Maui in January. Those words alone should conjure up images of warm weather, blue oceans and a time to relax. But for me, it meant a little of those but it also meant business. And the business was running my 57th marathon and completing my 48th state.
Dionis and I left for Maui Thursday morning and after a long day of flying, we arrived into Maui a little after 10pm and by 11:30 we at our beachfront hotel at Kaanapali. The marathon was on Sunday morning at 5:30am (which for me was really 10:45) so we had plenty of time to enjoy the island and relax.
After a Hawaiian breakfast buffet we fatted around the beach for a few minutes before we struck out to explore Maui. Except there was a small problem, the tour book I purchased, Maui Revealed, as I remembered on the flight to LAX was sitting on the coffee table at home. So before we could do anything we had to go buy another book and then we were off. First stop: Dragon’s Teeth.
Not gonna bore you with the details so here are the pictures.
Next up was the Double Tidal Pools. The funny thing is the path we had to take was marked with a disclaimer that the Maui Revealed Tidal pools were not in this area. So like any good tourist, we followed the book and got down to an amazing tidal pool.
After that we saw a blowhole and then the Bell Rock. By this time it was nearly 4pm and time for dunch. So we headed into Lahaina for dunch. After dunch, grabbed some ice cream and watched the sunset from the harbor.
On Saturday, we picked up our ‘packets’ first thing and then meet Michael, a weatherman who served in the ANG and lived in Maryland. He was so excited to about the weather but he talked about the Bull Run 50 Miler and I think that is the reason why I decided to sign up for the race (and got in via the lottery). After that we walked around the Banyan Tree in Lahaina, (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/maui/html/sites/banyan_tree.html)
got our race shirts autographed by the race design artist and then walked around Lahaina checking out the other sights, grabbed some lunch (a beer) and then we both got 30 minute massages. Not sure if getting one the day before a marathon is a good idea but I know I don’t subscribe to the good idea model for marathons. After the massage we checked out the old Lahaina prison and then headed to the Olowalu petroglyphs.
Wasn’t able to find out too much about them except they are old. After that, we got to see a few rainbows as some rain showers moved across the island but we were still able to watch the sunset, spotted a double rainbow. For dinner we went to back to Lahaina for sushi at Genki Sushi. Apparently the cupcake craze has now hit sushi – good grief.
After dinner, headed back to the hotel, soaked in the bath tub and then had another beer. Third beer of the day but the last thing I had to drink before bed was a beer, the first time doing that – once not subscribing to the good idea theory but hey I’m on vacation.
We were up at 3:15 and headed to bus pick-up at 4:15. Decided to take the second bus that departed instead of the first bus at 4:20. Just have a hard time getting the early bus to stand around at the start for an hour but unfortunately for Dionis she had to sit around for longer than me for her race. The second bus pulled into the parking lot, didn’t see anyone and decided not to stop. Good thing there was someone on the corner who got the bus to stop and I scrabbled to get my stuff together and made it to the bus before it left. I left the car with Dionis who had to wait two hours until her race (half-marathon) started at 6:45. For the next 26 miles, got to listen to jabberjaws in the seats behind me and next to me but as with bus rides on point to point marathon, you get to see what seems like the endless ride of 26 miles.
Got to the start with about 20 minutes to spare. Enough time to hit the bathroom and watch the opening ceremonies. After the ceremony (a traditional Hawaiian blessing) we were lead down to the start line by torch light and on the sound of conch shells we were off. Apparently my opening 7:28/mile pace was too slow as I found myself in about 40th place (guesstimate on the number of people in front of me). Not sure why people take off so fast only to fade later on. Or maybe they were just rushing to beat the sunrise or get to the hills first. Either way, I wasn’t in a hurry plus it was dark and hard to see. Since the road was open to traffic and the ‘bike lane’ wasn’t that wide, I spent a lot of time bouncing between the street and sidewalk. The first hour was pretty dark but pretty soon you could hear the roosters as they started waking everything around them. Just as the sun came up around mile 9, I was able to breathe a little breakfast in. Not sure if it was location or just the time of morning but for a good ½ mile, the course was covered in gnats/little flies. Whatever they were, I had to wear my sunglasses to keep them out of my eyes and pulled my gnat covered shirt over my mouth so I could breathe but that didn’t stop or one to two from sneaking into my mouth. At one point I had to cough them up. Once I was done coughing up my gnat-ball it was time to finish off the first long hill of the race. At the top of the hill the wind came from the south which put it right on our backs. Gotta take advantage of wind at your back and I did for the next couple of miles because the hilliest part of the course was just in front of me. At this point I had passed a lot of other runners and had a few on my heels as we entered the hills. For those I could see in front of me I passed (except for one who I passed on the hills only to be passed by him on the flat sections later on) and for those on my heels, I never saw them again.
I wouldn't classify the hills has brutal but I was able to maintain a sub-8 minute pace all along soaking in the sights of the ocean off to my left. Past one spot that provided an excellent view of the humpbacks just off the coast. As we exited the hills, the sun was beating down on my back and the south wind that had been at my back was now a northerly wind straight into my face. Despite being slowed by the wind it was nice to have it in my face because it was a cool wind and helped offset some of the sun.
By mile 20, the sun was beating down but the wind was kinda keeping me cool but still I started to hit every aid station, wet towels, shot block, oranges, water, ultima, etc. I felt fine and was estimating a 3:22 when I hit mile 20 but with the heat I couldn’t take any chances so I hit every aid station so wasn't too sure how if a 3:22 was a reality. By mile 23/24, I started to estimate a 3:24 apparently the extra stopping was eating away at my time but overall my legs felt fine and with a steady but slightly slowing pace I just decided there was no reason to press my luck so I continued on my slower pace.
Brought it home in a 3:24. Near the finish Dionis was there and managed to snap off a picture of me in all my glory. Not really. But marathon shots are not meant to be glamorous. After the finish, she greeted me with the news that she had run a PR of 1:34 in her second half marathon and finished 5th overall.
After Dionis collected her award, we rushed back to get breakfast, cleaned up and then hit the road. We went to the NE side of the island and went for a four mile hike that provided views of a 2,000ft high waterfall and a swimming pool. Needless to say the water was freezing but it felt good.
