Another Night 20

A bit of an overstatement as Fish and I headed out at 2:30 or so, but it ended in the dark and as far as I am concerned that qualifies. Especially so since the down and out of Nu'uanu was a lone night trek.

It was much of a mirror image run of Wednesday. We were out and moving up Hogsback and I told Fish to go on as I was stiff and sore and feeling my age a bit. He moved off up that hill like I was indeed near 60. Sometimes it is embarrassing when you give your friends leave to leave you behind. By the time I hit the top of Hogback fish was gone, his bell was not to be heard, and my long 'Cooo' went answered. But it was a late afternoon on the trails and it was beautiful with just perfect conditions in temp, and trail. The birds were out, the sun was moving into the southwestern sky and the breezes were light.

I pushed on passing the occasional hikers, and just trying to loosen up. My goal was an hour to the Kalawahine Trailhead on Tantalus. That is a reasonable time, nothing great, but within the 6.5 hour range for a loop. Each section seemed to come a bit easier, my legs moving a bit more smoothly, and the initial overreaction of my body to the strain of the climb up Hogsback, drifting of in the routine of the constant push up the long inclines of Mangos and Nahuina. Forty minutes into the loop and I was trying to recover from the slow start, plotting my recovery and planning for a six hour finish.

I hit the road at 55 and was a good distance down Kalawahine by 1:00. I pushed on hoping to get to the Kalawahine/Manoa Cliffs intersection by 1:15. That didn't happen, but I was close and the next goal was the Maproom by 1:30. The trails were beautiful, the soft leaves brushing my body and face as I push on. The land excused me for my haste, accepting my appreciation and awareness for what they were. Man is not all bad. We belong in the forest, and are a part of it, just as other living creatures. We just get stupid. Misunderstanding the power of our awareness. Laying claim to what is not ours. The right to carve out a home is not the right to carve up our home.

I pushed up Manoa Cliffs feeling a better awareness of the sections in this direction and making the Map Room at around 1:30 I believe. The times are unclear and I only remember I was satisfied and pushed on toward the Pie Stand. Coming down out of the cut-off I came up on a couple of girls. I stepped on a branch and they jumped. We laughed and I commented that the spirits would not come out until after dark. They said they were afraid of Pigs. Make noise I said, they are afraid of you more than you are of them. We parted as I pushed on. I made the Pie stand in about 10 minutes.

So what is a good time down into Paradise. I don't know. I must have hit the piestand around 1:40 or less. I pushed down reaching the Falls at perhaps 2:00 or so. I know I made the Paradise turnaround at 2:17. One the way back up I ran into Fish! He had gone out to the Bench and the tried to catch me. He was having water bladder problems, the mouthpiece was leaking. He told me he was going to cut the run short. We pushed out of Manoa. Fish at my heels, telling me how good I was doing. We made the top near 3:05. Near the top we had passed Dougy and a friend. I felt better about heading down into Nu'uanu alone knowing there were others behind me.

Fish and I parted at the three-way on Pauoa flats, I headed off toward the Bench racing the sunset. I was hoping to see it go down from the Grassy knoll. I rounded the corner a few minutes late. I reached the bench at 3:25 or so, took a couple of minutes to get my night gear ready, take electrolytes, and gel. Then it was down into Nu'uanu. The sky was bright, but I was using my light fairly quickly, the thick covering making it dark almost as quickly as the sun set.

Down near the Enchanted Forest I spotted a couple of lights ahead. It took me a moment to realize it was a cat. Then another. I moved on down into the bottoms of Judd Trail. I made the bamboo turnaround at around 4:05 or so. Pushing back up. I came up on Doug and his friends near one of the bottoms. We talked briefly and then I was back alone, thinking about my breathing, and pushing to get out.

The bottoms are hard. Rooty and always slippery, they are dark and eiry. You hit the first section of Norfolk pines and think you are out, only to find yourself back in that rooty muddy terrain and dropping back into the muddy courses. It is always a relief to hit that definite up and the turn the rises up high enough to convince an uncertain mind that you are finally into the forest and climbing out. It is push hard to the Judd/Nu'uanu trail intersection.

