So last Saturday I ran in a 22 mile trail race.
As you can see, our adventure started before dawn.
Eden agreed to be my relay partner and found a ride for us on Saturday morning.
I chose to do the second 11 miles so that Ryan would have time to get to the Pali lookout to see me start.
What I didn't realize was that the first runners goes eleven miles down while the second runner goes... eleven miles
up. And I mean
UP.
You can get an idea of the terrain by looking at this picture of the starting line. It's a pretty dangerous trail. It's very narrow making it impossible to run side-by-side. There's dense forest on one side and a steep drop off on the other. There were loose rocks, trippy tree roots, and some sloppy mud. Almost every runner took a few spills and at the end of the race there were plenty of bloody knees at the finish line. Before the race started Eden asked a man what the trail was like. He told us that this particular trail (22 miles) takes him an hour and half
longer than a marathon (26.2 miles).
Eden was one of the first to finish. You're timed separately each way so we spent a few minutes hanging out at the bottom of the mountain.
Funny-ish story: Eden loves bananas, especially on race days. So the night before she packed her bananas in her bag. Well, during the night a rat got into her bag and ate her bananas. She was pretty upset since we were leaving at 5:30 and the grocery store wasn't open yet. So I called Ryan and told him to pick up some bananas on his way here.
Eden was grateful.
And we're off! Yes, Eden is insane and decided to run the trail up with me as well.
It was a beautiful trail! The views were stunning! Although the forest trails were quite stifling and humid. When you got out to a lookout the breeze was refreshing and the vistas were splendid!
While waiting for us Ryan got some great shots from the lookout!
And we survived! It was grueling. Everything hurt so bad! Yes, I was bawling in this picture. It took us three hours to come up the mountain. I ran about half of it and speed walked the rest, alternating of course.
The spread afterward was great! They had fruit, bread, cookies, brownies, soups, sandwiches, potatoes, rice, and delicious gourmet wraps like Gorgonzola, chicken and pears; grilled eggplant and feta; and black bean and sweet potato.
At a campaign event of course! It was great! Ryan was not at all upset since the food provided was amazingly good. Halfway through the evening they counted over 600 people from the Hauula, Laie, and Kahuku communities. Not bad for a blue state. We saw a lot of friends and heard a lot of great messages! Duke Aiona, candidate for Governor of Hawaii. 
Lynn Finnegan, candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. She finished up the night with a beautiful rendition of "How Great Thou Art". I tell you, that wahine can sing!
Gil Riviere and Richard Fale, candidates for the Hawaii State House. 
Gil Riviere, John Willoughby, candidate for U.S. Representative, and Dawn O'Brien. Dawn is a local radio personality for 95.5 The Fish, a Christian rock station. She was born in Tonga and is half Irish. My favorite quote of the evening, "Being half Irish and half Tongan I have a fiery temper and the body to back it up! Lucky for you I'm a Christian.... that means you have five seconds to run!"
I got to get a picture with John Willoughby. There were other things that went on onstage like hula performances and the Mt. Zion choir (a local Baptist congregation). All-in-all it was a great evening!
(I nicknamed it the dark scary room)
Stony and me again. 
As you can see, our adventure started before dawn.
Funny-ish story: Eden loves bananas, especially on race days. So the night before she packed her bananas in her bag. Well, during the night a rat got into her bag and ate her bananas. She was pretty upset since we were leaving at 5:30 and the grocery store wasn't open yet. So I called Ryan and told him to pick up some bananas on his way here.
