Peaman's Birthday Bonanza!

After all the excitement of Christmas on Saturday, the party kept on going with the celebration of Peaman's birthday on Sunday, December 26. And what better way to celebrate than a swim/run event, complete with slime, silly string and whipped cream?

Before things got messy, we had to get the athletics out of the way. The race was a 1/2 mile swim, followed by a 3.9 mile run. The ocean was rolling that morning, so there wasn't a lot of excitement to get in the water. I was going to complete the whole event, and Jason was doing a relay with Peter Parisi (so no actual race pictures). This was actually the first Peaman event that I ever did last year, and it was amazing to see how much had changed in a year. Last year we maybe recognized 1 or 2 people - this year, we knew a majority of the participants! And I felt a lot more comfortable getting in the water, too.

Peter Parisi was one of the first people out of the water, so Jason was out fast on the run course. He made it back for a total time of 35:29. About that same time, I was getting out of the water. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I did pass Jason when he only had 1-mile to go on the run and I still had three. The swim wasn't my fastest, but I think it was somewhere around 22 minutes. After a slower-than-usual transition, I was out on the run. The run went pretty well and I think I came in around 30 minutes, for a total time of 52:23. That's over a three-minute improvement from my first time at this event last year and 1-minute improvement from when I did the same distance in February last year. Although my swimming is still my weak point, I'm happy with the progress I've made in a year. If I could ever make it to swim more than once or twice a week, though, then I might really see success!

Full results from all the distances are here.

After the race was over, it was time for the real party to begin. Katie Moore was there doing some Zumba dances with the crowd. Lots of people got into it and I even went out for a song or two, even though I had no idea what I was doing!


A little bit earlier, the kids had a blast covering Peaman with slime, silly string and whipped cream. Although, judging from the photos below, they had as much time getting each other dirty as Peaman.

We managed to avoid becoming too much of a sticky mess, although Peaman did not! The picture below was taken right after Peaman awarded the Perpetual Pea - to us! The Perpetual Pea is at the store on the counter, so come by and rub it for luck anytime before the next Peaman event! Thanks to Peaman for the award and to everyone else for all of your support over the past year!

Up next is Big Dog's New Year's Resolution 5k in Hilo on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Then the weekend after that, Big Island Road Runners is presenting a Resolution Run on Saturday, January 8. The neat thing about this event is that races are being held simultaneously in Hilo and Kona. We'll be out at the Kona event and hope to see everyone there! Happy New Year!

2010 Jingle Bell Run

The 2010 Jingle Bell Run was a fantastic way to celebrate the holidays and cap off an active and fun year (although it's really not over, since there's one more Peaman event next week)! The race was also the goal race for our Couch to 5K Program!

This race, like most others in Kona, was a laid-back, free, fun event with a 5k race, as well as a 1-mile distance. Hosted by Rani "The Roadrunner" Tanimoto-Henderson and her many volunteers, the event ran from the pier, south on Alii Drive. The 1-mile turnaround was at Bubba Gump's, while the 3.1 mile turnaround was near the Green Flash (partially up hill #2 on Alii Drive).

Everyone was encouraged to dress up for the holidays and many people took that to heart. There were tons of Santa hats and reindeer antlers and noses. Here are some photos of the day and the various costumes. More photos can be found here.

I don't think you can really tell in this picture, but the babies had on Christmas outfits with striped socks!

Ms. Claus with the sleigh and reindeer won first place in the costume contest.

And here are some pictures of our amazing Couch to 5k Group - most of them plan on continuing on and training for other races!

In the men's race, professional triathlete Chris Lieto won the men's 5k distance, while setting a new course record of 16:18. That won him a Fair Winds snorkel cruise! Awards were given to the top 6 male and females overall in both distances. Following after Chris Lieto were Karl Moats (17:23), Brandon Fell (18:03), Jordan Littell (18:08), Brandt Mabuni (18:46) and Alan Ryan (18:48). In the women's 5k, I held on for first in 21:33, Zoe Sims was second in 21:55, Monica Scheel was third in 22:27, Shirley Pratt was fourth in 22:50, Cecilia Woodbury was fifth in 23:53 and Ann Griffin came in sixth in 23:57.

