Austin Semmel

HURT 100: 100 Miles Through the Mountains of Oahu

Sat, 15 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

When I moved to Oahu and first hiked the trails of Manoa Valley in 2019, I got passed by a man running and laughed at this showoff who thought he could run in these mountains. There’s no way that guy is keeping that pace up this mountain, I thought. What is he even doing?

Then I found out about .

The Hawaii Ultra Running Team’s HURT 100 is a 100-mile trail race through the Honolulu Forest Reserve. Five 20-mile loops on rooted, muddy, technical single-track winding through Makiki, Tantalus, and Manoa Valley. Roughly 24,500 feet of climbing. A 36-hour cutoff. Only about 40% of starters finish in a typical year.

I started power-hiking up those same trails and gained confidence. So I threw my name in the hat for 2022 and got waitlisted. On November 5th, I was offered a slot, giving me exactly 8 weeks to train for a hundred-miler.

I jumped at it.

The Training: 8 Weeks with Dr. Alyx Barnett

I called in a panic and asked her to help develop a training plan for a “skinny-ass road runner” to attempt this thing. I was in good shape from marathon training, but road running is just different. The elevation and technical trails will absolutely eat your road legs alive.

Alyx got me into serious strength training. Heavy leg work. Heavy lower body work. Lots of low-cardio hill sessions to build durability without burning myself out before the race. The goal was simple: make the quads bulletproof. A 3:19 marathon in December was just a training run along the way.

Her program worked. My quads didn’t start tiring until around mile 90.

Race Day: January 15-16, 2022

The race starts at 6:00 AM at the Hawaii Nature Center in Makiki Valley. You run five loops of roughly 20 miles each through the forest reserve trails above Honolulu. The course gains and loses about 5,000 feet per lap on steep, technical, root-covered trail. You pass through aid stations at the Nature Center after each loop, plus several stations out on the course.

Lap 1 — Finding Out Fast (5:37)

I slipped on a wet rock coming down Manoa and strained my hamstring on the very first lap. I couldn’t believe it. Eighty more miles to go and I was already hurt. I genuinely thought it was over.

But I made myself a promise at the start: as long as my body was capable of moving forward, I would continue to do so.

I limped back into the Nature Center and my wife Morgan was there. She got me patched up and back out the door.

Lap 2 — Grinding (6:43)

The hamstring made running downhill nearly impossible. I shifted to power-hiking and found a rhythm. The second lap took over an hour longer than the first, and the sun was going down. The mental math was brutal. At this pace, the 36-hour cutoff was going to be razor-thin.

Lap 3 — The Dark Hours (7:37)

Lap 3 was entirely in the dark. This is where the earned its weight in gold. It’s a waist-mounted LED that throws an incredibly wide, even beam at ground level. On technical roots and rocks in the dark, it was absolutely illuminating compared to a headlamp. I cannot recommend it enough for night trail running.

This was also when I got my first pacer. Having someone with me in the dark, on those ridgelines, completely changed the game. I stopped spiraling and just focused on the next step.

Lap 4 — The Crew (7:39)

My pacers rotated through and kept me moving. Ben Carruth, Brendan Fitzgibbons, Genna Heaps, and Aaqib Syed each took shifts. My wife and the pacers operated like a pit crew at each aid station, getting me in and out with fresh socks and shoes, food, and refilled bottles. I knew I only had 2-3 minutes per stop and no time to spare.

By this point, my heart rate had settled to about 116 bpm. I wasn’t running anymore. I was just walking with purpose.

Lap 5 — Bring It Home (7:48)

The final lap. Math said I had just enough time, but no margin for error. Every step mattered. The volunteers at each aid station believed in me and kept me honest. The people cheering from afar, sending texts and tracking my progress, gave me fuel I didn’t know I needed.

I rang the finishing bell at 35:24:58.

38th place out of 48 finishers. Only 48 of the 123 starters made it. My only goal was to finish, and I did.

