The backbone
A year on Oahu, with bibs on
This is the local calendar the way we've actually raced it. The Honolulu Marathon sits at the end of the year and the whole running calendar leans toward it, and the tris bunch up in late spring and fall. Dates move around, so check with the organizer before you build a season around one.
- 01
January
Bosetti Sunrise 10K
Run · 10K · New Year's Day
Hawaii Kai
The first bib of the year, before the resolutions have had a chance to fall apart, and flat enough to tell you exactly what December did to you.
Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →Our 2026 report →
Tour of Hawaii Kai Half Marathon
Run · 13.1 mi · January
Hawaii Kai, Oahu
A January half on the east end of the marathon course. We ran it once, easy, a month after a marathon, and it's a fine way to keep a long run alive after December.
Akahai Half Marathon
Run · 13.1 mi · January
Oahu
A January half is a strange thing to sign up for three weeks after a marathon, and we did it anyway in 2023, mostly to keep the long run from disappearing over the holidays.
- 02
February
Great Aloha Run
Run · 8.15 mi · Presidents' Day
Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium
For years this was the longest either of us had ever run. It has a huge crowd, a real start-line atmosphere, and a distance a beginner can usually finish without walking, which is why it's where we'd tell anybody to start.
Kailua 10-Miler
Run · 10 mi · February
Kailua
It's on the windward side, so the trade wind is either behind you or in your face depending on which way the course is pointed, and you don't get to pick which half gets which.
Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →Our 2026 report →
- 03
March
King's Runner 10K
Run · 10K · Early March
Honolulu
A fast, flat course in town, which is good for finding out what your legs are actually worth after a winter of slow miles.
Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →Our 2026 report →
Ku'ikahi 10K
Run · 10K · March
Oahu
Michelle's first age-group win, in 2023. We bring it up a lot, and now there's a second one at the Honolulu Triathlon to bring up alongside it.
Windward Half Marathon
Run · 13.1 mi · March
Windward Oahu
The pretty one, and also the humid one. Every half on this island turns into a heat race around mile nine, and this one at least has better scenery while that happens.
- 04
April
Hapalua Half Marathon
Run · 13.1 mi · April
Waikiki and Diamond Head
Hawaii's half is big and well run, and by April the start line is already warm enough to give you a preview of summer.
Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →Our 2026 report →
Haleiwa Metric Century
Bike · 100 km · April
North Shore
A long day on the North Shore with a bike club that's been at this for decades, and the first organized ride we did that felt long.
- 05
May
Honolulu Triathlon
Tri · Olympic, plus shorter options · May
Ala Moana Beach Park
We did this in 2014 without training and again in 2023 with it, on the same course, as different people. It's the only local Olympic-distance tri, so the whole spring points at it.
Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →Our 2026 report →
Hibiscus Half Marathon
Run · 13.1 mi · Memorial Day weekend
Kapiolani Park and Diamond Head
Our first half ever, in 2022, and Michelle's PR in 2023. It's an early start with a loop around Diamond Head, and if you're lucky there's a chicken at the top.
- 06
June
IRONMAN 70.3 Hawaii (Honu)
Tri · 1.2 / 56 / 13.1 · Early June
Waikoloa and Hawi, Big Island
It isn't on Oahu, but it's the one we fly for: lava fields, wind off the water on the road to Hawi, and a half marathon with no shade. It was Jay's first 70.3 and the race where the distance itself became the point.
Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →Our 2026 report →
Ho'omau 10K
Run · 10K, with a 5K and a half · Early June
Oahu
We ran the 10K together the Saturday after Jay's first Honu, at conversation pace. Good for exactly that.
Cholo's Waimea Bay Swim
Swim · Ocean swim · Late June
Waimea Bay, North Shore
A North Shore ocean swim in the month the bay is flat. We did it once, three weeks after Honu, and it was the nicest 45 minutes of that June.
- 07
July
HURT Kaena Point Firecracker
Trail · 10 mi trail · Fourth of July weekend
Kaena Point, west Oahu
An out-and-back on the dirt road to the tip of the island, with no shade, no pavement, and a turnaround where there are whales in the winter and nothing but ocean in July.
Kailua Beach Shark Chase
Run · 4.4 mi, on sand · Mid-July
Kailua Beach
A beach run in July, where nobody's pace means anything because it's all on sand. Jay won his age group here in 2023 and we still don't know how.