For the 1-mile distance, the winners were a mix of kids and adults. For the men/boys, it was Cody Bergfalk in first with a new course record of 5:32, followed by Kaiden Lieto (7:49), Elijah Reid (8:14), David Bowden (10:01), Dax Aho (10:26) and Jack Jeremiah (12:29). For the women/girls, Sidney Vermuelen won in 8:08, followed by Koren Kobayashi (8:09), Belinda Herd (8:41), Faith Yamakawa (9:18), Ciara Blaber (10:32) and Tayvhe-Lei Kaupu-Galon (11:01). Full results from the races are available here.

The post-race was when the event really got going. I don't know how she did it, but Rani had tons of great prizes to give away - coffee, Starbucks schwag, snorkel cruises, restaurant gift certificates, massages and more! The first prizes went to the costume winners, with the sleigh and reindeer coming in first, Tasha the reindog in second and the guy in the Santa Claus beard in third.

Rani then dedicated the Special Recognition Award to a truly deserving individual - Peaman. The time and effort that he puts in to planning monthly free events is astounding. And he's been doing it for twenty years - through various health ups and downs as well. Mahalo plenty to Peaman for everything he's done for the community!

The surprise award of the day for us was the Community Member award. Rani started talking about the recipients of the award and it was like one of those new CFL lightbulbs going off (you know the ones - they need some time to warm up). Slowly I started to realize that she was talking about Jason and I! We want to thank everyone who has supported us over the past year+. We love being a part of this community and truly enjoy all the events that we get to attend, race, volunteer at, etc. Thank you all for being so welcoming!

The next awards were for the outstanding participants in the Couch to 5k program. While everyone that participated in the program did a great job, these two stood out. Matt Sutherland made it to all but one of our group runs, even when he was the only one with our leader, Maggie. And Michelle Heid battled some injury issues when she first started, but by the end of the program she was running extra days on her own. Congratulations to them!

We'd also like to thank Maggie Leite for all she did to keep everyone motivated and ready to run. She was the perfect group leader! I know many of the participants want to keep training because of her.

Congratulations to all of the finishers and many mahalos to Rani for putting on such a great event! Next weekend is the last Peaman event of the year - Peaman's Birthday Bonanza, a 1/2 mile swim and 3.9 mile run. Mele Kalikimaka!

Honolulu Marathon 2010

This past weekend we left the Big Island for the biggest race in Hawaii, the Honolulu Marathon. The event regularly draws 20,000-25,000 runners, although the numbers were closer to 20,000 this year. So, although it's not quite as big as the Chicago Marathons that Jason has run before, it's quite a bit different than anything we see on the Big Island.

The weekend started off with a trip for Jason to the expo. Although he was tempted to try the bean curd juice, I don't think he wanted to upset his stomach two days before the race. After picking up his number, it was off to a carbo load dinner with the Big Island Road Runners, Runners Hi and Marathon Maniacs gangs.

Jason spent Saturday with his feet up getting ready for the race. After I got into town, we headed out for a quick high-carb dinner, before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the early morning ahead.

Jason was up and moving by 3:00 a.m., while I took a little extra time and got up around 3:45. We both walked over to the start, which was about a mile or so away. It was a little bit surreal to see thousands of runners getting ready for a race that was going to be in the dark for another two hours. Because of that, I didn't get a lot of great pictures, but I did get a couple of the masses at the start. As Jason and I fed our way into the chute, we saw a couple of people that we knew who were running the race. After wishing them and Jason good luck, I had to work my way out of that mass of people - a reminder to me to stay out of the chute if I'm not running! I was worried I was going to get trampled because I couldn't get out in time!

After finally getting out of the chute, I started heading back to our hotel and eventually the finish line. I was able to hear the race start, though, and snap some pictures of the fireworks, too.

Once I made it back to our hotel, I hung out at the 5 mile marker to watch the leaders and the rest of the crowd come through. One of the guys next to me commented that the leaders came through almost two minutes slower at that point than they had last year. I didn't think much about that at the time, but definitely remembered it later. I saw Jason pass by a few minutes later, with a pack of about 5 other runners, right on the pace he was aiming for.

