Running enlightenment
Pretty much the only people on the road at 4:30 in the morning are drunken revelers heading home from the clubs or warped folks heading out to an endurance event. Despite our best intentions, it’s been years since egeekette and I have gone clubbing. Instead, this past Sunday morning we were driving the length of Oahu so we could run around in circles for several hours at the Runner’s HI Kalaeloa 20K.
Kalaeloa doesn’t have any street lights and the registration tent was lit by one portable spotlight so there were hundreds of bleary-eyed proto-runner zombies shuffling around in the dark. The good news is that this year there were porta-potties near the start so people didn’t have to pee in the bushes like last year. The bad news is that they were 100 yards down the road from the registration tent. If you were paying attention, you’ll have noticed that that means 100 yards AWAY from the one source of light on that end of the island. And yes, using a porta-potty in pitch blackness is just as bad as you can imagine.
This year the 20K (12.4 miles for the Americans) race was three loops instead of the traditional two. This change meant that I got lapped even earlier than last year by the race leaders and I had to step over the same roadkill (kitty I think – it was hard to tell) 2 more times than I really wanted to.
Each loop became a stage of running enlightenment, just not quite in the right order.
- Loop #1: Darkness (Ignorance) – Where the hell am I going?
- Loop #2: Dawn (Bliss) – Enjoying each moment. Cool morning air and pretty colors in the sky.
- Loop #3: Sunrise (Awareness) – Heat. Pain. This sucks.
I can’t complain too much though. We both survived the run and PR’d the distance to boot. Best of all, we headed over to Jurison’s in Waikele for breakfast afterwards for fried rice omelet with pork adobo and kim chee. Woo hoo!
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By Derek, September 11, 2008 @ 1:14 am
So I guess Jurison’s doesnt cure their own ham?
By egeek, September 11, 2008 @ 7:21 am
Nope Jurison’s service was downright speedy. They’re on the list of Favorite Breakfast Places That Aren’t in Town (FBPTAT). We’ll have to try Koa Pancake House in Wahiawa since the time we visited the one in Aiea was pretty good from what I remember.
By Derek, September 12, 2008 @ 10:32 am
for a FBPTAT, have you tried Kimo and Boots in Kailua for pancakes?
By Kendra, September 14, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
I’ve always enjoyed the Koa Pancake House in Kaneohe — although I don’t enjoy the wait. And there’s also Cinnamon’s in Kailua. I love their breakfast skillet — it starts with potatoes, then you can add something like 2 or 3 ingredients, and you can add sauces or cheese, and I think it’s topped with an egg.