Hana Relay - September 8-9, 2017

One week after the Kauai Marathon it was the Hana Relay. Heather had assembled a team, but one of her runners got injured so I was on the reserve list. Since Hana was a bucket list item for me, I had to take advantage of the opportunity. 

September 8, 2017

I picked up The Judge at 8:30am, and we took the zipper lane to the airport. There was no traffic today and we got to the airport in 20 minutes. I had to park my car, I never parked my car at the airport before, but it wasn't hard. 

The flight to Maui was quick. We landed and got the rental van. Kalei and Heather secured the van.  Alamo had a self checkout and it was quick. 

The first stop was at Target. After supplies, we went to Kaʻahumanu Shopping Center for lunch. I was craving for lau lau. There was a farmer's market. There was this booth selling lau lau maunapua, so I had to buy it. It was actually sub par. After futting around, we decided to eat at Maui Tacos. I ate two fish tacos.

After eating, we checked into the hotel. I was tired from a sleepless night before. The room at the Seaside was nice. However, getting into the rooms was a little complicated. You had to walk through a door, that was the short cut. The lobby was a long way. When you get to the rooms, if you don't take a side door, you have to walk around which takes forever. Complicated I tell you. I took a short nap as Darren was drawing the sign. He told me I was cutting wood.

At 4pm, we went outside to decorate the van. The concept was to make a headband with blue painter's tape. At first it wasn't working out, we were going to abandon the idea, but kept on trying to solve the problem solve. Kalei had a great idea of making sweat beads coming from the headband. The Judge created the sweat beads and it turned out great. After some writing and finishing touches, we had to pick up our packet at the Ale House. It was a cool place, a little loud, but what do you expect from a sports bar. The event shirts were nice.

September 10

The Judge and I woke up at 4pm, got ready. Our job was to fill the thermos with ice. We got to the start line at 5:30am. At the start line were complimentary Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Starbucks coffee. Goodies and Energy!!!  It was a perfect start! We went to see The Judge off. You could tell that this event was cool!!! Everyone was cheering, being positive, and there was a lot of excitement. The horn went off and The Judge was off. For some reason Heather and Kalei were interested in team Christina. Backstory was that Christina's 50th Birthday was today and the team decided to dedicate the run to her. Coincidentally, Kalei's birthday was today as well. But we didn't have anything for her.

We drove to the 2nd leg. The Judge was coming in and gave the baton to Kalei. I waited patiently. After Heather went, it was my turn. I blasted it, running in the 8 minute per mile range. And then the hills came which slowed my pace. I was still strong from my training and finished the 2.78 mile leg in 26:38 minutes, a 9:35 min/mile pace. I was sweaty. Luckily Heather had wipes. I wiped myself down as much as possible. I handed it off to Bozo. She had a tough leg, many ups and downs. She dealt with it well. Kalei was pounding the Whitney Houston - Wanna Dance with Somebody while Bozo was running. It was very energizing. 

I'm going to be honest, this run is an adrenaline induced type of run. It is a quick pace and always moving. As soon as one person finishes, we cheer, get back into the van, and head out to the next transition area. 

My next run was leg 10. It was mostly downhill. I ran it very fast. The first mile was under 8 minutes. I haven't run an 8 minute mile since high school. The last part of the leg was uphill, but it came fast and I was able to push through in record time. The distance was 2.13 miles in 18:20, an 8:36 minute/mile. Everyone was impressed at the speedy time, even I. I was cold already because of the sweating, but it didn't change yet. 

The craziest leg was the transition to leg 12. Kathy was running leg 11 and Heather was waiting for the hand off. There was literally no parking in this area. The transition line was near a blind turn. It got bottle necked here. The police officer was doing crowd control, but obviously needed another helping hand when organizing the traffic. Tourists were coming and going through this area and were visibly frustrated. It was absolutely chaotic. 

My last leg was 16. It was all down hill and a leg that I blasted out with great ferocity. I ran the downhill 2 mile route in 16:36, a 8:05 min/mile.

Bozo and Kathy closed out the run on legs 17 and 18. I was surprised as it wasn't even 2pm yet. We had some difficulty finding the finish line because the runners go down a road, while vehicles have to take another road to the finish line. The finish line was amazing as we saw Kathy finishing up. The last 25 yards or so is a potato sack hop to the finish. Kathy did good for the first 8 hops, but she couldn't hop anymore. We tried to pull her, but that wasn't working. Finally Bozo said, "Let's carry her", so that is what we did to finish the race. We finished at 8:06:13, in 61st place.

We took a group picture in front of the Hana Relay sign and had some refreshments. We even got a participation metal. I didn't expect that. Across the street is the Hasegawa Store, supposedly a legendary story that is 117 years old. I didn't buy anything, just to be shopping in the story is legendary enough. 

After changing, The Judge drove us. I think we planned to go to the beach, but we were doing whatever. The Judge continued on Hana around the bend. The road is rough on this section of the Hana Highway, but it is very scenic. Bozo called her niece in Kula and asked if we could shower. The reception was spotty to say the least and it took a while for her message to go through. We were all drinking alcohol. I got drunk and took a short nap. After over 1 1/2 hours of driving on the Hana Highway, we ended up in Kula. Bozo said this is Hawaiian Homes. It's a beautiful place to live, similar to Pahoa in the Big Island. We talked story and took a shower. It felt good to take a shower and get that nasty sweat off me.

Our flight left at 11:00pm, it was only 6:00pm when we left Bozo's niece's house. The Judge drove us to Kahalui to a restaurant Heather previously ate at called Da Kitchen. It has great reviews. The portions are huge and it is a bit pricey. It was BYOB, so Kalei and Bozo brought in the beer from the car and I got drunk some more. The food was excellent. I ate so much these past two days that I seriously need to go on a diet. 

Since we checked out of our hotel, we needed a place to clean up the van. It was sorta late already (Maui time). We took everything out of the van to pack and organize. A security guard came and told us that it is not a camp spot. We told him we were only going to be a few minutes and we would leave. After finishing, we drove to the airport.

What a trip! It was only a day and half, but we did so much. A bucket list item is checked off. No doubt the best relay in the state of Hawaii. 

Cost: $424