From then on, I kept scanning the crowd trying to catch a glimpse of people I knew from the Big Island. Early on I was able to see Alan Ryan, Todd Wanke, and Sam Brown. Once the crowd started getting thicker, though, it was a real challenge to pick people out. I definitely didn't get any photos at that point because I didn't have enough time to grab the camera when I would see people (and it was still really dark). But I spent quite a bit of time out there and kept picking out people like Lisa Bryant, Steve Pavao, DJ Blinn, Marie Kuramoto, Ricci Racela, Elaine Estess and Marvis Hanano. I know I missed plenty, though. And I spotted several "Run Big" shirts on people that I didn't recognize!

The stream of people that kept coming was amazing. The crowd of people who were going to complete a 7-hour marathon was more packed than the crowd that was going to complete a 4-hour marathon! And I saw plenty of interesting costumes, too, including Minnie Mouse (who I've seen run the Chicago Marathon before), a swan, Yoda, Darth Vader, and lots of Santas! After awhile, I started walking to the finish to watch the leaders come in. On the way, I snapped a couple of photos of pre-dawn along Waikiki.

At the finish line, the sun was just beginning to rise over Diamond Head, pretty stunning scenery.

As I waited at the finish line, one of the big topics of conversation from the announcers was the high level of humidity - 97%. Apparently this was having an effect on everyone, including the leaders. They were at a pace that was going to be significantly slower than last year. I was also following Jason through repeated phone calls to my parents (thanks, mom and dad!) and saw that he was slipping off his pace a bit, so I figured the humidity was getting to him, too.

Eventually, the winner starting heading down to the finish line. Nicholas Chelimo won with a time of 2:15:18. Considering he had already run a 2:07 marathon this year, the course conditions had to be challenging.

For the women, Belainesh Gebre was the first woman to cross the finish line in 2:32:13 and was eventually declared the winner. A little controversy surrounded her race, since she was not an invited athlete and ran the race with her boyfriend pacing her and providing her with water. Although a violation of the rules, the race director's discretion allowed her the victory.

A little while later, I saw Jason coming down the home stretch.


He looked extremely tired, but extremely happy to be done. And he did manage to outkick the guy you can see behind him at the end. Although his time was far off from what he was hoping for, he did place 3rd in his age group (40th overall) and was the first Big Island finisher. He also immediately swore off doing any more marathons, but by that afternoon he was planning his Hilo Marathon strategy.

We would have loved to hang out longer at the finish line, but Jason was exhausted and needed to get some food, so we headed back to the hotel pretty quickly. We were able to catch a couple of people later on in the day, though. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and enjoying Waikiki.


Congratulations to all of the finishers of the Honolulu Marathon, whether it was your first or your hundredth! You all did great!

Post Pigout Peamania!

Mahalo again to everyone who came out to the Wobble & Gobble on Thanksgiving morning (and especially to those who volunteered and helped us out)! We had a great turnout, with Jason taking first place for the men in the 6.4-mile race and Ali Herd finishing in first place for the ladies. In the 3.5-mile race, it was Ray Whitford with the win and Brooke Myers coming in second (and first place for the women). The 1-mile race set some records with Toby Olney breaking the old course record by 3 seconds with a time of 6 minutes and 7 seconds. Silas Wiley also broke his own keiki course record with a time of 7:45. Lori Montgomery took the victory for the ladies in the 1-mile course.

If you weren't able to work off your Thanksgiving calories ahead of time, Peaman offered an event yesterday to help work them off after the fact. The Post Pigout Peamania was a crazy event that offered lots of different options for swimmers and runners. The full event featured a 1/4 mi. swim followed by a 2 mile run and then repeated! There were also variations on that event, with people only swimming, only doing one lap, or doing the shorter Peawee course (once or twice). There were also relay teams that had one person do the swim portion twice and another person do the run twice, while other teams opted to have one person do the whole first lap and another person do the second lap. While it sounds like it would be mass confusion, it was actually pretty smooth.

Chris Lieto even came out to join in the fun! (That's him in the middle, with his son.)

I decided to do the full swim/run/swim/run and had no idea how it would turn out. For the first lap, the swim was pretty crowded, but that really helped pull me along. Then came the first run, which also wasn't too bad. The first run went down Alii Drive to Kona Reef and then turned right before heading back in front of Royal Kona and Huggo's. I managed to pass a couple of people on the run, but then of course we had to get back into the water. Where those same people went ahead and passed me again! The second lap was much tougher. I felt like I wasn't going anywhere on the swim (but it did feel nice to jump in the water after the run)! The second swim ended up being about 20-30 seconds slower than my first swim. After getting out of the water the second time, I was definitely feeling some dizzying effects. After quickly throwing on some shoes, though, I was back out on the run, which this time went past Huggo's and Royal Kona first before turning left to Alii Drive and back to the finish. Another good run and my total time for the event was 45:58, which managed to put me in third place for the ladies (but still 5-6 minutes back of the first two)!