I used to dread that first section up the Nu'uanu trail. And when I am tired I still do, but on a 20 it is not so hard anymore. All the forest is just the first section of the up. One third of the trip, which is divided into thirds all the way to the top it seems. Hit the top of the Forest and the next goal is the look-out on the ridge. The lower section is easier, more runnable, or at least walkable and there are few major problems. Round the ridge and one long slope brings you to a steep switch, and then the Rockwall. Climb the rock wall, negotiate the difficult up and around, and move one. Before you know it you hit Slippery Rock. The rockwall and slippery rock are the only places on the trial where a rope is really helpful. Up slippery rock and we are into the second third of the last third. The switch backs are fairly easy until the last run where two sections are rocky and steep, and often slippery. Then its round the bend and Five Minutes, the final ridgeline climb awaits. I managed to do five minutes in four and was at the top by 5:00.

It is here that the reality of the run always seems to come home to rest. There are no more tales to believe. The final long run toward the Nature Center is hard to dicker with. You can only read it a few ways. To make a six from the bench at 5:00 is almost impossible for me.
It can be done, but you either have to be facing a cut, or just plain crazy. Doing it at night is almost impossible. But I always try an convince myself I can.

So I pushed out and made it to the Flats three-way at 5:10 and the Map Room at 5:20. The question is can I make it to the Bench by 5:40? If I can make it to the bench at the top of Hogsback at 5:40 then I have a chance to make it to the bottom by 6:00 because I have had loops of 36, 37,38 and that was with an 18 or so hogsback. So the push is no to make it down the Manoa cliffs trail as fast as possible. At night that calls for a lot of concentration. With 15 hard miles under the belt it calls for even more concentration. I made it to road in around 20, just a bit less, and am pushing for 6:05 now. Moleka is always the spoiler here. You got to run it flat out. Its hard. The darkness of the bamboo, the overgrowth, the narrow turning trails and open cliffsides, that lung firing surge up trashbacks. I throw caution to the wind and just run as fast as I can, the light hitting th roots, my feet guessing. I hit the Bench at 5:45.

In the daylight with no miles behind me 20 minutes is doable from the bench. 6:05 is there. I don't have any times that come close to a 15 from the bench. So now I am fighting to keep a 6:05 and looking at a 6:10. But it means all concentration, all thought, nothing but the run.
That is hard to keep going. I find myself walking up Easies. Push, and breath. Each section, a glance at my watch. The darkness broken only by the cone of light skipping over the roots and rocks of the trail. The sound of my breathing becoming gasping. Then down Rooty Run to the stream, and the need to make it down Center Trail in ten minutes or less.

I pull out all the stops, take chances. Slide here, slip there, knock a root, stumble, keep pushing. And I hit the bridge at 6:07. Run all out up, around, over the second bridge, it is seconds I'm looking at now. Knowing that 2:00 from the Norfolks doable. Push down the last few hundred yards. Cross the concrete bridge and hit my stop watch to see a 6:10:24. OK. ok. ok.

A 6:10 HURT loop with a lot of it in the dark. Its one to remember. Among my five best in that category.

Fish Pushes Me Through a Tuff Night Loop

....I've tried to present only finished pieces on this blog and I find it is not working. From now on its just the rough cut.

Wednesday, November 26th.

We met at 5:45 and were on the trail by 6:10 or so, heading out of the nature center just as the last of the day hikers stumbled toward the trail head. It was a slow go at first as my body was tight and sore from a day's yard work. But after we hit the top of Hogsback, I felt better and pushed harder making it a goal to hit Tantalus road by 60 minutes. It was dark by then and we were using our lights, but the trails were in good shape; soft and muddy in places but few slick points and very little standing water. I just pushed into the mud and fast walked the cross-over and then up Mango's. Nahuina was good with only the Banana patch really having any muddy and slippery sections. We made the 800 foot climb quickly and were at the road in under an hour. We pushed down Kalawhine in the dark, taking much of the trail from memory as the overgrowth blocked the path. We made the bottom of the Manoa Cliffs trail in about 1:15 and pushed up the switchbacks through the muddy ginger groves. At times The lights of the harbor cast an Orange light in the sky and reflected of the heavy growth, then the trail would wind around the back of Pu'u Ohia and the sky would darken. All the while two planets stood out one above the other in the southwestern sky. On this moonless night they were the brightest objects in the sky, and remarkably beautiful. We hit the Map room at the Threeway at about 1:30, and dropped down the cut-off heading for Paoa flats. The trail was a bit slippery, but the fast-walk pace I was maintaining allowed us to move quickly through these points.

