daHurt 2013

I headed into the hurt this year with minimal training, a cold, and a burning desire to run at least 100 K.   I finished the 100 K, 67 Miles on the hurt course, in about 25 hours, and was satisfied with my run, but the lack of training, particularly a long run, had made me numb to the problems of fatigue related mind-bonks, and I lost a chance at the 100 miler through nothing more than stupidity.

I'm not going to run through the whole race, but will say that the first loop was really fast over a great course.  The second was almost as good but suffered from a 20 minute delay because my water bladder was leaking and I had to change it out.   The third loop just went very badly and I don't know where the time went.  By the time I realized I was slowing it was too late to really make it up and I was running in deficit from there on out.  The fourth loop portion was hard, I couldn't find speed, and I needed it at that point. I have been in that position before and knew what I needed to do.  Lack of training made me hesitant to push myself to the limit and beyond. Realizing this, I slowed far too much on the down into Manoa, and called it a night/morning.

I am still trying to figure out where the 1:30 went that I lost on loop 3.

It was a great race.  Very well managed.  Lots of fun. The aid stations were great, the prep was great, it was one of the best races I've run in. The organizers are to be complemented.  Particularly the aid station staffs.



But it was not really a race for Hawaii runners, as most of my friends were volunteers and not on the course. Many more simply weren't around. This was in part because of injury, but more so do to the difficulty and expense of getting into the race.  It used to be that the HURT was a great reunion of all the runners of the islands.  There was a real meaning to the concept of a running ohana, of sorts.  Those days, unfortunately, have passed.  I lament that, and so do a lot of others, but the central committee seems to revel in it.

There were 10 Hawaii finishers out of 50 in the hundred. The 100 K results were not posted. The 100 K is no longer considered a part of the race, a further restriction on local participation.

The race is all about the fast people now.  What was once a great run to hang with your friends over a very tough course for a good distance is now promoted as a national elite race.  Once again the island runners get the shaft.  If one raises objections, or even questions the orientation of the race one is accused of not having sufficient Aloha spirit; one is disrupting the great running love-in by looking back. More precisely, one is not falling into line.  We have no discussion because the central committee makes the policy and that is that.  

Quite frankly there are too many volunteers, to much stuff at the aid stations, and to much hoopla, for what is just a long run. The race has become expensive and complicated largely because of the 'show' quality built up around it. The added cost, the exclusionary policies, the subtle harassment of people to volunteer over the course of the year, the taxation in the form of trail series money going to support the hurt, is all quite bizarre.

Those who claimed the right to lead in the early years of hurt, and very loudly voiced the desire to make a great local race for local people, have taken that promise and done just the opposite. Many years ago it was proclaimed that the purpose of the hurt 100 was to create a race for local people, a chance to qualify for mainland runs, and an opportunity to have a great time together.  The message was  "Let us all work together to provide ourselves with a quality experience that every island runner can enjoy without going all the way to the mainland." And for many years that's just what  it was.  

There was, however, a moment a number of years back when a decision point was  reached: The race for the 'local runners' concepts could be maintained, or the idea of emulating mainland large races could be pursued   The choice was made to make the hurt 100 like mainland races; to emulate those races and create a venue with national standing.  This decision was made in private by the central committee and any who objected were simply purged. Lesser participants in planning and organization who questioned the change were marked as heretics and told to follow the lead or leave.  There was little public discussion, and any attempts by local runners to raise questions were met with condemnations of having poor aloha spirit or worse, failing in an   understanding of ho'oponopono.

The finances of the organization are tightly guarded despite the '501C3-- Non profit' status.  There is no, nor has there ever been, any attempt to provide the donor community, Hawaii ultra runners, with an annual public accounting of the sources and uses of funds.  This is ironic  considering the fact that the earliest purges within the central committee were centered around accusations of improper accounting for funds. This is not an accusation of mishandling. However, the fact is that a more public disclosure of cash flows of a publicly supported non profit  is  in the community's best interests.   The central committee achieves nothing positive by its refusal to discuss the organization's finances.

