Saturday Mornings w/ Naomi

I've decided to take a little break from my Grand Canyon story to give you a little insight into how my days begin here on the little island of Maui.

My day usually begins with a wake-up call.  If I'm running downtown (where it's hotter and not as breezy), I'll wake up before the roosters.

I'll drive down the mountain, listening as my iPod sings songs like "Bus Driver" by Caedmon's Call or "Rock & Roll" by Eric Hutchinson.  If I'm scheduled for a speed workout, I'll park near the stadium, grab my gear from Betsy the Truck, then walk to the track.

Sometimes I'll even waste time taking pictures like this:But you guys are used to that.  And today is Saturday.  Which means that my workouts in town will have to wait to be chronicled at a later time.  TODAY, we're going to talk about my short maintenance runs:
Today I didn't want to do this short run... which is weird because short runs are fun.  Short runs are easy, quick, and (mostly) painless.  Why don't I wanna do a short run?  Because I'm a lazy okole, that's why  (okole = bum/posterior/tush/derriere).When I finally make it outside, I usually mess with my Nike+ iPod a little before turning right and beginning my workout.  Here's a shot of my house.. Hey--there's Betsy the truck on the left side!!

This is the big hill near my house.  It doesn't look like a big hill when you're standing @ the top and looking through the lens of my cell phone's little bitty camera:

My neighbor has two very aggressive dogs who like to bark at me.  They're chained up, but I like to pretend like they're loose and chasing me so that I run faster :)

The way to the park is mostly uphill.  Here's the first uphill stretch before I get to the Secret Passageway:

And here's the entrance to the Secret Passageway... It's so small and obscure that most people miss it.  My brothers and sisters and I used to walk this way to school (our elementary school is right next to the park I run at):

Secret Passageway.... it actually looks pretty cool.  The only problem is that sometimes hoodlums hang out in here and smoke pot and drink too much and attack women at night.  Just gotta be careful and carry pepper spray ... http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/508696.html (in the article, she calls it "Graffiti Path," but I think she just made that up.  "Secret Passageway" sounds better, right?).

And yes, I said hoodlums.


Here's a not-so-funny little anecdote about Secret Passageway.  This little fun shortcut is like a path that travels between people's houses and yards.  You can't really see it, but the house on the far right in this next picture borders the East end of Secret Passageway.  One day, I was running by, and I saw the car that was normally parked there.  Someone was in the driver's seat, so I slowed down and looked again.

Suddenly, I realized what was happening; a woman was slumped over and to the side of her steering wheel.  I sprinted around the fence to get to her car.  When I got there, I looked in and I saw that this unconscious woman held a cigarette between two of her fingers.

Let me tell ya, the adrenaline was pumping as I rapped on the window and yelled at her, "Are you okay?!"  She nearly scared me half to death as she jerked up and looked at me, opening the car door in confusion.

Oops.

I apologized profusely, saying, "I'm so sorry!  I thought you were in trouble."

She  shook her head, and gulped, "Don't apologize!  You did the right thing.  I know I didn't look okay, but I am.  I just got done with a night shift, and I was so tired.  I just passed out with my cigarette... it's okay!"

Mmmm... Embarrassing.  After that, I used to see her passed out in her car a lot.  Poor thing.

Let's move on from that slightly scary story, shall we?

Okay.  So once I exit the Secret Passageway, I run through a super-nice neighborhood in which a few dogs have chased me.  More excitement to run faster!

My next uphill run is up this street, where I get my first good look at the mountain.  It's actually a volcano.  It's actually the largest dormant volcano in the world.  I'm slightly obnoxious when relating to my island.  I apologize.

By this time, I usually get a good rhythm going for the run... my left knee has given me problems in the past, so I try to wear a knee brace so that my uphill runs are less stressful on my leg.

One last not-so-secret passageway to run through:

Followed by a field:And I'm there!  This park has a half-mile loop that I'll run when doing hill workouts (it's very hilly).  This is the bottom part of the running path:

And how cool is it that we have a recycling program?  Go recycle your stuff, everyone :)

The park has basketball courts and an awesome little kids' playground (when I went to school there, we called it "The Pit" because it was a gated area filled with sand... I don't understand the logic, but that's what we called it)... Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of that area!  But here's what I see when I look down at the western side of the island:

Turn left, run uphill... (you can see the road on the right side of the photo... that big hill is one of the hills I tackle for my hill workouts):

A little more uphill running:

This is my iPod nano w/ the Nike+ receiver/thingy in it... I love this thing:

This smaller section passes the tennis courts and swimming pool... I circle a smaller .25-ish loop if it's just a maintenance run so I don't put too much stress on my knee.  This smaller loop is flat and even... and it gets a good breeze most days:


Passing by the baseball field... It feels good when it's overcast like that... I even felt a few raindrops here and there.



That plume of smoke means that they're burning a field of sugar cane.  Sometimes we get what we like to call "Hawaiian Snow" -- ashes of a burnt sugar cane field that rain down on nearby neighborhoods.

A couple more turns at the park...

Another nice turn on a different street through the neighborhood:

I'm a waver.  I like to wave, smile, nod, and "good morning" all the other walkers and runners at the park.  But I felt weird about taking their pictures.  I'm sure it would weird them out, too.  So instead, here is my inanimate representation of all of those other people I saw today.  "Go, dude!" 

Turn right at pedestrian sign.  Run back through the Secret Passageway (snapped a pretty picture of some flowers):

Stop?  No way.  I slow down, look for cars, then get back on my home street.


This next picture is of the big hill in front of my house.  I usually sprint this... You can't really tell, but there are a couple speed bumps up this hill.

Do you guys remember the Mario Kart racing games?  When the little dude in the car would go over those >>> arrows and speed up?  Well, I like to think that when I run over the speed bumps, I "power up" the hill.  In case you didn't know, I'm a little dorky.

Just a little.

Excuse me--I need to sprint this.

Here's my post-sprint fake smile... I walk around, stretch, grab the mail/newspaper, then head into the house.


It feels great to finish a workout... even if at the beginning I hated getting out on that road.  I think everyone should run.  Seriously--go run!

"Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Cor. 9:26-27