Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas in Kona - Peaman's Birthday Bonanza!


First of all, we'd like to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas from Big Island Running Company.  We hope everyone had safe and happy holidays yesterday.  We were very happy to see some of our friends at Peaman's Birthday Bonanza, a 1/2 mile swim and a 3.9 mile run.  The race was pretty well attended for taking place on Christmas morning.  Some of the usual attendees were missing (they must have had too many presents to open), but there were plenty of happy kids and adults there.


Marissa and Jon


Although the morning was a little chilly (for Kona), the water was perfect.  Relatively calm and clear and not too cold once you got going.  The pier received nice, new buoys last week, so the swim markings and sighting were great! I was a little worried about the swim, since I haven't swam in the ocean since the last Peaman event. But it turned out ok and I finished in just over 20 minutes.

After the transition, it was out on the run course, with my super-pacer, Jason.  As I expected, he kept picking out people for me to try to pass.  There was one guy in particular who we had our sights on for a long time.  I finally got past him on the way out, but then I stopped for water at the turnaround and he scooted past me again.  So for most of the 2 miles back, we had our eye on him again.  Coming past Hale Halawai, we finally were able to make the pass. But I don't know if I would have been able to run that hard if Jason wasn't running next to me.  Or maybe more accurately running several paces ahead of me, then slowing down so I could catch up.

My run time came in just under 30 minutes, for a total time of 51:36, about a minute faster than last year.  I'm not sure whether the improvement was on the swim or the run, but either way I'll take it.
Cowman (without horns)

Todd Smith was the day's winner with a time of 38:45.  Karlyn Pipes-Nielsen came in second overall and first for the ladies with a time of 39:35.  Rani Tanimoto took third with a time of 41:18. Tony Leonardini and Sam Brown took fourth and fifth with times of 41:55 and 42:32 respectively. Full results are available here.


Following the athletic portion of the morning, it was on to the gift giving and receiving.  This time there were lots of great prizes following the race.  Nori Becker won a foot massager! 


The Perpetual Pea was also passed on to the owners of Ultimate Burger for their support of the peamania.

Perpetual Pea Recipient
Then it was back home to open more gifts, spend time with family or head to church.  We hope everyone had a great Christmas and celebrates a safe New Year this weekend!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Big Island Road Runners Election Run Results

Last weekend in Hilo, the Big Island Road Runners held their annual Election Run, followed by (you guessed it) their Board of Directors election.  The new members of the Board are Norbert Furumo, Andrew Langtry, Rick Otani, Lee Otani and Steve Pavao. Congratulations to them and best wishes for a successful 2012! 

Steve Pavao
Lee Otani
Rick Otani
The race started at Richardson's Beach Park and had a 2-mile and 4-mile distance.  Approximately 25 people completed each of the races.  More pictures from the race are available here

The Queen or Mrs. Claus?
Happy Finishers
Results from the races are below:

Big Island Road Runners
Annual Election 4 Mile Run
December 18, 2011
Richardson Beach Park, Hilo, 7:30am






Pace
Plc Name Div
Time (min/mi)
1 Mike Daly 30-39
25:01 6:15
2 Louie Perry 20-29   25:57 6:29
3 Stewart Miyashiro 50-59
26:17 6:34
4 Joe Wedemann 40-49   28:35 7:09
5 John Hylas 50-59
28:50 7:13
6 Kelly Freitas 50-59   30:14 7:34
7 Andrew M. Langtry 40-49
30:14 7:34
8 Patrick Baker 30-39   30:26 7:37
9 Alan Mitsuyoshi 60-69
33:31 8:23
10 Colby La Brie 30-39   34:41 8:40
11 Davin Padilla 30-39
35:32 8:53
12 Esther Kanehailua 40-49 F 35:32 8:53
13 Josen Ho 20-29
35:35 8:54
14 Molly Mair Yates 30-39 F 35:54 8:59
15 Les Martisko 60-69
36:45 9:11
16 Kim Furumo 50-59 F 36:50 9:13
17 Rick Otani 50-59
36:56 9:14
18 Firmin Tehero 50-59   37:03 9:16
19 Patrick Donovan 60-69
37:36 9:24
20 Lee Otani 50-59 F 40:54 10:14
21 Paul Delima 20-29
41:07 10:17
22 Kristy P. Kamoku 30-39 F 54:13 13:33
23 Olani Lilly 40-49 F 1:00:24 15:06
Big Island Road Runners
Annual Election 2 Mile Run
December 18, 2011
Richardson Beach Park, Hilo, 7:30am






Pace
Plc Name Div
Time (min/mi)
1 Scott Hunter 20-29
12:04 6:02
2 Andrew Langtry ≤19   12:04 6:02
3 Maka'ala Cruz ≤19
12:27 6:14
4 Steven Hunter ≤19   12:44 6:22
5 Max Panoff ≤19
12:58 6:29
6 Steve Pavao 50-59   13:16 6:38
7 Rihei Grothmann ≤19
15:30 7:45
8 Richard Grothmann 50-59   16:01 8:01
9 DJ Blinn 60-69
16:14 8:07
10 Baxter Stone ≤19   18:06 9:03
11 Marianne Stone 30-39 F 18:10 9:05
12 Marti Banks 50-59 F 18:11 9:05
13 David Hammes 60-69
18:51 9:26
14 Jen Casazza No Age F 24:08 12:04
15 Angie Casazza No Age F 24:12 12:06
16 Sandra Silva 40-49 F 24:19 12:10
17 Leland Quintal 20-29
24:57 12:29
18 Jaysen Guyer ≤19   44:19 22:10
19 Cindy Makaiwi 30-39 F 47:55 23:58
20 Ernie Matsumoto 40-49   47:58 23:59
21 May Kukahiko 40-49 F 48:10 24:05
22 Jordan Cruz ≤19 F 48:11 24:05
23 Amanda Cruz ≤19 F 48:12 24:06
24 Ben Makaiwi 30-39   48:12 24:06
25 June Shirshac 50-59 F 48:13 24:07   

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Jingle Bell Run 2011



It's Christmas time! Last Sunday was the 7th Annual Jingle Bell Beach Run on Alii Drive in Kona.  Yet another one of the free races in Kona, this one is hosted by Rani Tanimoto and Penn Henderson and is truly a first class event.  And it's growing by leaps and bounds each year.  This year there were over 300 finishers between the 5k and the 1-mile distance!

The holiday spirit at this event is simply amazing.  Everyone starts stalking the Christmas aisles before the race to come up with the most inventive and festive attire.  It's a bonus if it's not too uncomfortable to run in! Here are some of the festive outfits:
 


Mrs. Claus and some holiday roller skaters were there, but we didn't get any pictures of them. Below are the participants in the costume contest.  The wrapped present (on roller blades, too!) won first place, followed by skinny Santa and the sparkly elves.


Another highlight of this race is the fact that it's the culmination of our Couch to 5k program! Our Couch to 5kers have been training three times a week since the middle of October to run this race.  Most of them started out with no running experience at all, but look how they did!

Laura Kniffin with Coach Maggie at the finish
Diane Kanuha checking her time at the finish
Miles Tagawa (center) with Connie Baer and Ellis Andrews
We didn't get pictures of Dominique Leite or Laury Saracho, who also finished the race.  And Paula Baker also completed the program, but had to help out with Team Mango's Journey to La-La-Land.  Rani also prepared awards for a couple of our outstanding Couch to 5kers - Laura Kniffin who really started with no running experience and Maggie Leite who has been the awesome coach of our program for the past two years!
 
Laura and Maggie accept their awards
Congratulations to all of our Couch to 5k Finishers and we hope we continue to see you out on the roads!

Rani and Penn do an amazing job of pulling together prize packages for this event.  In addition to the ones they make for our Couch to 5k group and the top five finishers of each race, they also have a Special Recognition Award and a Community Service Award. This year the Special Recognition Award went to Carl "Gecko" Koomoa, the head of Team Mango Races, another group that puts on races over the course of the year.  Unfortunately, Carl wasn't able to make the Jingle Bell Beach Run because he was hosting a Team Mango event - Journey to La-La-Land, a run or bike to the top of Hualalai!The Community Service Award this year was present to Daniel Hodel, whose Queen K Tri Club hosts several aid-station assisted training runs/races each year.  Congratulations, Daniel and Gecko!
Daniel Hodel accepts his community service award.
As for the race results, Jason came in first for the 5k with a time of 17:46, followed by Travis Thompson in 18:14, Brandt Mabuni in 18:21, Brad Bryson in 18:28, and Tai Scarbrough in 18:33.  For the ladies 5k, it was Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen with the win in 20:36.  Grace Howard took second with 21:49, followed by Brooke Myers with Whistler (in a speedy jogging stroller) in 21:57, Anita Leao in 22:16 and Cassidy Landes in 24:11. 

In the 1-mile run, Tobey Olney followed up his Wobble & Gobble one-mile victory with a time of 5:52 for 1st place.  Cade Kanuha was second in 8:42. Jackie Payne followed in third place and first overall for the ladies in 9:01.  Amanda Schiff was hot on her heels, coming across next in 9:02. Rudolph the Reindeer and Santa's Elf came in third and fourth for the men, while Johnny Prehn and Apryl Sasaki were third and fourth for the women.

Full results from the races are available here

Happy finishers Jessica and her son Aidan
Even after all of these awards, the fun still wasn't over - there were tons of random prize giveaways, including a night's stay at the Royal Kona Resort.  As I mentioned above, Rani and Penn have really created a special event.  Thanks to them for their generosity in organizing this event and also to the sponsors who help make it possible!

Up this weekend is Peaman's Birthday Bonanza on Christmas morning.  8:03 a.m. at the Kailua Pier.  We hope to see everyone there after all the presents have been opened!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Honolulu Marathon Recap


Last weekend was the Honolulu Marathon, the largest road race in Hawaii, with over 20,000 runners. Jason ran it last year, but I just spectated and provided support.  This year, however, we were both running in it, and it was going to (finally!) be my first marathon.
Massive start (Photo by Penn Henderson)
 We flew over to Honolulu on Friday evening and checked into our hotel to get a good night's sleep.  We were up early the next morning and headed over to the expo when it opened.  We ran into some other Big Island runners, but overall got through the expo pretty quickly, since they didn't have a whole lot of vendors.  From there we took the trolley to Kapiolani Park to check clothes for after the race the next day.  That turned out to be a lifesaver, since Jason had to wait around at the finish for me to cross and then I knew I was going to be soaking wet and likely freezing once I stopped.

After a long walk back to the hotel, we basically did nothing the rest of the day.  Plenty of resting for us! We watched the Ironman 2011 on TV and saw lots of our Big Island friends featured in the coverage. And we also watched every single weather forecast between Friday night and Saturday night. Predictions were for rain, rain and more rain, with some wind mixed in.  We were definitely worried, especially when it started downpouring in the middle of our dinner. 

I think the rain continued pretty much all night, but by the time we headed to the start line, it had cleared up.  And it didn't rain at all while we were still running, although I think it did rain on some of the later finishers. Jason ditched us at the start line to head up behind the elites, while Chitwin San Tun and I stayed at the start of the 3-4 hour corral.  But, as everyone had warned us, that didn't mean much since our first mile was definitely above 10 minute/mile pace. 

Obviously since we were running we didn't get to take any pictures, but Penn Henderson took some great shots that he passed along to us. 
Wheelchair Start (Photo by Penn Henderson)
Fireworks at start (Photo by Penn Henderson)


Leaders near the start (Photo by Penn Henderson)
Everything settled down after the first few miles but I still never ended up hitting the pace that I expected.  But for my first marathon, that was ok, since I had no idea what to expect in the later miles of the race.  And for a lot of the race, we were running into a pretty serious headwind. 

Around mile 13, I saw the leaders heading back into Waikiki.
Leaders (Photo by Penn Henderson)

Women's leaders (Photo by Penn Henderson)
A little while after that I saw Jason.  He was looking strong and focused. Behind him I saw some other Big Islanders - Sal Salmi, Alan Ryan, and Rani Tanimoto - everyone was looking good.


Jason on the course (Photo by Penn Henderson)


He looks like someone's chasing him! (Photo by Hawaii Sport Mag)
Sal, always smiling (Photo by Penn Henderson)
Lyman Perry (Photo by Penn Henderson)

As I found out when I crossed the finish line, Jason was the first Big Island finisher with his time of 2:53:28.  Sal wasn't too far behind him, winning his entire age group!  Rani was the first Big Island woman finisher, as well.

