Fun Day out on the Trails

With this weekend's predicted big rain, I was not sure what to expect for a Saturday training session. All week I had debated what to do–see there was a 12 hour MTB race out at Kualoa Ranch from Noon to Midnight scheduled too. I told Barbi if I was going to do anything for 12 hours, I had better run. Still the bike race sounded fun! My day did not start off too promising when I overslept by an hour. I called Cheryl at about 5:15 a.m. and she was already at the start. She said it was pouring as it was in Kailua as well and that I might want to consider just running in the garden. I really needed to get out on the trails so…I prepped for the worse. I packed up my things including a hat (I usually wear a visor), my Moeben arm sleeves, a Buff, and my Patagonia rain jacket and my wet trail day shoes. I also took the time to coat my feet with A & D Ointment. I learned that one from Ultra running legend Bob Murphy.

By the time I got to the start it was daylight out and I ran into Brenda, Ryan and ?. At this point it was not raining much–I even took off my rain jacket as I was warming up as we headed up to the falls. The trails were not in bad of shape at all as I made my way over to Nuuanu. I had certainly seen worse. Hmmm-things were looking up. I passed a bunch of people on the way into Nuuanu, Rex, Bozo, the N.S. boys, Rob, and as I got toward the bottom, Fish and Jeff. I thought it was strange that I didn't see Kat or Cheryl?? I passed Larry heading down as I headed up out of Nuuanu. My run from Nuuanu to the Nature Center was pretty uneventful–again the trails were in good shape. There was some wind though and it was pretty cool up on the ridges. I was glad I had my jacket. Fish and Jeff were at the Nature Center. I didn't spend a lot of time here and I again commented on not seeing Kat or Cheryl. They thought it was strange too that I had not passed them. Jeff wanted to head back out for a reverse trek loop so we headed up Hogsback. The last comment I made to to Fish and Jeff was, Wow, we've been lucky the rain has held off so far!! That would soon change dramatically.

Jeff and I chatted a bit down low on Hogsback but the last I heard
was him getting a call on his cell phone and I never saw him again. I
powered on up and headed over the crossover. It soon started to rain
and rain some more. By the time I got to Kalawahine it was a river. In
many places I was running through above ankle water on the trail. I
made my way to the turnoff to go up the switchbacks of the Cliff trail
to get to the Map room. This part of the trail was like running up a
river. The water moved from ankle deep to knee deep in many places and
it was cold. I was amazed at how much water was running off the
hillsides. I was really chilled by the time I got to the Map room so I
pulled out my sleeves and buff and put them both on. It really made a
difference. As you can imagine the water heading down to the Flats was
gushing. I knew I was approaching one area that I had seen have deep
rushing water in the past. There is an area in the Bamboo as you
approach Aihualama just before Leon's pie stand. I had never seen the
water so wide, deep and fast here. I moved in staying close to the
uphill bamboo so I could grab it if need be. The water got up to about
thigh deep moving through here. 

As I headed down Aihualama, the
trail was in pretty good shape surprisingly. There was still an
incredible amount of water moving through various sections of it,
especially as I got down low. Again, I went through some knee deep
sections. At this point, as I got near Manoa Falls, it was roaring. The
falls were creating their own wind and the mist was blowing out. It was
too wet to get my phone out for a photo. Surprisingly there were a few
crazy people up here checking out the falls. I headed down thinking I
was done for the day, not really wanting to go back out in these
conditions by myself. However as I got almost to the bottom I ran into
Mike M. and Leon. Mike was just heading out for a short trip as he had
done 20 miles on Friday night and Leon was finished. I told Mike I had
really wanted to get 40 in but had already decided I was not going back
out by myself. He said he would go with me so we decided to head to
Nuuanu. So…that's was we did–an over and back. The rain had let up
and it was really quite pleasant out there. We had a few deep water
crossings on the way over but most of it was running off fast. There
were some great waterfalls in Nuuanu. 

I found out later that
Cheryl had taken Kat sight-seeing up the trail that over looks
Nuuanu off the Flats trail and that was where I must have missed them.
I didn't get in 40 but what I did was better than if I had not gone out
at all–especially since I learned the MTB race (surprise!) had been
postponed.

Thanks Mike for getting me back out there!!