In December 2016 we traveled to Hawaii and ran in the Honolulu Marathon. This was near the end of our two-month break from work so we decided to spend an entire week there.

· Related: Our Hawaii Travel Ideas and Destinations ·

For those of you who haven’t been to O’ahu, you should strongly consider going. If you are looking for a good marathon, the Honolulu one may be a good one to try.

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Honolulu Marathon

We signed up for the Honolulu Marathon way back in January of 2016. It seemed like a great way to travel more and have an incentive to increase our exercising intensity. We booked a hotel room right down by the water and then we waited 11 long months to finally get out there.

About the Marathon

The marathon is one of the largest in America. There is no cut off time, allowing a lot of people to walk the marathon instead of run. In fact, the person who finished last this year ran it in about 15 hours. This says a lot about that person's dedication because there is no way we could walk for that long!

The marathon itself started bright and early at 5am Honolulu time. That was probably a good thing too because it got very hot and humid very quickly. We were happy to have a few hours worth of running in the dark before the humidity really flared up. Even though we had spent most of the summer running in the heat, we weren't used to this level of humidity and heat as we had been in the desert!

How We Did

As for how the race itself went, Kelsey was able to finish in just over five hours, mostly slowed up by Phil, who had to drop at around mile 17. Kelsey was a born runner and she worked really hard on running in high school and college where she was a Division 3 track athlete. When we skimped on our running training plan, she was able to fall back on her ability and her training to finish. Phil is not so lucky and learned the valuable lesson that he needs to stick to his training plan!

All in all, it was definitely a worthwhile experience for us. It was nice to see how many people came out to support everyone on the course. Even though we didn’t get to finish it together, we were extremely happy about the experience and to run a large portion of it side-by-side.

Honolulu

Honolulu was not what we expected. We were surprised by how much of a big city it was. It had all the things that big cities have: lots of people, tourists, public transportation and lots of traffic. Depending on the time of day and where you were it could take you 20 minutes to move five miles.

Being Downtown

The island itself is beautiful but we were staying in downtown Honolulu. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but if you are going to Honolulu expecting to see lush forests and natural greenery, you will be sadly disappointed. Honolulu is very touristy with many people, cars, and buses all day long. They have lots of food, lots of malls and shopping and you can indeed walk along the beach for miles.

The benefit of a big city is all the amenities you can find. We had within walking distance of our hotel a giant mall with a food court, many restaurants including some mainland staples like Red Lobster, Yard House (tons of vegan options!) and Old Spaghetti Factory and some Honolulu greats like GOOFY Cafe which puts an emphasis on local, organic and fresh ingredients.

Our Hotel

Our hotel room had a great view of the beach, especially the sunset. Plus, it was only a five-minute walk to actually get to the beach. There are a ton of hotels down along the beach and many AirBnB’s that you can rent to save some money.

We certainly appreciated the ability to walk around the streets during the day in comfortable clothing in 70-degree weather with the sun shining. It was really nice being able to go to the beach any time we wanted.

If we were to go back and visit the island of O’ahu sometime, we definitely would avoid Honolulu for the most part and spend more time exploring other parts, such as the North Shore.

North Shore

We visited north shore as we heard this is the more "Hawaii" looking touristy spot. This area is known for being the place to check out some surfing, the food, and the shops which are more authentic Hawaiian.

It was about a 45-minute drive up to north shore from Honolulu through the countryside and winding roads. We stopped and parked our car at a parking area just past town and checked out the beach. With its swell waves and much fewer people, this was definitely the place for us.

Surfing

We picked up and moved a little bit more north to where there were more surfers. It was a great location to settle in for an hour or so to get some sun and watch the waves. The weather was beautiful and it was fun to watch the surfers try their luck at some waves, which were not too big today. Kelsey even found a family selling “vegan banana bread” and bought some! We did not surf as these waves seem to be for pros only.

Food

After a little bit, we headed back down to the city of Haleiwa for lunch and some shopping. We were able to find a group of food trucks that were serving all kinds of good food. The variety included cajun, seafood, crepes, BBQ and Mexican. We all were able to find something we liked there and we split tons of stuff between us.

Shops

On the way back to our car we decided to do a little shopping. We stopped at small stores along the way to shop for clothes or anything else we could find. We even found a Patagonia store which is one of our favorite brands since it is fair trade and makes great outdoor active gear.

>North Shore did not disappoint. It was more of an authentic Hawaii feel that we had expected to find. We were happy we made the trip to explore North Shore.

Luau

We couldn’t leave Hawaii without checking out a Luau. We went to Chief’s Luau at Sea Life Park and we can’t recommend it enough. It had some great entertainment to start as you could play games, take pictures with the chief, make headbands and learn some other Polynesian skills like fire starting.

After the intros, we were treated to dinner that was all you can eat and very delicious. After dinner they put on a great show, even having some people come up on stage to help with the show. Luckily, neither of us got pulled up on stage!

The staff and actors at the luau were amazing and they were incredibly talented. There were incredible singers, amazing dancers, and some amazing (and dangerous!) fire dancers. If you ever visit Hawaii, you have to make sure you check out a luau. It's a good meal, awesome entertainment and a night you won’t forget!

Will we be back in Hawaii? Definitely. Will we be back in Honolulu? Probably not, but mostly because we want to explore the other islands. The beach is amazing and it is always nice to be on an island vacation.

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