My goal was to drop into Manoa and hit Paradise by 2:30, which was a 6.50 hour pace. The night was beautiful, and there was little dew. The rocks and treacherous passages of the Ahuilama were easy to move through. We hit the bottom section and pushed hard, making the falls trail somewhere before 2:00. The falls trail was slick, and the big drops of the man made steps took a heavy toll on my knees, slowing us down a bit. We hit the gates and jogged toward Paradise, making the turn at 2:15.

I was worried that I had drained myself pushing so hard after a slow start. Rightly so and I bonked a bit as we headed back up the trail. I sucked gel, and ate two bars, dropped an electrolyte and sucked a lot of water. It slowed me down, sapped my energy momentarily, but I needed the fuel. The Manoa falls trail was hard. At the turn onto Ahuilama I felt the energy surge and we pushed hard making the top by 3:00, I was setting the pace, as Fish could leave me anytime. I drew a bit of courage every time I broke away from him, but it was a sham. We had played the game dozens of times, and I knew he'd be at my heels just as soon as I flagged a bit. We ran into 'The Joker' and 'Robin' near the top of the Ahuilama. They were finishing a loop and were going to head out for at least another ten. I knew by then that 20 was my goal and any hope of a thirty was out of the question.

We made the grassy knoll by 3:15 or so and took the down fast for a night run, making the turn around the bamboo at 4:00 or so. We checked our water and figured we had enough to make it back to the Nature Center. I figured the 40 oz I had could be babied. We pushed back up, the trail seeming a bit slippery in places and I had to adjust my stride to hit more flat footed to compensate for the many slides. At the Judd trail as stopped and Fish headed up. I chased him pushing to catch his light, but it was gone from site by the time we hit the break-out on the ridge that divides the upper and lower sections.

The trial was less friendly on my own. Maybe its Fish's bell that chases the darker spirits away, or just the solitude of moving through the dark forest. But it is always tougher to do these sections on your own in the night. I pushed hard but my energy was flagging. I hit five minute hill and despite my attempt to push did not hit the top well into six minutes. Fish's silhouette was a welcome site as I came up onto the grassy knoll. Time showed 4:40. I was satisfied. A few gear adjustments and we headed out. The major climbs were over. Now it was just to the top of Manoa Cliffs and the charge back to the Nature Center.

As we made the turn at Pauoa Flats we ran into the guys, who were heading into Nu'uanu on a final 10 mile repeat. We pushed on making the Map room by 5:00 or a bit after. It was all downhill. The cliffs was in good shape and we did some very fast paced walking and were up and out through the strawberry guava and heading down to the road. I looked at my watch and realized we would need to do a fast day pace to get down before 6:00. It was out of the question. But my hope was to get in before 6:15. I pushed at every piece of ground I could find. But six hours was creeping up on the clock and my body and I began to slip and trip at regular intervals. My water was holding out, but my feet were loosing their daring. I had to slow a bit to avoid a fall. We came out of trail head at at about 6:12. I was satisfied with that for a night loop. I may have done better, but I don't remember it. I only have a few sub-sixes to my credit. and my first loop two years ago was a 6:15.

To give you an idea of the difference, and patience of Fish, his comment was that he "always liked to walk at least one night loop before the race to get an idea of the pace." There is no doubt that we did a fast walk loop. For me it was about as fast as I could negotiate; for fish is was a good workout but nothing he couldn't walk 30 minutes or more faster.