to stay on an early-to-bed, early-to rise schedule. My alarm was set for 3:00 AM, so I went to
bed early, in hopes of getting a full night’s sleep. I slept well for a few hours, but after
waking up during the night, I had trouble getting back to sleep. Pre-race nerves were kicking in. I slept half the night, which is better than
nothing.
Sunday, December 18
Sunday was race day. It’s a point-to-point race, so I needed to take
a bus to the start. In past years, buses
to the start left from the boy scout camp.
We couldn’t use the boy scout camp, so this year the buses picked us up
on Banyan Road, near Reed’s Bay Beach Park.
As luck would have it, my hotel was on Banyan Road. Instead of driving and parking, I could walk
there. The buses left at 4:15 AM, which
is why I had to be up so early.
Because of the elevation difference,
the temperature in Hilo is typically much cooler than the temperature in Hilo. Last year, it was 50 degrees at the
start. This year, it was 59. By comparison, the overnight low in Hilo was
in the upper 60s. In past years, the
temperature at the finish was about 70 degrees.
This year, it was forecast to get up to 75 before I finished. The
warmer conditions had me questioning whether I would be able to qualify
for Boston. My fastest recent marathon
was 4:07:57 in the Chicago Marathon. My
goal was to qualify for Boston, but to do that, I needed to be 18 minutes
faster than I was in Chicago.
In past years, finish
times were recorded manually. That meant
our official times were “gun” times. If you
didn’t cross the starting line until 10 seconds after the gun went off, that
was time you lost. This year, they added
chip timing. That was important. I didn’t even know if I could run fast enough
to qualify. If I did, I expected it to
be really close. I assumed that ten
seconds might make a difference.
The drive time to Volcano
can vary, so the race didn’t start until 6:00 AM. When we arrived, it was almost an hour before
the start of the race. They had a gear
check, so I wore warm-up layers to keep warm until it was almost time to start.
We started before dawn,
so we had to start the race with flashlights or head lamps. I opted for a flashlight, since I knew I
would only need it for the first three miles.
We started on Plimauna
Drive, next to the Volcano Golf Course. I
worked harder than usual to establish a fast pace. Within the first few minutes, I was already feeling
soreness from the proximal hamstring tendon in my left leg. It’s been injured since June, but it’s been
gradually healing. It doesn’t bother me
if I run at a moderate pace, but today I was pushing the envelope. I decided in the first few minutes of the
race that I was going “all in” on qualifying for Boston.
We quickly turned onto
the shoulder of Highway 11. This is the
only road from Hilo to the south end of the island, so it’s a busy
highway. We were required to stay on the
left shoulder. Any runner seen crossing
the white line into the traffic lane could be disqualified. The cars go by pretty fast, and they’re not
expecting to see runners.
We had to go slightly uphill
for a short distance before the road turned downhill. I could see the sign on the opposite side of
the highway marking the highest elevation on the road. When I passed that sign, I knew it would be
all downhill for several miles.
Because the first mile
wasn’t completely downhill, I continued to put extra effort into establishing a
fast pace. I continued to feel some soreness
in my left leg, but it wasn’t getting worse.
To qualify for Boston, I
needed a time of 3:50. That’s an average
pace of roughly 8:45 per mile. I
expected the second half of the race to be slower than the first half. That’s partly because there are a few hills
in the late miles, but mostly because it would gradually get hotter. I wanted to average 8:15 or faster in the
first half of the race. Then I could
afford to slow to an average pace of 9:15 in the second half.
I ran the first mile in
8:18. That’s about the pace I wanted,
but I felt like I was working much too hard.
In the second mile, I sped up to 7:48.
I didn’t need to be that fast, so I gave myself permission to back off a
little in my effort.
When we reached the
turnoff to Old Volcano Road, there was an aid station where we could drop off our
lights. The first two times I ran this
race, I put my flashlight in my fanny pack.
This year, I handed it to one of the volunteers. I didn’t want to be carrying any excess
weight. It’s bad enough that I’ve put on
a few pounds lately.
The next mile and a half
were on Old Volcano Road, which goes through Volcano village. This road didn’t have any traffic, so we were
allowed to run anywhere on the road. It
was nice to be away from traffic and have more room to run.
When I got the split for
my third mile, it was 8:00. I told
myself that I could ease up some more. Volcano
Road must’ve had more elevation drop than I remembered, because I sped up to
7:40 in the next mile, even though I was no longer working as hard.
When we turned back onto
Highway 11, we had a wider shoulder. We
were now starting the fastest part of the course. Over the next three miles, I focused on
taking short rapid strides. I wasn’t
putting any extra effort into running fast.
I just “spun the wheels” and let gravity do all the work. My next three miles took 7:24 each, but I wasn’t
working as hard. For the first few
miles, my effort felt like it would probably be unsustainable. Now I felt like my effort was about right. The pace was faster than I expected, but as
long as I could do it with no extra effort, I wasn’t going to second-guess the
pace. That’s something I’ve learned
about downhill races. You just have to stay
relaxed and go with it.
