Checking Out the Marathon Route

My brother, Dennis came by today to help us figure out the Honolulu Marathon route for tomorrow.

We drove to Honolulu where we saw a lot of Christmas displays with a Hawaiian theme. Note: Santa doing the shaka greeting sign. Mrs. Claus is wearing a muumuu.

We knew we were getting close when we started seeing the Marathon signs. This is Kapiolani Park where the race will end.

Some of the course is flat which is good.

I hope he's able to finish the race before the sun goes too high because it can get awfully hot.

We passed the Diamond Head Theatre where White Christmas is playing. White? Not in Hawaii, I'm afraid. Art won't be passing here. We were just lost. I'm sure he won't get lost tomorrow since he'll just follow the long line of runners ahead of him.

There were several places with toilets. I hope it's enough.

We're in Hawaii Kai now. Signs were posted everywhere to tell people not to park on the roadside.

That's Koko Head Crater in the distance. Thanks heaven they won't have to run up that steep slope.
More toilets... let's remember these.

Hawaii Kai looked very pretty. This is a pricey area. No, we sure don't live there. I know somebody that does though.

Back toward Waikiki under the Kalanianaole viaduct

Driving through the very exclusive Kahala neighborhood. I don't know anybody who lives there.... but I know somebody who knows somebody who does. (Yes, I really did take all these photos by sticking my camera out of a moving car.)

More toilets! Let's remember these, too!


Yae! The home stretch down Diamond Head Road to finish the race at Kapiolani Park in Waikiki.

I thought 26.2 miles was rather a long drive but to run it?
Sheesh!

I'll have to get up at 3:30 tomorrow morning (Art will get up earlier) to be ready by 4:15 when Dennis will come to pick us up. The race will start at 5:00 AM.

I think this all started with a challenge to our son, Jon. Art told him that he would run 6 miles in 60 minutes when he turned 60 years old. So Jon... and I know you're reading this. Dad wants you to do the Marathon when you're 65, too! You don't have to finish, but you have to try.

Sheesh!

Happy Chanuka!

Happy Chanuka (or Hanukkah or Chanukah) to all my Jewish friends around the world. For a good explanation of the celebration, please visit my friend, Dina's blog, Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo. Dina is the one who introduced me to many of the Jewish traditions and encouraged me to study mine more carefully.

Art said he noticed on the calendar that it was the first day of Chanuka and thought about it during his run this morning.

We used to have a unit in December in our school district. It was called the Holidays of Lights because so many of the religions celebrate with lights during this time of year when the sun does not shine as much and the world is colder and darker (even in Hawaii... sort of). I remember St. Lucia Day, Kwanzaa, Diwali and of course, Christmas. I loved it that we recognized people around the world.

Therefore, to everybody everywhere, Happiness, Peace and Friendship!

Catching a Cat Nap

My daughter, Tiffany tried to put almost-3-years-old KC down for a nap before the party at their house but she refused to go to sleep. In the middle of the party they noticed that KC was awfully quiet on the chair in a rather strange position.

They looked on the other side...

and were surprised to find she had fallen asleep with her little nene (sleep) blanket tucked under her. Apparently she slept for a half hour, got up and was not exactly happy. I wonder why. I guess she got up on the wrong side of the chair?

Getting Ready for the Marathon

Today was the day for Art to pick up his racing bib, chip and other Marathon goodies at the Honolulu Convention Center.


I noticed these coconut palms inside the Convention Center and figured they were fake. Art checked it out and said they were real. I'm still dubious.

After all that training his day of reckoning (I mean the race) will be here in a few days. It's going to be on Sunday, the 13th. 13 is an auspicious number for our family.

We were supposed to follow the red carpet to get his Marathon things.

And here he is. I can't imagine anybody being happy about torturing your body to run 26 miles but there are thousands of people who come here from all over the world to do just that.

Once he got his things we walked around to see the different stalls selling all kinds of stuff to help you lessen the torture to your body. There were also areas for you to get your photo taken. This young lady wasn't getting too many customers yet. My "tiger" opted not to have his photo taken with the young woman. My camera is good enough for him.

This booth was doing a brisk business.

They were selling things like shoe inserts, plastic support bandages, massages ($1.00 for a minute, 10 minute minimum), food, shoes, raincoats, etc.