By the Numbers

	Lap 1	Lap 2	Lap 3	Lap 4	Lap 5	Total
Time	5:37	6:43	7:37	7:39	7:48	35:24
Cumulative	5:37	12:20	19:57	27:37	35:25
Avg HR	143	131	116	116	116	124

Elevation Gain: ~24,500 ft (official) / 26,700 ft (GPS)
Max Heart Rate: 164 bpm
Elevation Range: 333 ft to 1,917 ft

Gear List

Shoes

La Sportiva Bushido II — Used for the first two laps. Great grip on the technical sections.
Salomon Speedcross — Switched to these for laps 3-5. Lighter and more comfortable for the power-hiking phase.
I swapped shoes and Smartwool socks every single lap at the Nature Center. Fresh feet are everything in a race this long.

Vest

— Carried everything I needed. Comfortable for 35 hours straight.

Lighting

— A waist-mounted LED that lights the ground in front of you with a wide, even beam. Far superior to a headlamp on technical trail at night. This was a game-changer for the dark laps.

Nutrition

Early on, I tried to eat as much as possible knowing my stomach would eventually shut down. The strategy was front-load calories while I still could.

Early laps: Chicken, fruit, and homemade coconut-chocolate-blueberry rice bars that Morgan made.

Late laps: Mashed potatoes and gummy bears. That was about all I could get down.

Throughout: Lots of hydration mix. I estimate I drank somewhere around 2,000-3,000 calories in liquid alone over the 35 hours.

What I Learned

I believe anyone can run this race if they put their mind to it. We are all much stronger than we know. It’s important to test our limits and push through the dark moments when it’s easier to give up. Life is worth suffering for.

The people around me are the reason I finished. Morgan on the support crew. Alyx building the training plan. Ben, Brendan, Genna, and Aaqib pacing me through the worst hours. The volunteers who staffed aid stations for 36 hours in the Hawaiian forest. Every single one of them believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.

At the end of the day, the race was simple. I just had to keep moving forward.

Honolulu Marathon

Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Honolulu Marathon.

Distance: 26.2 miles Location: Honolulu, HI

Peacock Flats Ultra

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

My first trail ultra. About 30 miles on the west side of Oahu with over 7,000 feet of climbing. It was hot. I ran the whole thing with Genna Heaps and we kept a steady pace and just enjoyed it.

Runners are the best people.

Distance: ~29 miles Time: 6:43:35 Elevation Gain: ~7,200 ft Avg HR: 141 bpm

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a Marathon

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When the 2020 Honolulu Marathon was cancelled due to COVID, we made our own. A group of us mapped out a 26.2-mile course around Honolulu, pinned on handmade bibs, and lined up at 5:14 AM in the dark on December 13th.

We named it the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a Marathon after Hawaii’s state fish, because why not.

No aid stations. No crowds. No medals. Just friends who wanted to race.

Distance: 26.2 miles Time: 3:37:43 Avg Pace: 8:17/mi Elevation Gain: ~1,300 ft Avg HR: 164 bpm

All things considered, it was a win.

Revel Mt. Charleston Marathon

Sat, 27 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Revel Mt. Charleston Marathon starts at 9,500 feet in the Spring Mountains outside Las Vegas and drops nearly 5,000 feet to the desert floor. It was about 35 degrees with snow at the top and close to 80 by the finish once the sun came up.

My dad tried to get me to skip the race. I had been in Vegas doing as one does in Vegas and got about three hours of sleep. I was having none of it.

I got up at 4 AM and made it to the start line.

The first 19 miles went well. Then the heat, the altitude swing, and the previous night’s decisions caught up to me all at once. I hit the wall hard around mile 20 and the last 10K was pure survival.

I finished in 4:01:39. Then I laid on the ground for a while. Then the med tent. Morgan had to wheel me through the hotel lobby in a wheelchair.

A lot of things could have been better about this one. But I finished.

Distance: 26.2 miles Time: 4:01:39 Avg Pace: 9:07/mi Elevation Loss: ~5,000 ft (net downhill) Start Elevation: 9,543 ft Finish Elevation: 4,732 ft Avg HR: 157 bpm

Palmetto 200 Relay

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

A 200-mile relay across South Carolina with a team of 6 runners and one driver. Team USASOCKS, led by COL Chris Forsythe and LTC Jason Perez. My first taste of ultra-distance running.