Eventually, the road
leveled off a bit. It was still
downhill, but not as much. The next five
miles weren’t as fast, but they were still in the range of 7:39 to 8:03. On average, I was going much faster than I
expected. As long as I didn’t wear
myself out, I would be able to slow down in the second half, as it got hotter.
I was expected to have a
slight headwind for most of the race. I
didn’t feel much wind in the first nine miles, but then I started to notice
it. It wasn’t strong enough to be tiring,
but it helped mitigate the effects of the high humidity.
I was also expecting to
have cloud cover. I didn’t notice much
sun in the first ten miles, but after that the sun came out. That made it feel hotter.
Sometimes a change of the
grade would make it look like we were about to run uphill. That was an optical illusion. The road leveled off at times, but it wouldn’t
actually turn uphill until much later in the race.
Mile 13 was a mostly
level mile. I had to be careful not to
work too hard. It was OK if I slowed
down a little. It’s wasn’t OK if I
worked too hard and wore myself out. I
made that mistake last year. I ended up
running mile 13 in 8:40. That was my slowest
mile so far, but I had lots of fast miles.
Overall, I was doing just fine.
My halfway split was
1:43:17. I was almost 12 minutes ahead
of the pace I needed for 3:50. At this
point, I could slow down to roughly 9:30 in the second half. I expected to slow down at least that much in
the last three miles, but until then, I still had lots of downhill miles.
There were signs on the right
side of the road marking every 500 feet of elevation change. Because we were running on the left shoulder,
I didn’t always notice them. Midway
through the 14h mile, I saw one that said 2,000 feet. We started above 4,000, so I had already descended
more than 2,000 feet. In the remaining
miles, I would have roughly 1,700 feet of net descent. I emphasize “net,” because there would be
uphill sections in the late miles.
It occurred to me that I
no longer noticed much soreness in my hamstring tendon. It bothered me in the early miles, when I was
pushing the pace. Once I backed off in
my effort, I stopped noticing it. There
was a little soreness, but not as much as before.
For the next several
miles, I ran at a pace ranging from 7:47 to 8:09. It wasn’t as fast as my pace in the first
half, but it didn’t have to be. The
longer I kept running a pace that was close to eight minutes, the more margin I
had if I blew up in the late miles. I
was careful not to push too hard. I
tried to keep up a consistent effort and let my pace vary depending on how much
elevation drop there was in each mile.
In the second half of the
race, there were a few places where we had to cross intersections. There were course martials at those intersections. They were able to change the traffic lights
for us, so we didn’t have to stop for traffic.
In the last third of the race,
I was constantly recomputing what pace I needed the rest of the way to break
3:50. With nine miles to go, a 10:00
pace would be fast enough. With seven
miles to go, an 11:00 pace would be fast enough. I ran mile 20 in 8:26. I could’ve been discouraged that I slowed
down, but instead I told myself that I added another two and a half minutes to
my cushion.
For most of the race, I
was maintaining a rapid cadence. Taking
short rapid strides is something I always do on downhill courses to guard
against overstriding. On one of the more
level stretches, I noticed I was starting to run with a more natural stride. That wasn’t a conscious decision, so it must’ve
been a sign I was getting fatigued.
Shortly after that, I felt some soreness near the bottom of my left calf. Given the conditions, it’s possible it was a
mild cramp. On the other hand, it could’ve
been my Achilles tendon. I forced myself
to return to short rapid strides, just in case.
I ran the next two miles
in 8:40 each. I was still putting time
in the bank. Now I just needed to
average 13 minutes per mile. I was
confident I could do that, even if I blew up in the heat.
By now, I was running
with Glen Marumoto. Glen lives in Hawaii
and has run this race every year since its inception. We’re in the same age group, and we both had
a goal of qualifying for Boston.
Running with Glen, I sped
up to 8:25 in mile 23. Then we started
the tough part of the course. It wasn’t
all downhill any more.
There’s a tiring hill
that starts with about 2.6 miles to go.
Going up this hill, I could no longer keep up with Glen. We both slowed down, but I slowed down
more. On the plus side, I wasn’t tempted
to walk. Last year, I had to walk about
half of this hill.
At the top of the hill, there
was an aid station. Glen stopped briefly,
and I was able to catch up to him. I saw
that I ran the 24th mile in 9:20. That
was my first mile that was slower than 8:40.
I optimistically assumed that it would be my slowest mile of the race. I was wrong.
As I started running
downhill, I wasn’t able to speed up. The
hill forced me to work a little harder and that’s when the heat finally wore me
down. By now, it was 75 degrees, and the
humidity had been high for the whole race.
I was stuck in a lower gear for the rest of the race, even going downhill. I briefly got ahead of Glen while he was still
at the aid station, but it was only a matter of time before he passed me. After that, I was running alone.
I started to notice more
traffic on the highway. Each time a car went
by, I felt a draft from its “wake.” There
wasn’t much wind, so those brief drafts were the only thing cooling me off.
The last two miles are
more downhill than uphill, but there were still two more small hills. The first was about half a mile after that last
aid station. The second one would come
at the very end of the race.
I ran the 25th mile in
10:00. I realized by now that I would
qualify for Boston by at least 10 minutes.