No surprise here, but Chris Lieto took the overall victory in a time of 35:09, followed by Tai Scarborough in 37:47 and Geoff Whitener in 39:13. Coming in fourth - and first overall for the women) was Rani Tanimoto in 39:29. Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen was the second place woman with a time of 40:34. Full results from the races are here.

I wasn't able to get any pictures of the early racers, since I was out on the course. And Jason (our usual Peaman cameraman) had a very important job, too. He was the timer for the race!

I definitely think he (and the popsicle stick hander-outers) had the hardest job keeping track of all the different finishers.

After I finished, I did manage to get some good shots of some other finishers, though:

Simone White

Joe Loschiavo

Papa Pea

Nori Becker chasing down daughter Makena (who did the entire course)!

Marissa Bryant-Manago also did the full course and finished strong!

Mahalo as always to Peaman and his crew of volunteers who helped make yesterday's event a great post-Thanksgiving workout!

No races are coming up on the Big Island in the next couple of weeks, with the next race being the 6th Annual Jingle Bell Beach Run 5k on December 19. However, the Honolulu Marathon is coming fast on December 12, so good luck to everyone running that. Enjoy your taper!

2010 Wobble Gobble Results

Thanks to everyone who came out and participated in the 6th Annual Wobble Gobble Run/Walk. We had about 225 finishers and filled up my truck with donations for the food bank! The results from this morning are available here as a pdf and here as an Excel file. Congratulations to all on starting your Thanksgiving off in a fun, healthy way. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Miracle Mile Results

Results from this morning's Miracle Mile race are now available on our website. We are hurriedly heading over to Maui for a few days for a family wedding, but will post a more detailed recap when we get back to Big Island. It was a great race, and there were some really fast times (especially considering the short, steep hill that pops up about 2/3 of the way in). We would like to send out special congratulations to Justin Butler and Kerry Hull, our overall champions. We would also like to send out many mahalos to everyone who helped make this a great event and a successful fundraiser for Kona's Team in Training chapter.

Queen K Tri Club Training Runs

Yesterday morning, Queen K Tri Club hosted an assisted training run for people who are training for the Honolulu Marathon - or just for those who'd like to get in a run with some water stops! The event offered three distances - 10K, 20K and 30K (or 6.2 miles, 12.4 miles and 18.6 miles for those of us who are metrically challenged!). The runs started out at Old Airport and ran down Alii Drive.

Big Island Running Company hosted an aid station at the 5k point, so we got to see everyone in the race at least once and some three times. Those doing the 10k turned around at our aid station and headed back to the finish. The 20k'ers continued on to another aid station further down Alii Drive at the 10k point before turning around and running back past us to the Old Airport finish. The 30k participants ran out to the 10k point, ran back to our aid station at now-15k before turning around and running back to the 10k turnaround and back in to the finish.

Since we were busy with the aid station, it was hard to get too many photos. I did manage to get one shot of Jason after he turned around at 15k and one of Ellis Andrews on his way back to the finish (below). However, the Queen K Tri Club has some great shots on their website here. Special thanks to Michelle Whitford and Megan Livingston for helping with the aid station! They came out and spent their Sunday morning in the hot sun helping me pass out water and HEED to the runners. And it was a pretty hot morning, so the runners definitely needed all the hydration they could get.



Queen K Tri Club has also posted the results of the runs here. Lots of the familiar names from the local running scene were out there, including Bree Wee who is preparing for Ironman Cozumel and several others prepping for the Honolulu Marathon. Congratulations to all the runners!

Don't forget to sign up this week for the Miracle Mile on Saturday! A 1-mile run down Alii Drive in front of the Kona Coffee Parade, starting at 9:15. It's $10 to register through Friday and $15 on Saturday morning. We hope to see you out there!