Art decided to buy several gels to eat (drink?) during the race.

I was amazed to meet Dane E. Rauschenberg who ran 52 marathon in 52 weeks. I told him I don't even run one mile so I didn't need any pointers. I'm sure not encouraging Art to run more marathons. He's hard to keep up with as it is.

By the way, if you get a chance would you go back to yesterday's post? In today's Honolulu Advertiser there was a photo that was almost exactly like the one I posted. The Advertiser photo was snapped a fraction of a second after Art's. Actually, Art was doing photos on the burst setting so he's got another shot that is almost a duplicate of the newspaper photo. That news photographer, Gregory Yamamoto must have been sitting right in front of us. I have a feeling that camera I took a photo of is his. I've scanned the newspaper photo and added it to my post for fun.

Eddie Aikau Surf Meet: Second Try

Yes, now you know. We are crazy!

We decided to give the Eddie Aikau Invitational at Waimea Bay another try since they said there was a 90% chance that it would run this time. They even said we might have those 50 foot waves. Did I ever tell you how whenever I would attend a Cubs game, they would lose? If I didn't go they had a chance of winning.

We decided to get up a half hour earlier since the newscasters warned that it was going to be even more crowded than yesterday. We got up at 4:40 and was out the door by about 5:20. The roads didn't seem as crowded....at first.

However, as we got closer to Waimea we found the closest space about 30 miles away. OK... fine. Art checked it out on the map. We were actually a mile and a half away. I could have sworn it was twice as far as yesterday's distant spot.
We found people had camped out in sleeping bags. Some were still sleeping. I'll bet they were warm.

It was pitch dark when we got there and COLD. OK, so it wasn't as cold as Chicago where my daughter says it looks like a swirling snow globe. But still, I was in shorts, and it was about 65 degrees. Yes, I know in Chicago we're in tank tops at 65 degrees but my blood must have thinned out because my finger tips were getting numb.

Soon the sun started to come up over the mountain behind us. You can see the shadow in the water. No, this is not my camera. I've already hinted to Art that I need a better one.

I forgot my glasses again! Half the time I couldn't really tell what I was taking a photo of. If you click on this photo you can see the tiny surfers out there.

It looked beautiful across the bay. I wonder who lives there and what would happen to their house if we really did have those 60 foot waves.

The sun coming up gilded the crests of the waves.

The day was clear so they made the decision to do the surf meet. I didn't even realize the meet had started.

When we got there we found there was no good place to stand because it was too crowded, more so than yesterday. I asked a couple of guys if they could both move just a couple of inches and I could get in and not get hit by the cars on the road side of the guard rail. Art stood in the road until the police told him he couldn't stand there. Happily, the two guys beside me encouraged him to join us. I offered them a Kit Kat bar but they weren't hungry.

One fellow was from Brazil. His name is Al. It was fun talking to him. He was using his wife's camera and didn't know how to work it so Art was able to give him a lot of camera advice.
You see. One good turn deserves another.




Don't forget that you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.


We took a gadzillion photos of the meet. Many of these are Art's shots, too.

Sorry about all these photos. I know my son is looking at every one of them very carefully.

















We were surprised to see the photo below in the Honolulu Advertiser the next morning. The photographer who took it must have been sitting very close to us. In fact, we've got another shot that Art took a millisecond after which is almost identical.



By the way, if you enlarge this shot and squint, you'll be able to see the photographer in the water on the left side of the photo. I'll bet I could get better shots if I could swim.

Heading back to our car we saw a long, long line of cars coming to the surf meet. Somebody was very eager to take our mile and a half away parking spot.

During our long trek back to the car, we passed beaches that were closed due to the high surf. They may have been high, but not 50 feet high. Again, I must have jinxed them. On the other hand, they did hold the meet anyway.

You know, the Cubs should be winning by now since I'm no longer living in Chicago.

Postscript: I just heard on the news that the waves were the best many had ever seen today and that conditions for surfing were optimal. Hmmm... I'll bet this happened after we left at 9:30 AM.

Here's the link to the Eddie Aikau Invitational Surfing Meet results.

Not Quiiiiite 50 (or the 60 they forecasted) Foot Waves...