Lanikai 8K
Run · 8K · July
Lanikai and Kailua
A short loop through the most photographed neighborhood on the island, and short doesn't mean easy in July.
Na Wahine & Kane Sprint Triathlon
Tri · Sprint · July
Oahu
A sprint is where you learn transitions without a bad one wrecking your whole day, and we raced this one the summer Jay's new bike showed up.
- 08
August
Spartan Beast, Oahu
Trail · 20K with obstacles · Mid-August
Mokuleia, North Shore
The long Spartan, about 12 miles of North Shore hills with walls, ropes, and carries between them. Ours took most of a morning and cost Jay a shoulder.
Norman Tamanaha 15K
Run · 15K · August
Honolulu · Marathon Readiness Series 1 of 5
The first race in the Marathon Readiness Series, and if you're running the Honolulu Marathon this is where the build starts having a bib on it.
Dick Evans Memorial Road Race
Bike · 112 mi · August
Around Oahu
A full lap of the island, the same ride the first Ironman used in February 1978, so it's the same distance as an Ironman bike leg, in August, with real traffic. It taught us what 112 miles of eating looks like.
- 09
September
This is the hottest stretch of the year, so everything below is a heat race whether it says so or not.
Runner's HI 20K
Run · 20K · September
Honolulu · Marathon Readiness Series 2 of 5
The second race in the series, where the distance steps up and so does the heat, since September is the hottest stretch of the year here.
Waikiki Roughwater Swim
Swim · 2.4 mi · Labor Day weekend
Waikiki
The swim the first Ironman used in 1978, still run every September. It's the full 2.4 miles in the ocean with no bike waiting for you afterward, which is a good way to find out whether the swim is the thing you should be worried about.
Honolulu Century Ride
Bike · 25 to 100 mi · Late September
Kapiolani Park up the windward coast
An out-and-back along the windward coast with several distance options, so it fits wherever you are in a season. The full 100 is a long, hot day on a good-looking road.
Hybrid Design 25K
Run · 25K · Late September or early October
Honolulu · Marathon Readiness Series 3 of 5
Third in the series, and past half-marathon distance now, which is the whole idea.
- 10
October
Tantalus 10-Mile Challenge
Run · 10 mi · October
Tantalus and Round Top
Up the mountain road above town and back down. Nobody comes here for a PR, but you find out pretty quickly what your legs have in them.
BOCA Hawaii 30K
Run · 30K · October
Honolulu · Marathon Readiness Series 4 of 5
The fourth race in the series and the longest one. A 30K in October is as close as you'll get to a marathon dress rehearsal with a bib on.
- 11
November
Val Nolasco Half Marathon
Run · 13.1 mi · November
Honolulu · Marathon Readiness Series 5 of 5
The last race in the series, a month out from the marathon. If December is the goal, it works better as a check on the build than as a race.
Kaiwi Coast Fun Run
Run · 4 mi · November
Kaiwi coast, east Oahu
The coast road between Sandy Beach and Makapuu. Fun run is the right name for it, and the view and the people are the reason to show up.
Our 2022 report →Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →
Turtle Bay Triathlon
Tri · Short course · November
Turtle Bay, North Shore
A late-season tri up on the North Shore, when the winter surf is already starting to show up, and a good one to close out a tri year.
- 12
December
Honolulu Marathon
Run · 26.2 mi · Second Sunday of December
Ala Moana to Kapiolani Park
A 5 a.m. start, fireworks, Diamond Head twice, and no cutoff. It was the run leg of the first Ironman in 1978, it's the reason the whole Oahu running calendar is shaped the way it is, and it was Jay's 50th birthday race.
Our 2022 report →Our 2023 report →Our 2024 report →Our 2025 report →
Hawaii Kai Ultra Run
Run · Half marathon to 100 miles, on a 3-mile loop · The weekend after the marathon
Kalama Valley Park, Hawaii Kai
Pick a distance, then run the same three-mile loop up and down Kalama Valley until you've covered it. Jay did the 50K six days after the 2025 marathon, which is the kind of decision this calendar exists to document.
We haven't raced everything on this island, and if we didn't do a race it isn't here. If your favorite is missing, tell us, and we'll think about it, which isn't the same as promising to show up.