Over 35,000 people will participate in the Honolulu Marathon on Oahu this Sunday, December 8th.

Due to the anticipated heat and humidity, the race starts in the early morning darkness near the Ala Moana Shopping Center and then winds its way to downtown Honolulu, through Waikiki Beach, around the Diamond Head volcano, and out towards Hanauma Bay on the south shore of Oahu. The out-and-back course finishes in Kapiolani Park near the Honolulu Zoo in Waikiki.

The 42.2 km running race starts at 5:00 am with the elite heat (including 14 Olympic athletes) followed by over 35,000 amateur runners, joggers, walkers, and wheelchair athletes. It is one of very few marathon events where there is no cut-off time and the course remains open until the last person finishes.

But there can be an underground twist to this event where adventurers choose to not run the entire coastal course. Instead they will swim along the first half of the course and then traverse the remaining (second) half of the 42.2 km course on dryland.

The first leg of the swim is along the shore of Ala Moana Beach. It is always calm and beautiful, especially in the tropical sunshine in the day. The first 7 km is easy to navigate, even before sunrise in the darkness. Sunrise is 6:47 am this year.

After the swim up and down the Ala Moana Beach coastline, the adventurers then head out around Magic Island to the Pacific Ocean. The surf around Magic Island in the twilight hours with minimal morning light must be navigated carefully. The waves pound on the coral reef so everything in the escort kayaks is tied down with carabiners – just in case kayaks are turned over in the surf.

Then there is a 3+ kilometer crossing of Waikiki Bay towards Diamond Head volcano where the morning sun will be rising spectacularly:

As the runners, joggers, walkers, and wheelchair athletes are making their way through downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach, the swimmers will traverse across Waikiki Bay, traveling outside the omnipresent surf line. There will be lots of morning activity and surfers in Waikiki as the sun rises above Diamond Head:

The currents can be with or against the swimmers depending on a variety of conditions. As they pass Kaimana Beach which is the traditional start of the Waikiki Roughwater Swim and the Hawaiian Christmas Looong Distance Invitational Rough-H2O Swim, then they have to navigate around the coral reefs and surf around Diamond Head volcano. This will most likely get either a bit – or severely – bumpy and lumpy with the mix of currents, waves and coral reef upwellings.

But on a very lucky day with perfect conditions, the water can lay down calmly and the turbulence will be minimal.

After navigating around and past Diamond Head, the anticipated ocean course is a straight shot to the swim exit beach – which will be either Option A at Wailupe Beach or alternative Option B at Kawaiku’i Beach Park, depending on the conditions. While they swim parallel to the athletes on dryland who are traversing along Kalanianaole Highway, they will not only see runners by the tens of thousands on the coast, but also myriad marine life underneath and around them.

They will swim over and near coral reefs along nearly the entire course where there may be Portuguese man o war as well as colorful fish, turtles, and other large things. As a preventive measure, they will use Sting No More, an anhydrous lanolin formulation and spray developed by venom biochemist Dr. Angel Yanagihara.

While they can hope for calm and tranquil conditions, it is most likely that the winds and currents (due to a high tide) are picking up and making things much more difficult than the tranquil conditions they faced in the darkness several hours previously in Ala Moana Beach.

After either Option A at Wailupe Beach [shown on left below] or alternative Option B at Kawaiku’i Beach [shown on right below] is selected, the swimmers will exit the water, dry off, and join the remaining walkers and joggers (shufflers) at this point to traverse the remaining 21 km to the finish, an estimated 10-12 hours since the start.

With the sunset before 6 pm, it may very well be that they start in the early morning darkness and finish after sunset in the early evening darkness.

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