No water in the water fountain

“No water in the water fountain, no side on the sidewalk.”  These are lyrics from a Tune-yards song that I love to listen to when I run.  The lyrics seem to ring true when water fountains are hard to find or like on today’s run when the sidewalk kept disappearing then reappearing sometimes on the opposite side of the road.  The section of Lower Honoapiillani that I ran had very little traffic between 6-7am on Saturday and those cars that were on the road were respecting the really low speed limit (20 mph in some places).  So even without sidewalk, running on this two-lane highway felt very safe.

Greg had a good idea as to how I could solve my water problem.  I really don’t want to be encumbered by carrying a bottle with me, but I do wear a flip belt that holds my phone and keys and there is an unused pocket in the back.  Greg suggested that I put some ice cubes in a Ziplock baggie.  As long as the bag didn’t leak, I’d have portable water.  I decided to give it a try and found that an added benefit was a pleasant cooling sensation, portable air conditioning too!

 The first part of this run we’ve done several times, 1 mile into Napili.  The rest I had seen from our bus ride up to Merriman’s restaurant a few days ago, so I felt certain of my destination.  The neighborhood along this stretch of Kahana that then turns into Kapalua is a mix of million dollar homes behind tall beautiful iron gates right on the ocean side and on the other side dilapidated plantation style homes with chickens roaming the front yard and dogs lazing on the porch.  Occasionally there would be a public beach and a view of the coast would open up. About two miles in, I stopped at one of these beaches to enjoy the view as I fished a piece of ice out of my belt to chew on.  It was a really beautiful run up to Kapalua Beach.  At the beach park, a walking path stretches in front of some super fancy condos.  On a green belt near a jetty, two ladies practiced yoga together. I stopped here to take some photos with my phone and eat another piece of ice. 

Exiting the park, I saw the only water fountain I discovered on this route and decided to take a drink just for kicks.  The jog back was a bit of a blur; luckily it was overcast this morning, keeping it a bit cooler with the sun under wraps.  With about 1 mile left to go, I pulled out the rest of my ice.  It was all melted and some had leaked onto me, but a good few sips remained in the bag.  I felt like a contestant on Survivor drinking from a plastic bag, but with very little traffic on this road, there weren’t many witnesses to my strange behavior.  My running app announced the 7-mile mark about a half-mile from the condo; I had only intended to run 10 K today (6.21 miles) so decided to cool down by walking the last little bit. 

I was pretty spent when I got home, so I was glad to find that Greg had made coffee and was not looking to go snorkeling this morning!  We had a healthy breakfast of overnight oats with slices of apple banana on top.   Pool time.  Watching the waves and honus from the comfort of a lounge chair is priceless. Feeling my sun intake was at its max for the day, I retired for an afternoon nap.  Then some time on the Lanai, sipping coconut water and reading.  Greg and I walked down the street for some local plates at Ono Kau Kau.  Then visited with neighbors over sunset.  Not sure what happened to the raucous group from the last two days, perhaps they only booked a brief stay, or were putting themselves in perilous situations diving into waterfalls in Hana or racing down the side of a volcano for a day trip.  The common areas have been blissfully calm today. 

A gathering at the sea wall let us know there was most likely a turtle coming onto the beach.  We got respectfully close with other guests to take photos.  One couple new to the proceedings was unfortunately close. My hero, a 70 something lady with a New York accent clutching her plastic glass of white zin, called out to them,  “10 feet please, that is an endangered species.”  Seemed as though this honu was only making a brief appearance, she gradually turned toward the ocean and disappeared under a veil of waves.  Our Canadian neighbor voiced the turtle’s thoughts, “ Thank you, thank you very much this concludes my sunset performance.  Back to my dressing room!”  That was our cue to head back inside before the insects started to bite.  (We learned this the first week!)

As we made our way back to the room we came across an Australian family who has been here nearly the whole time, enjoying a dip in the pool. We’ve admired them playing with their three adorable and polite children many times.  Greg and the father had a lengthy chat at the sea wall earlier today. The Australian fellow was blocking the intake for the filter with his backside, resulting in a terribly loud bubbly glug.  All the kiddos giggled and Greg commented, “Got an alligator in there with you.”  The Aussie laughed and remarked, “I feel better now!” Oh fart jokes, the great equalizer!