14 May – Stage 1 ‘Ocean and Waterfalls’: 26.7m (43km) 3560ft (1085m) of ascent

We are woken by a Hawai’ian drum beat which, for a very brief moment, reminds me of Jesus Walks by Kanye West. A surreal thought at 0430 in the morning! It is a nice sound to wake up to and is infinitely better than 500 Miles by The Proclaimers! I have had a good, but not great, sleep. I have been bitten and the bites are annoyingly itchy. Tent mates have been moving around in the night, mainly to visit the toilet but, thankfully nobody snores!! Nobody else has complained that I snore so we are immediately off to a winner!

It has rained during the night and, on first inspection, my dry bag plan doesn’t seem to have been too successful. They feel wet but not sodden; it may be just morning damp or even cold. In any case, once they are on my feet, they don’t feel too bad.

For breakfast I tuck in to what, with one day exception, will be my breakfast of choice – dehydrated fruit muesli moistened with hot water. It is a meal I have sampled before and is tasty enough to convince me that I won’t become bored. I have porridge in honey for later in the week to break up any breakfast monotony!

Ablutions and packing are completed with minimal fuss and we are loaded on to the transport to head for the start line at Coconut Island or Moku Ola, which translates as ‘healing island’.  A look at the interesting facts section of the course book tells that legend has it that anyone who was feeling sick would swim around the island 3 times and be healed. Moku Ola was also the place where Hawaiians would bury new born infants’ umbilical cords (piko) which are considered sacred as they form the blood connection to their mothers. Ironically M2M is starting on (U.S.) Mother’s Day.

On arrival we settle in to a long period of hanging around waiting for something to happen. The course book tells us that we are only to use the public toilets and not relieve ourselves anywhere else. The only issue with this is that the toilets are locked!! This doesn’t deter anyone though and people are already demonstrating their athletic prowess by climbing over the gates. Tess eventually attempts to put a stop to this by informing everyone that there are portaloos for our use back across the bridge. Whether people have not heard the announcement or are just plain ignorant, the climbing continues.

I am chatting to some of the Aussie contingent plus Carl the Kiwi and Jaime from Florida. I ask Carl if he is the only guy from New Zealand. “Yeah, but I reckon it’s about even”.  Classic line!! Stefanie, the M2M media gal turns up and asks if she can film us introducing ourselves to the Facebook community. The camera comes round to me and I use this as an opportunity to send an “I love you” message back to Claire. Gazza immediately berates himself “Damn, I should’ve thought of that!!” The massive time difference means it is not certain when Claire will actually see the video but I know she will love it and shed a tear or two!!

An Englishman Abroad

Rainbow Falls

Eventually we line up at the start for numerous photos, both group and individual. I conspicuously fly the Welsh flags for the first of many times and then, just like that, we are off; a journey of 156m/252km beginning with a single step. Ian shoots off to lead the race for a few metres as he did in 2014. The route is along the roads of Hilo for the first few km but, as it is still early, traffic is not too bad and soon enough we turn off the main road and start climbing the first of over 22,000ft of ascent.  CP1 is pretty special, being at the very pretty Rainbow Falls so I make a stop for a couple of photos before setting off again.

Rainforest before the rain

The remainder of the course is less spectacular but interesting and enjoyable nonetheless with a mix of asphalt, trail, tall grass and rainforest. The second half is mainly tall grass trail and is, seemingly, the preferred island fly tipping location. The trail is proliferated by all manner of refuse from old cupboards to mattresses to fridges and even an old car engine. It is not a pretty sight and quite annoying as we are being scrutinised under pain of death for any harm we may cause to the environment. It is a sad sight and one I hope will not be the norm for the week.

Shortly after CP1 it starts to rain and it rains a lot. When the rain stops, the sun is hot and the humidity rises instantly to a point where it is quite hard to breathe. I continue to plod on wondering how well I am doing in relation to others. I have passed a few people and, in turn, others have passed me. I encounter Richelle from Australia for the first time. She is metronomic in her pace and over the next week we will pass each other many times as I speed up and slow down with the result at the end of each stage being the same where she has ultimately left me behind!

I eventually roll into camp after 6:40, an hour behind Sarah and 8 minutes behind young Chris. I have my first introduction to ROD disinfection. Rapid Ohi’a Death is a disease affecting the Ohi’a tree, whose flower is the symbol of Hawai’i Island and is represented on the M2M logo. It is a massive thing for the island and every effort is being made to stop the spread whilst causes and possible cures are investigated. It is a small effort on our part to have our packs and feet disinfected.

I decide to have my post-race noodles before heading back to the tent. The rain is ever present and I don’t fancy returning in my comfy camp gear and risk getting it soaked. My noodles recipe is tried and tested since MdS 2012 and never lets me down in terms of taste, texture and digestion. The addition of a mini Pepperami heightens the culinary experience.

As I trudge to the tent, I realise that my Runderwear pants have proved to be wholly inadequate. They were advertised as chafe preventative but my pair have ridden up and have quite badly chafed the insides of my buttocks. They are instantly stashed with a vow not to wear them again. I apply  a large portion of my petroleum cream and make the plan to get some Trail Arse at each CP (This is my name for Trail Toes due to the only location that I apply it)

Our tent is pitched on lava rock and slopes enough to suggest there may be problems in the night. We all know how hard the camp crew work and how they cannot be choosy or worry about our feelings when pitching so, instead of whingeing, we work out how best to deal with it. Chris comes up with a system of diagonal placement which looks like it will accommodate us all comfortably.

Emails are waiting for us in an envelope, which are the things I look forward to the most on these events. Again the time difference means that there will be a lot of crossover between what we send and what we receive so continuity of threads is not easy. I just have the 2 today – one lengthy one form Claire and a good luck message from my nephew and nieces.  I will send mine later, which will be just a summary of how the race has gone, any highlights and a general wellness report. I decide this will be the template for the week with ad hoc answer to questions. My emails will only be to Claire as time is of the essence with only 15 minutes per competitor per day.

Drying of kit is the biggest concern. Everyone has been soaked by rain or sweat and we know it will not be pleasant dressing in wet gear in the morning. Sarah has gone for her traditional method of safety pinning all her clothes to the tent wall and others have followed her lead. I decide to use the body heat method and put everything under my sleeping bag, which also gives me an excuse to get in it and have a post stage nap.

Eventually we have all settled in the tent. Melanie is the last to arrive but has completed the stage in her own way and in good spirits. We are all settled into various stages of personal administration, which is punctuated by big rain showers. Young Chris is busying himself with some detailed taping which includes making templates for each toe for use throughout the race. All too briefly, dinner and chatter are completed and everyone is settled for the night. My clothes have not dried much underneath my bag so I bring them inside and will cuddle them dry.