I don't think it was realized what the push for greater national recognition would do to local participation in the race.  I don't think the central committee is farsighted enough to understand the full impact of its choices, nor is it sufficiently malleable to change in the face of less than optimal outcomes.

The race has become more technical in terms of registrations, more expensive, more rules, more need for support staff, more volunteers, more runners, more mainlander entries.  Finally the registration was moved to the mainland and Hawaii runners were told they have some priority based on 'kukui nuts'. Which perhaps they do, but the central committee has never clearly explained just how one gets kukui nuts and how many one might accumulate.  (Explanations are irksome and indicate a lose of control. "Trust us" we are told.  Yet the system often appears quite unfair and controversial.)

However, the 'Kukui Nut' fig leaf hasn't stopped the evolution of the race into something that is no longer for Hawaii runners.  The real Hawaii runner participation is now through increased labor and financial support.  Hawaii runners pay the major cost of this run in fees, they volunteer, they do trail work, they are the troops which help make the race possible. Hurt has become just another visitor industry related gig. Mainlanders come to Hawaii for a vacation and entertainment, and the race is just part of that stay. Local runners supply unpaid labor, and largely finance the race entertainment booking during mainlander's vacations in Hawaii.

Not all this in intentional. Some factors are just secondary effects of poorly thought out decisions.  For instance, since the cost of coming from the mainland is very high (airfare, hotel, car, race) , and the cancellation policies very restrictive,  mainland runners face very high drop costs.  Therefore they are very unlikely to drop if they have money on the line.  They may come with the idea of doing 'as best they can' but with the primary goal of having a good family vacation.  Local runners, on the other had, face only the loss of the race fee, or a portion of it.  They are more likely to drop because of injury, or lack of training.  It costs them less.  And the subtle message is that it is un-aloha to run when you know you are not going to do the 100 miler.  Particularly since the 100 K is now defunct.  When a Hawaii runner drops, the likelihood that a mainland runner will take his place is high.  And this runner is less likely to drop once he commits because of the booking costs.  So, as things stand, mainland runners are bound to be more heavily weighted at the start line. This year mainland representation seemed higher than it has been before.

Dropping the 100 K also excludes a lot of Hawaii runners, particularly newer runners and those in the higher age groups. It can be argued that we have the Peacock now as an alternative.  But it still means that there is only one race of 100 K distance in which to qualify for mainland races.  This is no improvement over the past 10 years.  As far as a running experience for people who can not really afford to go to the mainland races, it is actually a reduction in opportunity-- given the increasing popularity of the races and the reduced chance of selection  (The idea that spending a few grand minimum on going to the mainland to run a race is not substantial is just elitist. Not trying to adjust for these high costs through greater local participation at one of the few island ultra events is an abrogation of trust.)

The selection process, despite what we are told, discriminates against local runners.  Objections are met with either scorn or lecturing on the meaning of  aloha and ohana.  There appears to be no attempt to manage the wait list in such a way as to insure higher local participation. Such as allowing  Hawaii runners to replace the Hawaii runners who drop. It's as if local discrimination is with intent.

This is the same kind of 'I shall interpret aloha for you'  jive talk the kings, ali'i and kahuna invoked  on the populace back in the days that are now just so much feel good myth.  It's just a not so subtle form of class prejudice and discrimination.  It's really the exact antithesis of aloha. It's just another way for the overlords to tell the kanakas to get in line, serve the lord, and shut the fuck up.  Which, come to think of it, is really very Hawaiian- in the actual, not the mythical 'feel good', sense.

Despite the fact that the race is very well managed, and that it rivals or exceeds most mainland races in what it provides the runner, it has evolved, and not done so to the betterment of the Hawaii running community.  Too much time is spent on the race and not enough on specifically improving the overall experience of Hawaii runners, the trails we run on, or the community at large. It has become a gigantic annual potlatch of funds and resources. When questioned about this the central committee members become reactive.  However, management by hypocracy is the style of the world today.  Pointing it out is condemned as un-american or, in this case, very un-aloha.