After seeing everyone come back the other way, it was my turn to head back into town.  At this point I was definitely getting tired of running.  My pace slowed in the later miles of the race, but I never felt truly awful. But I was wondering why I had wanted to do this for so long, and then I was consoling myself that I never had to do another one.  Right after getting to the top of Diamond Head on the way back in, I looked over and saw Chitwin again, who I had gotten separated from in the first couple of miles of the race.  He pushed me to really move on the downhill, since we knew a sub-4 hour finish was in sight.  I managed to keep pretty good pace to the finish and crossed the line in just under 4 hours on the clock and at 3:58:19 according to my chip.

Marathon finisher! (Photo by Honolulu Marathon)
But the craziest thing happened when I crossed the finish line. There was a guy there who was waiting for me. Luckily he had a big smile on his face, otherwise I would have thought something terrible had happened.  On Saturday, Jason and I had entered a contest on Facebook to guess the winning time of the men's marathon.  The winner would get a lifetime of free entries to the Honolulu Marathon and the new Honolulu Half Marathon.  Jason and I both put in guesses, but actually thought our times were too fast with the predicted rainy weather.  But it never rained and I got lucky! The winner crossed in 2:14:55, one second faster than my guess of 2:14:56.  They took me away from the finish chute over to a special VIP area where they took my information and asked some questions.  Later that day I was the top story on the Honolulu Marathon website!  It also made the Honolulu Advertiser the next day and some Honolulu radio stations! The photo above is one they took just after I finished. Looks like I'll be doing the Honolulu Marathon again next year!

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to hang out long in the VIP area, since I had to meet up with Jason and I didn't want him to think I had a medical emergency.  But I found him at our designated meeting spot and we walked to get my finisher's shirt and, of course, a malasada for each of us.  It was delicious! After chatting with some other Big Island finishers, we started the long walk back to the hotel.  It was only about a mile, but it felt like forever!

Happy to be done! (Photo by Penn Henderson)

After another day of resting (and a little shopping), we met up with a bunch of friends for pizza and beer Sunday night.  It was a great time, and everyone seemed pretty happy with their races. Congratulations to all of the finishers! We'll see you again next year!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Peaman's 300th Race!

Last Sunday was a momentous occasion for the Peaman race series - it was their 300th race!  That's over 20 years of fun, free races in Kona.  And Sean "Peaman" Pagett has put them all on!  His giving spirit to the community is amazing and unexhaustible. Even while battling health issues, he manages to get out there every month and put on these wonderful races for our community, without asking for anything in return. 

In honor of Peaman's 300th race, Papa Pea and Bike Works teamed together to produce these limited edition Peaman #300 shirts.  I know Peaman was blown away when he saw all the people sporting them. 

Peaman supporters wearing their new Peaman shirts
The race itself was one of Peaman's craziest ideas ever - it's a 1/4 mile swim, followed by a 2 mile run, followed by another 1/4 mile swim and another 2 mile run.  I did this event last year and, let me tell you, it is dizzying to go back and forth that many times.  Not to mention all the time you can lose in transition.  This year, Jason and I teamed up to do a relay - I swam and he ran.  Even with my swim slowing us down, we still managed to have a good race, beating out Luis DeLaTorre and Korey Pulluiam to take the split pea title.


A lot of the usual suspects were out participating in this race. Tai Scarborough took first place overall at 36:46, with Chris Lieto crossing the line just behind him.  Rani Tanimoto came in third overall and first for the women. Tim Robinson was the third place male and Sarah Chang and Allison Alterman were the second and third place women.

Papa Pea
Kanaipono Eckart was the top peawee, followed by Jared Barrett and Lawrence Eckart.  In other categories, Penny Pleban and Holualoa Pete took the rolling peas title for doing the run on rollerblades! Talk about a tough transition!  Full results from the race are available here.
Peaman surrounded by the keiki

As usual, the real festivities were post-race, with plenty of giveaways and prizes for the kids and adults. Mahalo to Peaman for everything he has done and continues to do for the community in putting these races together. The excitement these little races bring every month is part of what makes Kona a great place to live. Here's to the next 300!

Keiki dig through Peaman's toy chests