Race reports · 2026 · by Jay
Hapalua 2026: six minutes off, on purpose
1:44:22 for me, 2:09:30 for Michelle, a year after we both set our half PRs on this course. A rebuild year looks like this on a timing sheet.
A year earlier this race was a PR for both of us, 1:38 for me and 1:58 for Michelle, in the middle of a build toward a full Ironman. This year it was 1:44:22 and 2:09:30, six minutes and eleven minutes slower on the same course, and if you only look at the ledger that reads like decline. It isn't, because 2026 was the year we brought the volume down after two years at the top of it, and the Hapalua in April is where that difference shows up as a number.
The splits on the card are steady for both of us, which is what I care about in a year like this: I ran even 5Ks all the way through instead of going out fast and paying for it on Diamond Head, and so did Michelle. The race is the same race, warm at the start in April and warmer by the time you come back around the crater.
We didn't write this one up at the time. Five weeks later was the Honolulu Triathlon, and two weeks after that, Honu.