Adventures of the Templin Family: Go for a Run (in Hawaii)

It has been some time since I've added to my "Do awesome stuff, get paid" series, however, I've had a couple of great flights of recent with the AF Reserves and thought I should share.

Diamond Head

About a month ago, I was preparing for my evaluation. What better way to prepare for an evaluation than to shadow a fellow coworker getting their evaluation on an overnight trip to Hawaii. The Mai Tais were flowing at the end of a long day while enjoying some live music and the sunset at the famous Hale Koa Barefoot Bar.

You may or may not know that I'm training for a marathon. Even in paradise, the training schedule must grind on. Lucky for me, paradise also offers great routes for marathon training. With some help of a fellow distance runner, I plotted a course that would take me around Diamond Head. I'd never been closer to the volcano than Waikiki beach, so this would be a real treat. If all went well, I would also hike the trail to the top of Diamond Head and enjoy the views. The only drawback was I had to rise at 6am to complete my run on time. Remnants of the Mai Tais almost didn't let me get out of bed, but once I was on the road, everything went smoothly.

Above is the route I mapped and ran - excluding the trail on Diamond Head. I used GMap Pedometer to determine the course and distance. As I don't have a camera on my phone, I didn't get any of the spectacular photos from the view at the top. Google image search "Diamond Head hike" and you will get to see roughly what I was treated to that morning.

Since I had never ben to Diamond Head, I thought the trail was simply a trail, like the ones we have on the mountains here in the Pacific Northwest. I was so wrong. Above you see a portion of the park brochure and the trail climbing up from the crater to the lookout point. It was awesome.

In the footsteps of Ironmen

Two weeks after my Diamond head run, it was my turn to be evaluated. As luck would have it, we would be headed back to Hawaii, but to the big island this time. The story is similar, the fun was just as large, and yes, more marathon training. A few island drinks and dinner at Huggo's on the Rocks before an early morning with 16 miles of training.

Island drinks!

Once again, sunset view with live music!

The training this time would not be up/around a volcano, but across fields of dried lava. Kona is the home of the Ironman Championship course. I would be running 16 miles on the same hallowed grounds as folks who first swim over two miles, then bike 112 miles, and then run 26.2 miles. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Again, I was forced to wake at 6am to complete the training in time before flying home to WA. This early start time turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the temperatures of the cool morning were much more palatable than the heat I contended with the last few miles of the course.