Morning Stroll, Swimming with the Fishes, Seeing the Light

Met cousin Dean, Tania and Todd for Elle's softball game on Saturday morning. She and Kai were still shy around uncle Mike. They later took us to Bubba Gump's for lunch. Service was slow, but the broiled fish sammich was worth the wait.

Saturday night, Tania and Todd treated me to Greek Marina where I had the Mix Vege Plate (Grape leaves, Falafel served with salad and pita Hummus, Baba Ghanouj). It was freakin awesome.

The fireworks that kicked off the 5am Honolulu Marathon woke cousin Tania, but didn't even phase me or Todd, so she was kind enough to wake me. I slowly got going and got out the door shortly before 0600. The rain was coming down and I was feeling the worst of the cold with a sore throat and runny nose. It was still dark but the street lights were just enough to guide me through the little rivers on the streets. The decline was about 300' in a quarter mile. Fun :)

I got to the Wailua St Bridge (1.6mi) in about 15-20 mins, but the leader had already passed, beating my guesswork. I saw the 10-20th placeholders, including the lead women and a wheelchair athlete. Felt bad for the leaders, as they have to follow a gas-powered vehicle the entire race.

After 20-30 minutes I began to cooldown so I headed back, through Hawaii Kai Golf Course and arrived at Sandy Beach Park (2.6mi). The sun was piercing through the rainclouds and the surf was wild and unorganized. It was amazing. There was noone in site; just me, the beach, the surf, the clouds and the sun. It was pristine.

I walked over towards the parking lot. Only a few footsteps from heaven, I found shards of glass on the sand, plastic bags, backed up drainage from across the street, the works. People suck.

There were only 2 surfers in the water when I got to the parking lot. A paddle-boarder attempted to launch standing up but didn't make the first shore break. He got right up and made it out there. He caught a nice wave or two before a bodysurfer arrived in the parking lot on a dirtbike. He had kalakoa fins. The whole time I was there he didn't catch a wave. 3 young bodyboarders watched the waves for a while then jumped in and messed around a bit. I watched a team of 3 men scour the shore with rakes and metal-detectors, in hopes of finding lost jewelry.

I walked back to the unoccupied area and took it all in for an hour before roaming around and finding a blowhole, hidden beach, and whale watching spot (1.5mi). Headed in the opposite direction and found a little bridge (1.8mi). It was about 0830 and told Tania I should be back by 0900 so I headed back home (1.8mi). My knee started bitching out around the golfcourse so I had to start walking. The Maunanani incline was a motha.

Minus the hour and a half of spazzing... I ran 1.6 + 2.6 + 1.5 + 1.8 + 1.8 = 9.3 or so miles in one and a half hours.

Came back to the smell of cooked bacon, eggs and toast. My cousin is the best. After eating half a package of bacon, I let my stomach rest. An hour later she took me to Hanauma Bay. The sun came out just long enough for us to snorkel for half an hour. It was great to get in the water. I really wanted to just swim, but relaxed instead and just spazzed at the fish. On the hike back up the hill she insisted that I get a pic *squint*.

Back at the parking lot I tripped out at this fully-eco-powered light. Great job Hanauma Bay! Cool beans. Why can't all lights be like this one?