I traveled to Oahu to run in my first ever marathon! My primary goal was just to finish but my stretch goal was to run the marathon in under 4 hours. My final time ended up being 4:12:38, but I'm happy to have finished. The weather was mid 70s and somewhat humid, so it was quite a bit harder than the conditions I trained in. Nevertheless, I only averaged ~25 miles a week during my peak training weeks so I probably undertrained a bit. The rest of this post will just be some short notes on sightseeing, food, and birds in Oahu. ### Sightseeing - **Capitol Modern**: This was a free art museum in downtown that featured contemporary art by local artists. There was a kapa quilt by Bernice Akamine that I felt was especially worth highlighting. I am looking at some of her other work as I write this now and they remind of Ruth Asawa's work. Also of note was the exhibit featuring panels from the AIDS memorial quilt. - **Diamondhead Crater Hike:** The hike was fairly easy up and the views were worth it. However, it was quite dry inside the crater and so there wasn't much to look at on the way up. - **Makapu'u Lighthouse**: Also a fairly easy hike, but much more scenic as you hike along the shore and have a view of the ocean through most of the hike. We were fortunate enough to see 'Ika (Great Frigatebird) on the hike and even spotted two whales. - **Hanauma Bay**: A must visit. The snorkeling was incredible. We saw a variety of fish, including a trumpetfish and some parrotfish. It was amazing to see large schools of fish so close to shore. - **North Shore**: I personally found this area a little disappointing. It seems like the Banzai Pipeline is a great place to watch expert surfers, but I just ended up taking a nap on the beach. - **Byodo-in**: A recreation of the famous Byodo-in in Uji, Japan. It felt quite tourist-y and was also a little disappointing. I would not recommend visiting if you've been to shrines and temples in Japan. ### Food and Coffee Items with a ⭐ emoji are locations that stood out to me for one reason or another. - **Marugame Udon**: Pretty good! They're a chain from Japan and the location in downtown Waikiki was equally authentic. The line was very long though, so we just ordered take-out and ate at a nearby table. - **Maguro Spot**: I got the Tuna Natto poke and loved the natto and the tuna. Not a big fan of the quantity of raw onions. - **⭐ Maguro Brothers**: Not to be confused with Maguro Spot. This poke place is in a market in Chinatown and I found their poke to be higher quality and to also have a better fish-to-rice ratio. - **Musubi Cafe IYASUME**: Very good and cheap musubi! There are multiple locations in Waikiki and I think they're the best place for spam musubi. I got the bacon avocado & egg musubi, the shiso ume musubi, and the mayo salmon onigiri. My favorite was definitely the shiso ume. - **Kapa Hale**: Pretty expensive but tasty pan-asian food. The prawn was high quality and the apps were good. The clams were kind of meh and the overall flavors felt a bit inauthentic. - **⭐ The Pig & The Lady**: A fancy Vietnamese place in Chinatown. This place is really good. We got the Banh Xeo, the Chrysanthemum Caesar Salad, the "Canh Bi Do" Epaulette, and the Squid Busiate. The salad was incredible and both pasta dishes were flavor bombs. Highly highly recommend. - **⭐ Sunny's Local Grind**: I love a good breakfast spot and this was so good we went back a second time. I had the loco moco and the breakfast burrito and both really hit the spot for a substantial breakfast meal. - **STIX Asia**: This is a sort of Asian food court, except you could dine in at most of the restaurants. The onigiri from Nana Musubi are must eats. Everything else we tried was decent. Better than an average food court, but I wouldn't go out of my way for them. - **⭐ Chubbies Burgers**: They do good smash burgers and their version of animal fries was delicious. They're not in downtown Waikiki, but I would recommend going anyways since there are a lot of nice boutique shops nearby. - **Romy's Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp Hut**: This is all the way on the North Shore and while the shrimp was very fresh, I wouldn't personally go out of my way for them. - **⭐ TRY Coffee**: Highly highly recommend this cafe. It's a nice ambience and has quality coffee. They had beans from Friedhats, an Amsterdam roaster whose cafe I've been to! Also, their outdoor seating area had a bunch of cute geckos running around. - **Bean About Town**: Hidden gem for coffee in downtown. I got an 8 oz pourover made with local coffee beans that I thought was pretty good. ### Birding - **Zebra dove**: They're much smaller than regular doves. Super cute. - **Rose-ringed parakeets**: Apparently an invasive species but not causing too much damage to the local biota. - **Spotted dove**: They look like they have a polka dot neckerchief. - **Common Mynah**: They're very loud and all over the island. - **Red Crested Cardinal**: First spotted briefly during the tail end of the marathon. The red heads are very distinctive. - **Red vented bulbul**: Saw them on a farm at the north shore. - **Saffron finches**: Saw 2 at the same farm. I love their vibrant colors. - **Great Frigatebird (iwa)**: Saw on the Makapuu lighthouse hike. - **Pectoral sandpiper**: First spotted in front of Byodo-in. - **Common waxbill**: Saw 20+ at Hanauma Bay. - **Chickens**: They were literally everywhere. I've never seen so many wild chickens in my life.