Kona Marathon Runs 2012

Another successful Kona Marathon is in the books! For the third year in a row, Big Island Running Company's training group was well-represented in all race distances from the 5k to the full marathon.  And the weather could not have been any better - after downpours the night before, it was nice and cool and, most importantly, overcast.

We have tons of pictures from these races, since Jason wasn't able to run. There are going to be a lot in this post, but more photos are available here. Full results from the races are available here. Also, special thanks to Mizuno for donating the race shirts for our group and to Dominos' in Kona for donating some pizzas for our post-race party.

The full marathoners headed off at 5:30 a.m., just as the sun was starting to rise.  The course runs along Alii Drive, out to Kona Commons, onto the Queen Kaahumanu Highway, down to the Natural Energy Lab and back.  Here are a couple of training partners as the headed in to the finish - all with great times!

Don Kirby

Leonard Torricer

Danny Jesser

At 6:00 a.m., it was time for the half marathoners to take to the road.  Their course was the same as the full, but turned around at Kona Commons and headed back to Keauhou.

Here are some shots of our group members in action:

Mike DeCarli and Chris Prater

John Ferdico

Chico

Abra Pintor

Gabby Hurtado

Gemma Pytel

Nori and Danny Becker

Kym Tagawa, Jen McCord, and Matt Sutherland

Lee-Ann Heely and Christine DeCarli

Diane Quitiquit

Laura Bollman

Chitwin San Tun and Me

Ali Steiner

Jenny Payne

Kevin Prater - with the Perpetual Pea!

The 10k took off at 6:45 a.m. and the 5k followed at 6:50 a.m.  We were able to get some pictures of the 10k finishers, but not the 5k.

Maggie Leite

Becky Prater

Paul Incardona

Andrea Cobb

Congratulations to all of the finishers! After the race, it was time for a little relaxing party at Kahaluu Beach.  We had tons of great food and got to award some prizes to our group members.  Before the race, each group member was invited to guess their finish time and the person who got the closest to their time won a prize.  And the winners were:

Marathon - Leonard Torricer (guessed 3:50 and finished in 3:54:11)
Half Marathon - Orestes Barrios (guessed 1:37:00 and finished in 1:36:39)
10K - Mercedes DeCarli (guessed 49:45 and finished in 49:59)
5K - Makena Becker (guessed 35:00 and finished in 33:06)

We hope everyone keeps up with the running! Our group runs will continue, with the next big race being the Volcano Rain Forest Runs.  See you out on the roads!

Keiki Fun Runs and Papa Pea's Birthday!

Again, another prolonged absence from blogging.  Since our last post, the Big Island has hosted the Ironman Hawaii 70.3, a Queen K Tri Club 20k and 20 mile training run, the Kukio Challenge, the Kona Marathon Keiki Fun Runs, and Papa Pea's Birthday Biathlon! This post will catch you up with the last two at least.

Photo by Kona Marathon

This past Saturday, the Kona Marathon crew hosted the Keiki Fun Runs at Kona Commons.  These are always a popular event with distances ranging from 100 yards for the 1-4 year olds and up to one mile for the 11-14 year olds. The event was a huge success with almost 200 kids participating!  Full results from the race are available from JTL Timing.  Congratulations to all the keiki, especially those from the Big Island Running Company Training Group!

Here are some photos from the day, courtesy of Kona Marathon:

The bouncy house was a huge hit

Race Announcers Danny Jesser and Eddie O with Assistant Race Director Randy Ashley

Race Start

Look at them go!

Bigger kids getting their start

All the volunteers

The next day, the big kids got to play with Papa Pea's Birthday Biathlon and Salute to the 70s.  The distance for this race was a 1/2 mile swim and 2 mile run.  It seemed like a while since I'd raced a Peaman event and I was a little rusty.  The swim was ok (just at 20 minutes), except for the zig zag pattern I managed to make in the ocean, but the hard part this time was the run (finish time of 36:25)! Go figure.

Photo by Christine DeCarli

The race came down to a sprint toward the finish with Bree Wee taking first in 24:45 and Peter Parisi finishing second in 25:23.  Full results are available here. 

We have a busy week this week.  First, tomorrow evening is the King's Trail Summer Solstice Runs hosted by Team Mango out at the Natural Energy Lab.  These are 7 mile and 4 mile trail runs with a 1-mile keiki run.  Events start at 5:00 p.m.

Then on Friday evening is the Aloha Friday Run presented by Kona Marathon at Kona Commons.  The 3 mile fun run/walk starts at 5:30 p.m. and goes from Kona Commons to the Old Airport Walking Path and back.