We got up at 5:30 this morning and got ourselves ready for our Killer Wave adventure. When I opened my eyes, I seriously considered going back to sleep. Then I thought of my son, Jon who would be wanting to see what the Eddie Aikau Invitational would be like not to mention waves that big. Poor guy is landlocked in New Mexico.

Here's what I got from the Eddie Aikau website (link is above) for whom the Invitational is now named:

"Eddie's Legacy

By the mid-'70s, Eddie's passion for big wave riding was not his only driving force. The Hawaiian cultural renaissance was in full swing and Aikau was feeling the pull to dig deeper into the roots of his Hawaiian heritage. Following his win of the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational at Sunset Beach in the winter of 1977, his focus shifted to the Hokule'a.

A traditional double-hull voyaging canoe that was the symbol of Hawaiian pride, the Hokule'a represented the cultural connection that Hawaiians were seeking at the time. Eddie was selected to be part of the crew who would sail Hokule'a by traditional celestial navigation from Hawaii to Tahiti in March of 1978. It was to be a 30-day, 2,500 mile voyage across the Pacific, following the ancient route of Polynesian migration.

The Hokule'a set sail on the stormy afternoon of March 16, 1978, in strong winds that were whipping up heavy seas. Not far into the journey, Hokule'a developed a leak in one of her hulls, later capsizing during the night in the Moloka'i Channel. After weathering the night, and with the physical state of crewmembers deteriorating, Aikau insisted upon paddling for the Hawaiian island of Lana'i, estimated to be some 19 miles away. It would be the final rescue attempt of his life. While the crew aboard Hokule'a were later spotted by a passing plane and rescued, Aikau was never seen again. He was two months shy of his 32nd birthday."

We hurridly got dressed and were out the door in 25 minutes remembering to pack sun screen that we didn't use because we never saw the sun.

As we passed through Wahiawa on the way to the North Shore, we saw bumper to bumper traffic. "You don't think they're all headed to Waimea, do you?" I asked Art. He was really trying to not say, "I told you so."

There were no parking spaces close to Waimea Bay where the Surfing Invitational is held so we had to walk at least 10 miles away from where we were parked. OK... fine, Art says it was only a little over a mile.


When we got there we saw that there was already a crowd overlooking the bay. I had to hold my camera over the crowd. There was also a constant drizzle. My camera kept getting wet.

Through the salt water mist and ocean spray we could see spectators on the other side of the bay.

The Invitational platforms and tents had been set up with the expectation that the event would go on because of the promise of consistent big waves. The Invitational takes place only if there are consistent 20+foot waves.


I could see surfers out on their surfboards waiting for the perfect wave.


Photography was extremely difficult and hazardous for our cameras because of the salt water mist.

Still, we managed to catch a few shots of the very brave surfers. I gave Jon a call in New Mexico and described the scene for him, not forgetting to let him know that aside from suffering to give birth to him, I was also braving the rain and surf for him. Yes, yes, he was most appreciative. This is what a mother does for her son. Ummmm.... yes, the father, too.


Art said every time we clicked off a shot we could hear a million shots clicking off next to us from these high powered cameras. I think their photos turned out a smidge better than ours.
After standing in the drizzle for at least a couple of hours, the skies seemed to clear a tiny bit.

The swells were pretty big. My estimate was that they were near 30 feet high. This proves you should never believe anything I say about surfing. The wave sets had very long intervals to wait through.

News and Coast Guard helicopters kept watch. We heard emergency vehicle sirens but we don't know why they came.

We were glad we came early because this is the scene we saw on the 20 mile walk back to our car. My lower back actually HURT a whole lot (this is for Jon) from standing for nearly 3 hours waiting for the next set of waves.

We grabbed a breakfast at (dare I say it?) McDonalds and headed out to Mokuleia Beach to see if they had 50 foot waves. Nope, none there either.


When we got back home Art immediately started washing the salt off the car. We learned then that the Invitational had been postponed due to the heavy salt mist and fog blanketing the area and smaller than expected wave heights. They said the wave heights were about 18 feet. Really? If those waves were 18 feet, can you imagine what 60 would have been like?

Well, they're saying tomorrow could bring 50 foot waves. Would we be crazy enough to go out there again? Would we? Do you think we're crazy?

We'll see.