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!