Saturday is the Kona Marathon Health and Fitness Expo at the Keauhou Beach Resort from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Big Island Running Company will be there along with approximately 20 other vendors.  They will also be screening "The Spirit of the Marathon" and hosting several speakers.  For a full schedule, go to Kona Marathon's website. Following that is the Carbo Load Dinner at Keauhou Beach Resort.

Finally the main events for the Kona Marathon kick off Sunday starting at 5:30 a.m. with the full marathon; 6:00 a.m. for the half marathon; 6:45 for the 10k; and 6:50 for the 5k.  It promises to be a busy, fun week! Good luck to everyone participating!

Guy's Night by Brooks

 

Thanks to Brooks Running, last night we hosted a Guy's Night. Everyone who showed up received a Brooks pint glass, some free Gu from Kona Marathon, discounts on Brooks apparel and a chance to win some Run Big. Brooks apparel.

Instead of just doing a raffle for the prizes, we decided to make things interesting.  Each guy had the chance to show off their bra removal skills - from a mannequin, of course.   Most of the guys were pretty quick with that part of the contest.  The hard part, though, was once they got the bra off, they had to put it back on again.  The fastest six times received a prize.  Here are the results and some photos:

1. Ben - 6.85 seconds (I wouldn't have believed that time was even possible!)
2. Chico - 9.06

3. Scott - 9.16

4. Chris - 12.35
5. Rene - 13.10
6. Chitwin - 13.72
7. James - 14.35

8. Kevin - 15.31

9. Rick - 16.48
10. Bryan - 18.06

11. Danny B. - 18.19
12. Miles - 24.14
13. Carl - 25.18
14. John F. - 30.76

15. Matt - 35.02
16. Jon K. - 40.96
17. Jeff - 47.29

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone for coming out!

Queen K Tri Club Half Marathon

Photo courtesy of Queen K Tri Club

Every couple of months, the Queen Ka'ahumanu Tri Club hosts free, low-key training runs to help people train for upcoming races without having to carry their own water or supplies.  Aid stations are generally every 2 miles or so, and the runs can help simulate a little bit of a racing atmosphere.  Some people go all out on these runs, some use them for some tempo miles and others cruise them as part of their long runs. 

Yesterday was the third annual half marathon starting from Old Airport, going south on Alii Drive to Keauhou and back.  The event drew people who are training for Ironman 70.3 Hawaii in two weeks and also people training for the Kona Marathon races on June 24.  34 people completed the 13.1 mile distance, while several others completed shorter distances. 

Even though this isn't a true "race", they do keep track of the results.  Results from yesterday's run are on Queen K Tri Club's website.  They also plan on posting more photos in the next couple of days and those should be available here. 

This weekend is a rare one without any races! In the meantime, join us from 5-7 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22 for Guy's Night.  We'll have free gifts, prize contests, discounts and a group run at 6 p.m.  Also, make plans to come by the store this weekend as we'll be having a Memorial Day Shoe Blowout! We'll be offering many of our old models at drastically reduced prices, starting at $30!  The sale will run Friday, May 25, Saturday, May 26, and Monday, May 28.  Don't miss out!

Pinto Beans and Pinatas

Last Sunday, Peaman hosted his annual Mother's Day race.  Polar Bear's Pinto Bean and Pinata Biathlon was a 3/4-mile swim and a 3.1 mile run.  According to the racers I talked to, the swim was pretty choppy and challenging. I wasn't able to race this event, since I was doing the timing.  It was a little bit of a bummer to miss out on the fun, but it was nice to be able to watch it unfold and cheer people on. Also, Jason was out of town, so we didn't get any pictures at the event either. 

So this post isn't anything special.  However, for some reason the race results were not posted on West Hawaii Today online as they usually are.  They were in the hard copy of the paper, though, so I scanned them in and have attached them here. Congrats to all the participants!

Up this weekend is the Queen K Tri Club's 13.1 High Tempo Training Run.  It starts at 7:00 a.m. at Old Airport, goes south on Alii Drive to Keauhou and back.  There will be several aid stations along the run, including one at Honl's where we'll be!

Team Mango Captain Cook Challenge

Last Sunday marked the first appearance of the Big Island Running Company's triathlon relay team at Team Mango's Captain Cook Challenge.  The name is pretty accurate as this race was quite the challenge.  We had many people question why we chose this race for our first one, but it was all for fun.  Special thanks to Mercedes DeCarli, Shirley Pratt and the Kiser family for letting me use their photos from the day for this post! (Also, if you haven't checked it out, Mercedes wrote a great article for West Hawaii Today last Friday on the 5k Fun Run and I think is also writing this Friday's article on the Captain Cook Challenge.)

