This was the first time that I ran this race, it's one of those hidden gem races that I never knew about. I'm so glad that I did run it because it was a great race and post-race morning. This race is hosted by the Valley Isle Road Runners, a local running group that hosts a bunch of fun races throughout the year. They have a free group run every Wednesday night just to bring people together who love running. Last year they had about 75 runners in their race and this year they had 175, so a nice jump up.

Expo: I couldn't make it to the expo due to my work schedule, but I heard it was just a packet pick-up. More on their swag later.

Parking: the race started at the municipal parking lot in Wailuku, which on a Saturday morning was completely empty. There was a ton of parking, even more than they needed.

Course: This race is a 3 mile climb up to Iao Valley about with a 900 foot elevation increase, and then decrease as you head back down. There were two intersections, crossing Vineyard St to Main, and Main to Iao Valley Rd; both intersections has traffic cops. The weather ended up being pretty wet, which made me nervous with the elevations change but I didn't notice any slippage. The scenery was beautiful coming down the hill as the height we were at gave us a good vantage point of the East Maui Mountains.

Aid Stations: there were two aid stations with water and Gatorade. One at mile 2 that your would hit twice (on the way up and down), which they even ran the table across the road so it would be on the correct side when we passed it again. The other one was at the top of the road in the valley, even a set of pot-a-potties there too.

Post Race: they had a TON of refreshments for us once we finished. Strawberries, watermelon, cookies, krispy kream donuts, chips, Starbucks coffee, and lots of water. Then they used our bib tags for a ton of raffle drawings: over 15 restaurant gift certificates, tubes of joint supplement (one of the race sponsors), with the grand prize being a treatment of choice at the spa at Andaz Wailea.

All in all a well organized, fun, and challenging race! If your in the neighborhood this time of year then don't miss this race!