Both Jason and I ran the half marathon this year - the first time for Jason and second time for me - which kind of explains the lack of pictures in this post, but I also forgot to charge the camera battery (oops!). There were some course changes this year that made for a more enjoyable run. Instead of running loops through a subdivision, we instead ran through the cute village of Volcano before heading out on Wright Road towards Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. We had perfect weather, cool, clear and no rain! The killer hill that comes around mile 6.5 was still there and it seemed longer this year (although it really wasn't). The best part of the run is turning back around and coming down that hill, though.
Another great thing about this run is the awards - all art made by artists at Volcano Art Center. Jason ended up coming in first in a time of 1:23:10, followed by Pete Bokanski in 1:23:36 and Lyman Perry was third in 1:24:53. For his win, Jason won a really nice koa antherium holder. Kona's Rani Tanimoto was first for the ladies in 1:27:51, followed by Hilo's Kim Pierce in 1:38:19. Third place was another Kona woman, Elda Carreon in 1:44:43. Full results for the half marathon are here.
Peter Ballerini and Jason post-race
I didn't have as good of a race time-wise as I was hoping, but I came in 1st in my age group in 1:49:38. Of course, it helps that the top three overall were all in my age group, but got overall awards! For the age group win, I got a fantastic photo of a honu! It's going to look great on the walls once I get it framed. Several other of our friends received awards in the half marathon, including Steve Pavao, DJ Blinn, Danny Jesser and Mary Edmonds, so congrats to them! Congratulations also to the members of our group that made the trip over to Volcano for the half - Megan Livingston, Kellie Kurashige, Maggie Leite, and Peter Ballerini.
Kristina and Bryan Sawaya with Lee-Ann Heely.
We also had several running group members participating in the 10K or 5K. Congratulations to Kristina Sawaya, Christine DeCarli, Bryan Sawaya, Mercedes DeCarli (who won her age group!), Lexi DeCarli, Garrett Oka, Lee-Ann Heely, Payton Au, Orestes Barrios, Sean Jesser (age group winner), and Chenoa Jesser (age group winner). Members of our group really cleaned up the awards, too. Here's a photo of the award winners:
Full results from the 10k are here and 5k are here. There was also a little snafu with the 10k course, so the first 15 runners were grouped in a separate 5.7 mile run. Their results are here.
After the event, Jason and I spent some time exploring more of Volcano and the east side of the island. Unfortunately, the volcano wasn't really active this weekend, so we didn't see any active flows. But, we made a trip to Kalapana and saw where the lava flows earlier this year took out a house and a car. It was pretty crazy to be walking on lava that was only months old. And it was also amazing to see all the houses that are still located really close to those flows!
Car in lava in Kalapana
When we woke up on Sunday morning to head back to Kona, we were greeted with the weather people had warned us about - cold and rainy! I'm definitely glad the race was on Saturday with the clear, dry conditions. We may have to give a special mahalo to Mary Edmonds and family, who apparently gave Pele some gifts before the race to keep the weather nice. We may have to contribute next year, since it worked like a charm.
Congratulations to all the finishers! Mahalo to Volcano Art Center, race director Sharron Faff and all of the volunteers for continuing to make this a wonderful event! We can't wait for next year!
Kristina and Bryan Sawaya with Lee-Ann Heely.
Full results from the 10k are here and 5k are here. There was also a little snafu with the 10k course, so the first 15 runners were grouped in a separate 5.7 mile run. Their results are here.
After the event, Jason and I spent some time exploring more of Volcano and the east side of the island. Unfortunately, the volcano wasn't really active this weekend, so we didn't see any active flows. But, we made a trip to Kalapana and saw where the lava flows earlier this year took out a house and a car. It was pretty crazy to be walking on lava that was only months old. And it was also amazing to see all the houses that are still located really close to those flows!
Car in lava in Kalapana
When we woke up on Sunday morning to head back to Kona, we were greeted with the weather people had warned us about - cold and rainy! I'm definitely glad the race was on Saturday with the clear, dry conditions. We may have to give a special mahalo to Mary Edmonds and family, who apparently gave Pele some gifts before the race to keep the weather nice. We may have to contribute next year, since it worked like a charm.
Congratulations to all the finishers! Mahalo to Volcano Art Center, race director Sharron Faff and all of the volunteers for continuing to make this a wonderful event! We can't wait for next year!
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