It turned out to be a much bigger event than I realized. The race director was a funny guy, he kept exhorting us to shout the event name (scramble, signifying an off road race) in his version of Japanese which came out something like "scccraaambula", and if you were a little ways away it sounded like a bunch of loonies yelling "spatula! spatula"! There was a 10K run that started 5 minutes before us 5K runners, and instead of a starter's gun to trigger the race they had some kind of a cannon! It went off with a huge BANG, and instead of running most people ducked. A bunch of birds were startled out of a tree and a little kid starting crying. Well, having seen the havoc he wreaked, the director decided on a good old fashioned countdown for the 5K.
Away we went! 8:00 am on a beautiful Maui day. Gentle downhill about an 1/8 of a mile on a nice paved road - this ain't so bad - bring it on! Well, on it was brung. We turned offroad, up a gradual hill for about 1/2 mile directly into the sun. Then, offroad we went running through unmaintained roads over lava rock in Makena (southern Maui) which is very arid. Wow - now we're running through cactus (hope there are no rattlesnakes on Maui). Tricky footing, baking heat, a 60 year old lady passing me, oh yeah this is why I enjoy racing. After about two miles I was huffing like a steam train, throwing sweat like a NBA basketball game. The muscles in my legs had expanded to the extent that they were pushing against the surface of my skin so hard that even if a mosquito had landed it would not have found purchase to bite me.
As usual, Sherry kicked my butt but I staggered across the finish line with my belly heaving and my senses leaving. Well, the race had filled with some local hotshots and I was displaced from a place on the winner's podium. But you know what? It was still a great event for me to return to racing, and to do it on Maui! Here's a picture of Sherry and I on the podium post race:
