I’m not sure why I thought this would be a good idea, 140 miles on pavement without any resupplies. But it seemed like a good excuse to catch some sun during the winter. It’s also a super historic route, formally being a seven person relay running race from 1968 to 2005, that in 1978 apparently became the bike leg of the original Ironman race, (before it moved to the Big Island.) After about 2 months of sauna training (and a little more road running) I flew to Honolulu on January 11.
I started the next day from a random point on the route in Waikiki close to where I was staying, alternating 2 miles of walking with 1 mile of jogging. I went clockwise, timing my route to get through Ka’ena Point State Park before it “closed” at 7pm. I’m still not sure if this nighttime closure applies to pedestrians or only to vehicles. People seem to be pretty relaxed here about these things. Several of the beaches had signs saying the “park” was closed during certain hours, but then more signage saying this only applied to “parking” a vehicle and that pedestrians were welcome anytime.
I used a 12 liter vest (photo) with 2 liters of water storage capacity. This was mainly for the dry western tip of the island, the only point on the route without roads. I had made a spreadsheet ahead of time with my best estimates of where fresh water would be available from a public water source, or streams where I could filter (to stay within the unsupported guidelines.) This proved to be somewhat challenging as not all running water at the beaches is potable, sometimes the water fountains don’t work, and sometimes the Google Street View car can’t see them especially if they’re located behind a bathroom lol. By my best estimate, there would be a 17 mile dry stretch at Ka’ena. I filled up with 2 liters but it wasn’t close to enough. I was very dehydrated by the time I found another water fountain. I was a little concerned I wouldn’t bounce back from the dehydration but I took it slow and was fine.
A note on route discrepancies. Alyssa ran the outer trail on Ka’ena Point because she “wanted to do the full perimeter” even though the current route on the FKT site cut that trail off. I followed Alyssa’s route because I liked her reasoning and it is indeed closer to the outer edge of the island. There are however a few other places where the route could be pushed closer to the ocean that she didn’t take. Some of these are residential loops that would feel somewhat contrived. The goal may be to follow the old route of the Oahu Perimeter Relay race, however the link to their route map doesn’t seem to work anymore.
I also followed a paved public road (that adds a minimal distance) around mile 30 instead of following a gravel road paralleling an old railroad grade, since there were signs implying that this grade was private property. But then there were other signs implying that this might just apply to vehicles, not pedestrians. There are also Strava segments on this corridor, and a decent amount of heat map activity, so it certainly gets used. More research might be needed if we want to come to a consensus on this.
I tried to prepare ahead of time but was woefully ill prepared for what that much road running would feel like. I now have a whole new appreciation for Badwater. I think my biggest mistake was not playing around with more cushioned shoes ahead of time. The thinner shoes I used work great for me for marathons and shorter distances. But by the time I got to around mile 60 it felt like someone was tapping the bottom of my foot with a 2x4 every time I took a step. This did not improve. I think this was the most consistent physical pain I’ve put myself through.
My nutrition went well, I used 9600 of the 9800 calories I brought, mostly chews, gels and bars. I would probably bring more powder next time since there was a lot of water that didn’t need to be filtered.
I slept for about 25 minutes. My pack was getting light enough to run pretty decent during the 80s and 90s, and my feet didn’t actually hurt more while running. Sleep wasn’t an issue until the second night. Then it really slowed me down the last 20 miles or so. The weather was fine, just warm. It sprinkled every few hours or so, but not enough to cause extra chaffing. The island is absolutely gorgeous. I'm still surprised by the steepness of the gorges carved out of the mountains! I probably saw more than 1000 homeless people along the beaches, concentrated somewhat on the southwest side of the island, but no one gave me any issues. I only had two small dogs lunge at me. Traffic really wasn’t bad. There were a lot of cars but where there weren’t sidewalks the shoulders were generally large and countless vehicles stopped for me at crosswalks. Still, I think I’m going to mainly stick with trails for a while. This is my longest unsupported effort so far and hopefully will be good practice for some longer unsupported things. I finished just after 1:00am Tuesday morning, then flew back later that afternoon.