Run To The Sun - Running up Haleakala

I call this a run report because I didn't actually participate in a race but rather ran the same course as the annual "Run to the Sun" on Maui.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.

We had a family vacation planned for winter break (Feb 16-23) on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Just before leaving, a colleague at work who grew up in Hawaii sent me an email about an ultra race up a volcano. A 36.5 mile road run up the volcano starting at sea level and finishing at 10,032 ft on the summit. This sounded really cool so I decided to bring along just enough ultra stuff (bottles, pack, shoes) to try the run.

Race information can be found here: http://www.virr.com/races/run2sun/

I decided to attempt it on Friday (Feb 22) to allow myself at least a couple of days to get acclimated to the heat and inspect the course. I drove up to the summit on Tuesday with my son to view the final 22 miles of the course on highway 387. Lots of switchbacks taking you from 3500 ft to the summit. Once you start on the crater road you are basically on your own as there are no services on this road.

My plan was the following: drop water at mile 10 and 20 (mile marker 5 on the crater road). My wife and sister-in-law would meet me near the entrance station (mile 26 of the run) and act as crew/pacer for the last 11 miles. I drove the lower part of the course on Thursday afternoon and hid my water in the grass near the road at the above mentioned points.

Friday: I awoke at 3AM and drove to the Maui Mall in Kahului to start the run. I parked in front of the Longs drug store and started running at 3:46 AM. It was a full moon and I barely needed my headlamp. The run starts on the Hana Highway and then after a mile you are on the Pulehu road for the next 12 miles. This section takes you from sea level to about 3500 ft to the town of Kula. It is a small road in the sugar cane fields. It was a clear morning and I could see the outline of Haleakala in the distance. My only concern on this part of the course was the traffic. I only saw a dozen cars and they were all going "downhill". I arrived at my 10 mile water cache after 1:45 of running. A little slower than I hoped but I was playing it a little conservative as I had no idea how my water would last on this part of the course. The next few miles to the town of Kula has a few steep climbs before a short downhill section to the crater road turnoff and the final 21 mile climb to the summit. I was able to turn off my headlamp near mile 14 of the run. The view of the island during the early morning hours was incredible and the watching the island wake up in the morning was a special treat.

I started up the final 21 miles just before I finished 3 hours of running. I knew I had at least another 4 hours of running ahead of me and 6500 feet of climbing. The crater road is kind of a circus. You see huge tour buses, convertible cars (only tourists drive them), downhill bikes, and I even saw a guy on a skateboard. The downhill bikers are a real spectacle. Full face helmets and rain jackets on 40lb cruiser bikes outfitted with special brakes. For a fee, the outfitter drives you up to 6500 feet and you get a 10 mile downhill ride on a bike. I'm sure I looked as strange running up the mountain as they do riding down it. I picked up my second water cache after mile marker 5 and continued on. The sun was now on me and it started to heat up. The sky was still totally clear and I started to get concerned about the heat. I arrived at the entrance station and paid my $5 entrance fee and continued to the visitor center. My crew would be arriving at any moment now and I pressed a little harder to make some more distance before they arrived.

About a mile after the visitor center my crew arrived and went ahead to the next pull out to wait for me. They had fruit and fresh water for me. I dropped my pack off and refueled before starting off with my sister-in-law to finish the last 9 miles of the climb. My wife would have 2 more aid stations for us before waiting for us at the summit parking lot. Up until 7000 ft I had only walked a few brief sections when I was eating food. Now I had to take a few more walking breaks due to the altitude. Not that my running at this point was much faster than my walking, but every little bit helps. We were also high enough now to get a nice breeze to keep us cool in the high altitude sun. We even saw a few small patches of snow along the road in the shade from the previous weeks storm. We continued our slow but steady climb up the mountain and before I knew it we were on the final stretch to the Haleakala visitor center and the final climb to the summit.

The final climb to the summit went faster than I expected and before I knew it we were climbing the stairs to the summit observation deck. My total time was 7:47. I posed at the summit for a few pictures and then I sat down to get off my very sore feet. 36 miles of pavement had taken its toll on me. I could see way down on the valley floor the town of Kahului where I had started early in the morning and I was very happy to be on the other end of the view.

If you are in Maui and have an extra day (and a willing crew), I would recommend the Run to the Sun. Haleakala now holds a special place in my memories.

Logistics for a (mostly) solo run:
- Start early (4 AM) and have a headlamp.
- Have at least two water caches (10 and 20 miles) and a crew for the final 11 miles (cell phones work on the entire run)
- Bring all your food for the first 4-5 hours in a pack. I had 4 bars and two muffins with GU2O in my running pack.
- Drive the course before running it so you don't get lost.

Tech note: I ran with a Forerunner 305 and heart rate monitor. It recorded the entire distance without a problem. 36.57 miles, 10982 ft ascent. 948 feet descent, 145 bpm average heart rate, 12:47 min/mi average pace, 4583 calories burned.