Each runner took about four legs of roughly 8 miles each, with van time in between. Getting out of a van to run hard after sitting for hours was a different kind of difficult.

Team: USASOCKS - “We’re So Money” Distance: 200 miles (team relay) Team Time: 25:58:43 Avg Pace: 7:31/mi Overall Place: 17th (Ultra Open division)

Boston Marathon 2015

Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The 119th Boston Marathon. Third and final year with the West Point Marathon Team as a Firstie. Still never ran a good Boston.

Distance: 26.2 miles Chip Time: 4:15:05 Avg Pace: 9:44/mi Overall Place: 21,238th

Split	Time	Pace
5K	22:49	7:21/mi
10K	46:15	7:33/mi
15K	1:08:39	7:12/mi
20K	1:31:46	7:26/mi
Half	1:36:58	7:22/mi
25K	1:55:38	7:41/mi
30K	2:21:01	8:10/mi
35K	2:48:07	8:43/mi
Finish	4:15:05	9:44/mi

Philadelphia Marathon

Sun, 23 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

My first sub-3 marathon. Ran this with the West Point Marathon Team as a Firstie. Negative-split the race and ran the second half faster than the first.

Distance: 26.2 miles Chip Time: 2:56:47 Avg Pace: 6:45/mi Overall Place: 216th Gender Place: 197th Division Place (M 20-24): 37th

Split	Net Time	Pace
10K	42:35	6:51/mi
Half	1:28:34	6:45/mi
30K	2:04:58	6:42/mi
Finish	2:56:47	6:45/mi

Boston Marathon 2014

Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The 118th Boston Marathon. Back for year two with the West Point Marathon Team.

Distance: 26.2 miles Chip Time: 3:40:06 Avg Pace: 8:24/mi Overall Place: 12,466th

Split	Time	Pace
5K	21:10	6:49/mi
10K	42:36	6:54/mi
15K	1:04:05	6:54/mi
20K	1:25:57	7:02/mi
Half	1:30:46	6:56/mi
25K	1:48:36	7:17/mi
30K	2:14:00	8:10/mi
35K	2:43:23	9:27/mi
40K	3:23:16	12:49/mi
Finish	3:40:06	8:24/mi

Chicago Marathon

Sun, 13 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

My marathon PR and my first time really tactically racing a marathon. Negative-split nearly every 5K segment and ran the second half faster than the first. I was hooked.

Distance: 26.2 miles Chip Time: 2:53:31 Avg Pace: 6:37/mi Overall Place: 475th Gender Place: 430th Division Place (M 20-24): 36th

Split	Time	Pace
5K	21:18	6:52/mi
10K	42:04	6:41/mi
15K	1:02:59	6:44/mi
20K	1:23:33	6:38/mi
Half	1:28:02	6:35/mi
25K	1:43:46	6:30/mi
30K	2:03:41	6:25/mi
35K	2:23:24	6:21/mi
40K	2:44:34	6:49/mi
Finish	2:53:31	6:37/mi

Boston Marathon 2013

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The 117th Boston Marathon. I was 20 years old, running out of West Point with the Marathon Team.

Distance: 26.2 miles Chip Time: 3:23:56 Avg Pace: 7:46/mi Overall Place: 6,809th

Split	Time	Pace
5K	22:16	7:10/mi
10K	43:55	7:05/mi
15K	1:05:34	6:58/mi
20K	1:27:18	6:59/mi
Half	1:32:05	7:02/mi
25K	1:49:27	7:07/mi
30K	2:13:20	7:39/mi
35K	2:40:25	8:43/mi
40K	3:10:20	9:37/mi
Finish	3:23:56	7:46/mi

Richmond Marathon

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

My first marathon. I was 19 years old at West Point. Finished 135th overall out of 4,740 finishers.

Distance: 26.2 miles Chip Time: 3:02:14 Clock Time: 3:02:20 Overall Place: 135th / 4,740 Gender Place: 124th / 2,600 Age Group Place: 6th

Split	Time
10K	43:30
Half	1:31:24
30K	2:19:10
Finish	3:02:14