Thanks, Mike, for posting this! I was thinking this was needed while out on my run today. Come back to find you did it! C'mon Dave... How'd it go? What'd you do? Who'd you see? How was the weather? What'd you wear? How is Arf?? We want details!!!

OK, here it is. the original plan was to spend a week, plans changed and it turned into a whirlwind weekend. We ended up staying at the Pioneer Inn, the closest hotel to the Banyon tree. the world famous 150+ year old Banyon tree fills a whole city block, the aerial roots put down "trunks" all over the block. but it is all one HUGH tree You have never seen anything like it, and you will never forget it. The night of arrival, we enjoyed the feast at Lele The reviews say this may be the best Luau on the island but the protein loading might not be the best marathon prep 4:00 AM we caught the bus to the start. before the race, the opening ceremonies were an interesting chant by the royal Maui canoe club. OM MONI PATMI HUM clap your hands, rub your hands, bow to Hale-akala, repeat five times. still way before sun up, and a bit cold. then, the race director said there was a problem. a car severed a power pole 6 miles from the start. the cops wouldn't let us run the course. he could either re-route us and give us a marathon distance run, but no aid stations for about 10 miles or he could add a mile but keep most of the aid stations. he wisely chose the latter, and said welcome to the first annual Maui oceanfront Ultra The race started way before dawn. Arf took off way faster then I wanted to in a futile effort try to beat the heat. I mildly rolled my ankle in the dark, worried about it for a few hundred feet, then decided it was nothing. I caught arf maybe mile 5 and ran with her the rest of the way. the course was on the shoulder of a busy highway. think Valentines with a LOT of traffic!!! but it was scenic at mile 10 or so, we saw lots of people looking out to sea. we saw a whale broach close to shore we stopped and stared for a long time won't see that at many marathons! but, it was a long hot run, and we are glad we have Hawaii in the bag!! and it was a 27.2 mile marathon, with lots of walking Dave

I've been to that banyan tree - very kewl! But Maui is a hot place to run, all year round I think. Beautiful photos, and thanks for the RR!

I learned that there is only one big marathon in the islands each year, and this wasn't it. a few of the 200 or so marathon runners had run a 50K the day before!!! a 20 miler, 1/2 marathon, 10K and 5K were also offered, maybe a total of 400 runners in all events. Dave

Dave & Arf, you two look wonderful. But, Dave is just way to serious. Great pictures. Sue and I are doing the "other" Maui Marathon in Sept. I don't expect it will be any cooler than yours.. Now we have a couple of spots to hit there. Looks like you had fun.

Arf, our boys were pretty young the last time we were in Maui, but they've been to Hawaii (one island or another) about 5 times... Alaskans go to Hawaii quite a bit. Sure wish you were coming to Seattle in June... what will it take to run a race together, grrl?

Short and to the point with lots of pictures I would love to make it there at some point. Thanks for sharing. I learn so much here besides about running. Banyon trees , new to me but they look really cool. Larry