I tried to keep up the same pace, but I was 10 seconds slower in the
next mile. It’s always discouraging when
your last two miles are much slower than the rest of the race, but I knew that
would happen. I wanted to run the first
half fast, so I could budget 11 minutes each for the last two miles.
The last turn on the
course comes after the 26 mile mark.
Then we turned onto Stainback Highway, which goes by the Boy Scouts
camp. That’s where the finish line was. At this point, I only had about 200 meters to
go, but it was uphill, and I still couldn’t see the finish line. There’s a bend in the road, so you have to
get about halfway around the turn before you can see the finish.
For weeks, I had been visualizing
those last 200 meters. I imagined myself
having to fight for every second, while going uphill. As it turns out, seconds didn’t matter so
much. My only goal was to qualify for
Boston, and I was crushing that goal. I
maintained my effort until I could see the finish. Then I was inspired to finish as strong as I
could.
I finished the race in
3:36:27. That’s only three minutes
slower than last year, when I was in much better shape. How fast is this course? Even on a hot day, I ran 31 minutes faster
than my fastest recent time on a flat course.
This was a small race, so
you might think I won an age group award.
I didn’t. 60-64 is always a competitive
age group at this race. I came in 5th in
my age group. The winner of my age group
finished in 3:00:12!
The finisher medal is
silver and is shaped like a dog tag. This
style of medal has been the tradition at this race.
It’s amazing how you can
tune things out when you’re focused on your effort. Within moments of finishing, I urgently
needed to pee. Before finishing, I wasn’t
conscious of that at all. Fortunately,
there were port-o-potties right next to the finish. I also suddenly realized how much I was sweating. From head to toe, sweat was dripping off of me.
There were a variety of
post-race food and beverages. After eating
a banana, I drank a can of fruit juice.
It made my throat sting. I’ve
experienced that at least once before, when I was dehydrated. I was drinking at every aid station, but I
was losing much more fluid than I was replacing. After finishing the fruit juice, I also had a
can of Pepsi. Then I had a bao bun with
pork.
I had to sit for a while before
I recovered enough to get up and retrieve my gear bag. The volunteers had already put my flashlight in
my bag. Then I waited for the next bus
back to Reed’s Bay Beach Park. From
there, it only took a few minutes to walk back to the hotel.
As I was walking back to the
hotel, I noticed soreness in my left calf.
There was no longer any question that it was the muscle and not my
Achilles tendon. When I got back to my
room, I took a bath, massaged my calves, and did several stretches. Most of my stretches were for my lower back,
but I also stretched my calves and my Achilles tendons. For good measure, I also stretched my quads. Some of the other runners were complaining of
sore quads. Mine felt fine. I’ve learned how to run downhill without beating
them up.
I did have some soreness
from that hamstring tendon in my left leg.
It felt sore when I sat down.
That’s something I’ll have to keep an eye on. If I have to, I’ll cut back on my training
for a while. Now that I have a Boston
qualifier for 2024, I can take my time getting back in shape.
I spent the rest of the
morning and half of the afternoon at the hotel, relaxing and rehydrating. When I felt like I was ready to go out again,
I went to Cronie’s Bar & Grill for an early dinner. I already tried their Kalua pig &
pineapple pizza, but I wanted to try their sweet Thai chili chicken pizza.
I went to bed early and
crashed hard. I slept for almost 11
hours.
Monday, December 19
My flight to Honolulu wasn’t
until the afternoon, so I was able to have a leisurely breakfast, do a workout
in the fitness center, and take my time packing.
I’ve often said the
hardest part about the race is getting to the starting line. Getting home can also sometimes be difficult. As I was getting ready to check out, I
learned that my flight to Honolulu was delayed by 30 minutes. That wasn’t a big deal, but after I checked
out, I was notified that my flight was delayed an additional 48 minutes. I’m posting this from the Hilo airport, where
I have some time to kill. For now, I
still have a safe connection in Honolulu, but I worry about further
delays. I’m told it’s a weather delay.
Wish me luck on getting
to Honolulu in time to catch my flight home.
UPDATE: While I was at the airport in Hilo, I was notified of another delay, yet the flight status board was still showing the original departure time. Another Hawaiian Airlines flight, which had been delayed for four hours, was finally boarding. I was sitting next to the gate for that flight when a Hawaiian Airlines employee came over to me and asked me if I had a confirmed seat on a flight. Then she asked me which flight and if I had checked any bags (I didn't). Then they put me on the flight that was about to depart. They were in such a hurry that they didn't have time to print a new boarding pass. They just wrote the seat number on my old boarding pass and told me to get on the plane. I was the last person to board. Instead of being delayed by two hours (or more), I was only delayed by about an hour. That gave me more than enough time to make my connection in Honolulu.
UPDATE #2: After I got to Honolulu, I found out my original flight from Hilo was delayed again. If I wasn't moved to the earlier flight, I would've missed my connection. Getting on that flight was just dumb luck. It wouldn't have happened if I wasn't sitting right next to the gate of the departing flight when they were looking for a passenger to fill the last available seat.
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