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The Hana Relay:

Wrinkles On The Run

Tough It Out

After we ran the Klondike Relay, we looked for other relays. One we found we the Hana Relay on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It wasn’t until the Runner’s World magazine article that we decided to go ahead with it.

Charlotte Hartwig was the driving force and recruited her husband Ron, Bill and Phyllis McCall and Steve and Kathy Sansone. With everyone in their fifties, the team name "Wrinkles On The Run" became appropriate.

Maui is in fact paradise. The weather is moderate, the people friendly and the scenery exquisite. The town of Hana is in an isolated part of the island near the rainforests. The Relay is run from the airport in Kahului to the town of Hana. Kahului is the largest city on Maui with slightly less than 20,000 people.

They sell shirts that say "Road To Hana Survivor". This was probably truer years ago when the road wasn’t paved. Still, in 52 miles it has 617 curves and 56 bridges and may take you three hours to drive it. When you get away from Kahului and into the rain forest, many of the bridges are one lane. The terrain was hillier than we had anticipated.

We all managed to get to Maui, some of us in better shape than others. Charlotte, who had planned this for almost two years, pulled a hamstring less than two weeks before the race. Her doctor told her not to run for at least three weeks. Bill had been fighting a bout with plantar fasciitis. He was ok unless he ran fast. At a Bush Park run shortly before we left he pulled up lame after less than a mile. We hoped he could run one or two of his three scheduled legs. Following foot surgery, Steve Sansone hadn’t been running in months until he did some runs in Central Park in New York City a couple of weeks before the relay. Apparently he was in pain when he ran. Actually he said he was in pain when he even walked so running wasn’t any worse than walking. He said one way or another he would finish his legs. This is one tough dude.

Phyllis was running the Maui Marathon one week later so the team didn’t want her to run any extra legs. Thus, Kathy and Ron had "volunteered" to run any extra legs. Steve said he would run Charlotte’s third leg so we were set. Well kind of. Charlotte was very depressed about not being able to run but was a good sport and drove for the team. Her Hood To Coast experience paid off and she zipped in and out of parking spaces.

Bill was running leg one. As luck would have it we had the same starting time as our (mostly) Salem women’s team. It was great to see familiar faces (and the rest of them too). Angela was running for them. She is an animal and we begged Bill to let her go and not try to keep up with her. Thank goodness, he listened and ran slower than he would normally.

Kathy ran next and was smooth and quick as she normally is. Ron ran next and made one mistake. Charlotte was to run after him so he decided just keep on running and to run her first leg immediately after his own. This would have been fine except there was a strong wind and he was toast after his own run. Phyllis ran easy and said her plan was to start easy and run each leg quicker.

She did. Steve took off. He looks like he is limping as he takes short strides as he warms his muscles. He came in strong and Kathy and Ron breathed a sigh of relief.

This relay impacts all of your senses. Except for van life, one usually doesn’t use their sense of smell much on a relay. Here it was different. Ron came in from his second leg and asked what he smelled. Kathy thought it was gardenias. Some one else thought it might be red ginger. It probably was the smell of fermenting fruit. Guavas were all over the road and were falling as we ran. Kathy said it was like she was in the perfume section of Meier and Frank.

It was a good thing Eb wasn’t with us. He might have had sensory overload. There were lots of young women who were appropriately dressed for the warm weather. At one point we passed a woman who was waiting for her runner to make his way up a steep hill. As he neared, she lifted up her bra top and flashed her headlights. Ron said he wished he had support like that from his teammates.

Everyone ran well and we came in within eight minutes of our originally projected time. Although we placed second in the mixed masters we were more than a half hour faster than the winning time in our category was last year. We didn’t care at all.

While waiting for the awards ceremony we went to a secluded beach and had a great time relaxing in the water. At the awards ceremony we met the Salem woman’s team, who had gone to another beach. Great run ladies. You made us proud.

With the marathon the next week, we all stayed for several more days. It was a tough life. Get up, run a bit, go snorkeling, eat, catch a few rays, read a book, decide where you want to eat dinner etc. The McCalls and the Sansones went for the bike ride down the 10,000-foot Mt Haleakala. They advertise a 38-mile bike ride where you only have to peddle for 400 meters. They said they had a great time and would recommend it to others. While they were doing this, the Hartwigs were taking a snorkel trip to Molokini. They motored out, snorkeled, and sailed back. They saw dolphins, lots of fish and several giant turtles. Great fun.

Saturday the Sansones reluctantly had to return home. They were able to see Bill run in a 5 K race before they left. Bill won his age group. He said he taped his foot up tight and let it go.

Sunday, Ron and Phyllis ran the Maui Marathon. Phyllis was great. She ran strong and placed second in her age group. Ron had planned to run this as a training run for Chicago. When Charlotte was unable to run he decided to still do an easy run (he had paid his entry fee and wanted to get the finisher shirt). He thought it was pretty cool. You can run easy, you don’t feel guilty about losing time if you stop for a porta-potty or to apply body glide. He finished 6^th out of 66 in his age group.

We would recommend this relay to everyone. It is low-key. It is friendly. It is in paradise.

There is another relay that club members may want to take a look at. The Sawtooth Relay runs from Stanley Idaho to Sun Valley. At one time it was a 12-person relay. This past year they changed it a 6-person relay. It is only one day’s drive from Salem so should be relatively inexpensive. It has hills. For details go to www.sawtoothrelay.com

 

Ron Hartwig