The morning started off early with a pre-race briefing by Carl "Gecko" Koomoa at Kealakekua Bay. 

Photo by Mercedes DeCarli

About 30 of us got ready to tackle the crashing waves and swim from the side of the bay above to the Captain Cook Monument about 1 mile away on the other side of the bay.  It's pretty much at the end of the point in the picture below:

Photo by Mercedes DeCarli

One of the hardest parts of the day was getting into the water. 

Photo by Mercedes DeCarli

We had to climb over rocks, scoot in on our butts and try not to get wiped out by the incoming waves.  Luckily we all made it in and were off.  After the initial swells, the water wasn't too rough.  There wasn't much to see underwater, though, since the ocean is pretty deep where we were.  But there were a pod of dolphins playing in the bay that we swam over about halfway across. I saw about 5 dolphins swim right underneath me, which was certainly a highlight of the day.

At the end of the swim, we climbed up a ladder to get to the Captain Cook Monument where the volunteer team had set up a transition area with our run shoes and gear.

Photo by Shirley Pratt

I was one of the last people out of the water, so the transition area had cleared out quite a bit by the time I made it there.

Photo by Shirley Pratt

After throwing on run shoes and some clothes, it was up a treacherous trail to the top of Napoopoo Road.  The route is approximately 2 miles, with 1500 feet of climbing.  And the footing is very rocky and loose, so that ended up being more of a hike than a run unfortunately. (Although for mountain goats like Billy Barnett, it was no big deal and he ended up setting the trail run record in 15:45.)

Billy Barnett (Photo by the Kisers)

Photo by the Kisers

Photo by the Kisers

The picture below shows some of the trail, although not the steep portions, and a much better way to get to the top!

Photo by Shirley Pratt

After what seemed like forever I finally made it to the top and tagged off to Jason who took off on the bike. Yes, for those who may have seen him or the pictures, that was Jason on a bike! He did pretty well, too, for that being his first time on a bike in 2012.

Photo by Mercedes DeCarli

Photo by the Kisers

The bike course was 1 loop, from the top of Napoopoo Road south on the highway to the 160 junction to Honaunau, then north to Kealekua Bay, all the way up Napoopoo Road again to the top.  Then it was 3/4 of that loop again, stopping at Kealekeua Bay at the bottom of the hill.

Kym Kiser going up the hill (Photo by the Kisers)

Harry Yoshida (Photo by the Kisers)

The final transition area was back at Kealekekua Bay, as we headed back out on another run 2 miles south along the beach road and back. By the time we hit this part of the event, it was about 10 a.m., so the run was pretty toasty.  But there was a great aid station with icy cold water bottles at the turnaround.   

Winner Tai Scarbrough (Photo by Mercedes DeCarli)

Women's Winner Sylvia Ravaglia (Photo by Mercedes DeCarli)

Both Jason and I completed the last run portion, so we actually ended up with two relay teams.  Guess which one won. :) I started my run when Jason came into transition and Jason did his transition and some sort of crazy loser lap in his bike shoes before starting his run.  He caught me about 1 mile into the run.

Jason coming into the finish (Photo by Mercedes DeCarli)

Just a few minutes behind him! (Photo by Mercedes DeCarli)

We did pretty good for our first event (although I may get fired from my swimming leg unless I can get a little faster!)  Our total time was 3:15:31 for Jason (41:10 for the swim/transition; 27:42 for the trail run; 1:38:19 for the bike; 3:28 for the bike/run transition; and 24:52 for the last run) and 3:19:50 for me (all the same splits except 29:11 for the last run).

Sal Salmi finishing the run (Photo by Mercedes DeCarli)

One of the Run Aloha ladies, Shirley Pratt (Photo by Mercedes DeCarli)

The other Run Aloha lady, Becky Prater (Photo by Mercedes DeCarli)

Results for the individuals are here.  Relay results aren't included on that link, but the combo of Tai Scarbrough and Rob Van Geen finished in first place.  Jason running in our relay was second and my run from our relay was third.  Chris Prater and Kevin Prater combined to come in next followed by Dave and Shirley Pratt and then the Chris/Kevin/Becky Prater team.

All in all it was a great day, a beautiful and challenging course, and a fun way to do something different. Who knows whether we'll do another triathlon relay, but it was a great first experience.  Also, congrats to everyone who completed that course solo.  That is one tough race!

And as always, thanks to the volunteers who carried our gear around the course, set up aid stations for us, kept track of the timing and always gave us a smile and a cheer!

Please note there is no Peaman race this weekend (some calendars incorrectly have it on this Sunday).  The next Peaman is on Mother's Day, May 13.  It will be a 3/4 mile swim and 3.1 mile run.