Kona Coffee Miracle Mile

Come join us on Saturday, November 13 at 9:15 a.m. as we host the Kona Coffee Miracle Mile. The Miracle Mile is a 1-mile run down Alii Drive from Coconut Grove Marketplace, ending on Kuakini Highway in front of West Hawaii Today. The run precedes the Kamehameha Schools Kona Coffee Grand Parade, so the entire run course/parade route will be closed to traffic. And hopefully there will be lots of spectators to cheer everyone on!


Cost of the event is $10 through November 12 and $15 on race day. Proceeds from the race will benefit the Team in Training in their efforts to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Awards will be given to the top three male and females overall and the top three male and female finishers in 10-year age groups.

Additional information on the race and registration/packet pick-up can be found here. You can also email melissa@bigislandrunningcompany.com or call 808-327-9333 for more information.

Peaman Thrash and Dash Biathlon

This past Sunday was Peaman's post-Ironman biathlon - the Thrash and Dash. A nice short event, with only a 1/3 mile swim and 2 mile run, brought out hundreds of participants. It was another nice, hot, sunny day in Kona. Since Jason was doing his long run that day, I was on my own at the event, so I was expecting no pictures for this post. However, Michelle Whitford has kindly allowed me to use some of her photos from the day. Mahalo, Michelle!

Everyone seemed to be in great spirits at the start of the day. Part of the Big Island Honda crew, Korey Pulluaim and Keola Wimbish got a little swim warmup in before the race. One of these days, I should probably consider warming up, too, instead of just standing around chatting. Maybe next time...


Pretty soon, we were ready for Peaman's instructions followed by the start of the race.

While I enjoy only having to swim a short distance, the bad part about it is that the crowd never thins out. So you end up swimming next to people the entire time, trying to avoid elbowing someone or getting an elbow yourself. At least this time the water wasn't choppy, which made it a lot better than the last 1/3 mile swim we had. This time I came out of the water in about 10 and a half minutes. Not great, but ok considering I hadn't been in the ocean at all since the last Peaman event.

The leaders come in from the swim neck and neck.

That's me in the middle. I only put this picture in because I was excited to see I actually finished with people around me and wasn't completely in the back of the pack! Or at least I wasn't alone in the back of the pack.

Then it was on to the run.

Keola Wimbish heads into transition for the run.

The 2-mile run course goes south on Alii Drive to Kona Reef where it turns right and runs past the Royal Kona Resort and Huggo's before coming back onto Alii Drive to head back to the pier and the finish. So you still have to climb up the hill in front of the Royal Kona, but the run is so short it doesn't seem bad at all.

Sam Corace (above) seemed to be flying in his attempt to catch the leader. He came up a little short, but finished in second place with a time of 19:12. Nicholas Stelfox took the victory in 18:53. Third place was Elliot Boon in 19:43. For the ladies, it was Annamari Fuls finishing first in 23:41, followed by Chenoa Jesser in 24:28 and Kaeti Ecker in 24:29 (a close finish)! It looks like Chenoa (below) had a tight race with Jon Kunitake (in a relay pairing), too! In the relay portion, Madison Hauanio and Waika Koanui took first place with a time of 20:54.
I managed to run 14:10 for the 2 miles, for a total time of 26:14. But I couldn't manage to catch up to Monica Scheel, who was keeping up quite a pace out there! Full results from the race are available here.

As usual, there was also a peawee race, with a shorter swim and a 1-mile run. Kanaipono Eckhart finished in first place in the peawee race, with Alama Kala coming in second. Lauren Jones did the event with her mom and one of our running group members, Kerry Hull, and had an impressive third place showing! She was followed right behind by Duke Becker and his dad, Danny. Chitwin San Tun and his son Aye Chan competed for the first time and seemed to be enjoying themselves.


Following the race, there was the usual awarding of the Perpetual Pea, which had to be returned from Big Island Honda to be passed along to Ironman director Diana Bertsch.

There were also the usual post-race refreshments and prizes, with a new addition being the banana dogs.

The bananas in a bun with peanut butter, chocolate sauce and candy toppings were a huge hit. They even had banana burritos, too! What a great idea!

Congrats to all Peaman participants and thanks as always to Peaman and his loyal core of volunteers who always put on a fantastic event!

Don't forget to mark your calendars for the return of the Miracle Mile Run hosted by Big Island Running Company on Saturday, November 13 at 9:15 a.m. right before the Kona Coffee Festival Parade! Registrations forms are available at the store and will soon be available on our website. We hope you'll join us for this fun 1-mile run!