A Runner at Heart.....Riding a Bike

It was 70 degrees and humid, but luckily there was a good breeze this morning.  I ran 10.06 miles and probably lost my body weight in sweat!!!  This sea-level running is awesome though!!!

It was 69 degrees this morning but did not feel quite as hot because of the clouds.  I ran 10.09 miles, dripping wet again.

Now off for a day of zip-lining through the rain forest.

WOW!!!  This was an incredible day.  We drove over to Makawao which is up in the Eastern mountains of Maui.  We spent the next 3 hours zipping through different sections of the rain forest on the Piiholo ranch.  The last line was over 1/2 mile long and you reached speeds in excess of 40 mph while flying 1000 ft over the valley floor!!!

It was 69 degrees and humid again.....surprise.  I left earlier than normal this morning.  I am not used to dodging school buses at 6:15am.....these Maui kids go to school early.  I ran up to Kapalua again but I caught the Coastal Trail after mile 4 and it was great.  There was a 1/2 mile section that was pretty technical because it was nothing but lava rock with markers so you knew where to go.  I had a great time.  I ran 10.13 miles.

Today we drove down to Wailea and went on a sailing canoe trip on the ocean.  We sailed out to a reef and went snorkeling for a while then sailed back.  The sailing was good because it was windy, but the rough water also made the snorkeling visibility marginal.

It was 72 degrees this morning.  It had rained last night so everything was wet and I knew it would get real muggy as soon as the sun broke through.  I stated off before the sun came up and had a good 7-8 miles in before the sun finally made an appearance.  I ran up the same direction as yesterday but went further, completing the trail and actually running another ridge trail that had switchbacks and climbed pretty good.  I got a great, hilly workout today and needed to stick my head under the water fountain around mile 9 just to keep my sanity.

I ran 14.02 miles with some very strong miles on the way back.  I felt awesome......sweaty, but awesome.

Today we drove up to the North shore just to explore a bit and walked a couple of miles while getting some awesome pictures of the huge waves.  Then we drove over to Iao valley to explore.  It is a tropical valley that is just incredible.

Tonight we went on a sunset dinner cruise out of Lahaina.  We saw several whales as we headed out and watched the sunset over Lana'i.  It was a great evening.

It was 73 degrees when this morning.  It started to rain lightly when I began my run, then it started raining harder.  By the end of mile 1 I was totally soaked like I had already run 10.  Luckily it slowed down.  I ran 10.03 miles easy.

We took a trip today to Waihe'e valley for a hike in the rainforest.  The climates on Maui are just amazing.  Where we were hiking they get almost 400" of rain per year and yet 7 miles away the leeward coast gets only 15".  We hiked about 5 miles roundtrip and had to cross 4 swinging suspension bridges and ford 4 creeks.  We got muddy and wet but had a great time spotting waterfalls and seeing some amazing plant life.

I did not have time for a run today.  We left our condo at 5:30am to head to Kihei to began our full day trip.  We got on a powered ocean raft that held about 20 people.  We cruised down around the South end of the island to explore volcanic ocean caves and see sights that a lot of people do not get to see because there are no roads in that area.  On the way down we saw a pod of spinner dolphins that cruised by our boat.  When we got on the south side the swells were at least 10 feet high and we were getting soaked.  It was well worth it as the sights were incredible.  Our driver was able to get us in and out of these huge caves even with the high surf.  It was amazing!

Our first snorkeling spot was at an underwater lava rock formation that was full of coral and really cool fish.  Then we headed out to Molikini, which is a partially submerged crater with only about 1/3 or the circle above the water.  It is a very popular snorkeling spot and there were several other boats there.  We snorkeled there for a while and it was great.  These huge fish would come right up to you.  Then we boated around to the back side of the crater where most of the other boats don't go.  The back side has a huge coral reef right next to a 300 foot drop-off.  There was one section right next to the wall they call the "elevator".  When you are in there you literally go up and down over 10 feet with the rise and fall of the surf and take a ride with the fish.  It was unbelievable. 

After Molikini we headed back to another bay and spotted some sea turtles.  Several of us were actually able to swim right up to this huge turtle and take his picture while we were in the water.  I can't wait to see how my pictures turned out.  The turtle swam with us a bit and then submerged slowly and out of sight.

On the way back in we saw some humpback whales so the driver turned off the motors and we watched them breach and blow water for a while.  There was a group of 3 of them, a mother, a baby, and an escort.  They come to Hawaii to have their young and then head to Alaska for the summer so we were lucky enough to catch them before their trip.  The driver then dropped an underwater microphone over the side and we could hear their whale songs even as they got farther and farther away.  He said you could hear the sounds underwater for up to 2 miles.

We had lunch on the boat so we were not very hungry when we got back to shore.  We decided to head over to a local beach before our almost 1 hour drive back to our condo.  We swam in some HUGE waves and got swept to shore a couple times and had to be careful to not get hurt. 

All in all it was an awesome and exhausting day.

It was 73 degrees and raining off and on this morning.  I was glad for the overcast and rain after my sunburn from yesterday.  I ran up to the Kapalua trail for the last time and ran to the end and came back.  It was beautiful again with the waves crashing on the shore and the wind keeping me cool.  I ran 10.36 miles.

We fly home tonight after a great trip.  We will definitely come back here again.....