Without the MNLJ around, I haven’t been hitting the booze much (we drank for 16 days straight so this hiatus is welcomed with open arms) which means I am able to do things on Sunday morning that involve physical activity. Things I wouldn’t even fathom doing back East after say, a 7AM night at Mona’s like the MNLJ had on Saturday night…he was in bed after me WITH the 6 hour time change.
So this fine Sunday I decided it was time to run the Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path. It is 4.1 miles from end to end so 8.2 if you go there and back. The path wraps around the ‘Coconut Coast’ which comprises the Eastern shore of Kauai. I woke up to the roosters cooing at 6:20 AM, had a delightful bowl of yogurt with papaya & honey-roasted macadamia nuts, hopped in the ‘stang and hit the road. With Bob Marley resonating from my car’s dope sound system and my blonde pony blowing in the wind, I drove 20 miles to the head of the trail:
the beautiful beginning
A few noteworthy things happened during this epic undertaking:
1) I was off to a great start. This was by far the most beautiful and breathtaking run I had ever been on. Winding turns brought me around and through private beaches and I got a front row view of many ridiculous ocean-front mansions. I was thinking to myself, is this what running is like in Heaven? I felt like I was floating, light as a feather….until I realized that the floating feeling was more like light-headedness and that I no longer was in Heaven, I was overheating, much like you would do if you were running in Hell. Luckily I was hitting mile 4 which brought me back to my car where I dumped a Nalgene’s worth of H20 over my head,. I proceeded to drink another full Nalgene while contemplating quitting but put my best (left) foot forward and carried on for the 2nd half.
2) Along the way I passed signs like this:
watch out!
Lesson here: When rocks are falling, dance like Blondie:
you can also yell out a woo or two
3) I also saw things like this:
just your average hawaiian sitting in a tree, not an unusual sighting
4) And to top it off I saw this around mile 6:
You may be wondering why this is a noteworthy spotting…a trailer with the word Unlimited on the side?? Well the humor here is that this was my office for the past 5 weeks. It was towed from the St. Regis parking lot on Friday (an eye-sore such as this is no longer welcome on the property – hotshots from Starwood ordered it gone before the employees started). I have noticed that the Hawaiian culture is not one of urgency so my guess is that the tow driver decided to stop for a surf and never picked it back up. Classic.
5) I trekked on in the 88 degree blazing sun for the final 2 miles, passing many a bikers, joggers, and walkers, most of whom offered up an “aloha”. I leave you with a final victory fist pump back at the ‘stang. I lived to tell the story of the 8.2 mile journey along the Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path.
shortly before this picture was taken, a dread-locked hippie by the name of judah introduced himself to me and asked in a pot-induced haze if my car was fast. when I replied ‘yes’ he said “coooool, see you around” and kept on walking
Mahalo!
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