Volcano Art Center Rain Forest Runs - Half Marathon

Over 150 participants came out to run the half marathon distance at the Volcano Art Center Rain Forest Runs this past Saturday. (For a recap of the 10K, 5K and keiki races, click here. For more pictures click here and here. For full results, go to JTL Timing's Website.) Even though Big Island Running Company didn't put together a specific training group for the Volcano runs, there were still about 20 members of our group who made the trip over to run one of the race distances. And everyone did great, with many bettering their times from the Kona races on an arguably harder course. While this course had some killer hills (including one that seemed to last for about a mile), it definitely did not have the heat of Kona.

The course started out at Cooper Center in Volcano Village and headed out Wright Road. For me, the race plan wasn't very concrete, since I wasn't sure what to expect with the hills and elevation. (After a fluke knee injury on the Thursday before the race, Jason was sitting this one out and serving as photographer instead). All I knew was that Danny Jesser and I were going to try to run the race together, since we've done several training runs together and seem to have compatible paces. Although if pushed, my main goal was to try to improve on my time from the Kona half marathon.

The first three miles ventured off of Wright Road through Cymbidium Acres, a subdivision with several lettered roads. The course zig-zagged back and forth through the subdivision on those roads, with some rolling hills on each portion. The best part of that early portion was the cow that was stopped right at the end of the road next to a course marshal. I wish I had my camera for that one!

The next three to four miles went back on Wright Road heading out again to the mountains. It was a beautiful, rolling portion, with some good downhills to take advantage of. Since it was a clear day, there were also some great views of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the distance. I had to stop and remind myself to really appreciate the beauty out there.

Right around mile 7 was where we hit the killer hill. We had turned off of Wright Road and were following another road out that seemed to have an endless steep hill. I am not the best of hill runners, so this was an extremely tough portion for me. I felt like I was crawling, but couldn't go any faster. Unfortunately, I know that Danny is a good hill runner, so this must have been torture for him, but he stayed with me the entire way on those hills. Mahalo, Danny!

At the end of the paved road, we had to go about a quarter mile further on a trail. This was probably a lot of fun for people who like trail running, but for me, it was all about keeping my head down and trying not to twist an ankle. The big payoff for all that uphill, though, was the chance to fly back down it for a mile or so. Definitely our fastest, most fun mile of the race.

Once we hit Wright Road again, we had to make one little detour before heading back to the start. Instead of turning left to go back to the start, we had to turn right for about a quarter of a mile. This wouldn't have been so bad, except for the steep uphill right at the end of the road. Once we got that out of the way, though, it was mostly downhill to the finish. There was one more hill around mile 11, but that didn't seem nearly so bad after the other ones we conquered.

About the same point as we hit that last hill, we encountered some of the 10K runners. It was a real boost to see them all out there smiling through their races. Then it was just holding on to the finish. At mile 12, Danny used his leftover energy to run away from me and finish about 25 seconds ahead. I wish I could have stayed with him, but I was still happy with my 1:47:15 finish (almost 3 minutes faster than Kona). Thanks for a great run, Danny!

In the overall results, Billy Barnett won easily in a time of 1:16:44. Coming in second and third were Josiah Jennings (1:21:38) and Mark Schlicting (1:22:42). The first place woman was Megan Brousseau of Lincoln, Massachusetts who was here on her honeymoon! Her time was 1:33:23. After her came Natalie Kramer (1:36:29) and Jennifer Balentine (1:38:29).

And now for the pictures! Here are some of the best of the bunch, along with the ones of our group members.

Billy Barnett on the way to his victory.

Josiah Jennings - 2nd overall

1st Place Woman Megan Brousseau

Ray Whitford

Big Island Road Runner Steve Pavao

Danny Jesser after he pulled away from me.

But I wasn't that far behind him. I almost caught the guy in front of me that you can see in this picture. I have a great finish line photo of him looking over his shoulder at me, like "Who the hell is this girl?"

Kona runner and athletic trainer Mary Edmonds

Chitwin San Tun, who improved on his Kona time by about 3 minutes!

Lisa Bryant finishing with a smile!

Bobbi Reif-Acheson - she'll be doing the Ironman in Kona this year!

Cliff Acheson - He and Bobbi were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this weekend. Congrats, you two!

The Queen! Marie Kuramoto

Gerd Weber in his Tri Big shirt!

I don't know this guy, but I love his pose!

Peter Ballerini - A 12-minute improvement over Kona!

Kristina Sawaya - one of our runners who was completing her first half marathon ever!

Maggie Leite - She worked her way up from the 10K in Kona to a great half marathon in Volcano!

Jason Heady with a great finish line pose!

Billy Barnett accepts his overall award - a great piece of art!

DJ Blinn accepts his age group award!

Congratulations to all race participants and mahalo to all the volunteers! And a special congratulations and huge mahalos to race director Sharron Faff! This was a great event and we can't wait to come back next year.

That night after the race, Sharron told us we had to go see the glow from Kilauea at night. I'm glad we did, because it is truly amazing. You definitely have to check it out if you are ever in Volcano. Here's a photo that turned out ok, but still doesn't do it justice. Go see it for yourself!