New Year, New Events

Like many other people, I made some New Year's Resolutions this year.  One of them was to update this blog more frequently, since the last post is from (gasp) October! Of course, writing the first new post on January 27 of the new year probably means that I already broke this resolution, but we're still going to give it a shot!

So much has happened over the last several months:

• We opened a new store location in Hale Ku'i Plaza out by Costco.  The new store is three times as big as our Alii Drive location and lets us do some cool things like video gait analysis on a treadmill, expand into different shoe brands, bring in kids' shoes and new products like swimwear.  If you haven't checked it out yet, make sure to stop by on your way to Costco! We're also right next door to Cycle Station, so you can pick up all of your triathlon needs in one stop!

• Our Couch to 5k group was the largest ever and had a great time completing the Jingle Bell Beach Run. Full results are available here. Most of those new runners have kept up with their running into the new year!

• On a sad note, Wayne "Big Dog" Joseph, race director for the Big Island International Marathon, lost his battle with cancer. His absence will be missed in the running community on the Big Island, but his spirit will live on.

Photo by Marie Kuramoto

• Last weekend, I completed my first triathlon ever - Team Mango's Super Sprint Triathlon.  It was a 200 yard swim, 6 mile bike, and 1.5 mile run. I had fun, except for the initial bike portion climbing Hualalai Road from Alii Drive to the Highway.  That was quite the challenge considering I never cycle, but I made it! I don't see too many triathlons in my future, though. Full results from the Super Sprint Triathlon are available here.

Photo by Kiser Motorcycles

• Over this weekend, Jason competed in one of the craziest events ever on the mainland - the Krispy Kreme Donut Dash. The race started out with a two-mile run, then you had to eat a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts before running the two miles back to the start.  According to Jason, this run was a lot more about the eating than the running.  Jason finished the race in 34:30 and his brother-in-law finished in 47:37.  But the real star of the family was his sister Erica, who apparently is a champion eater, as well as a super-speedy runner.  She was the first female and second place overall with a time of 31:22.  I don't know if you'll be able to convince any of them to ever do that again, though!

Doesn't that look like fun? Photo by Wendell Braswell

This morning was Peaman's first race of the year - the Super Bowl Shuffle Biathlon, a 1/2 mile swim and 3.1 mile run. I'll post some pictures and results from that race in separate post tomorrow (keeping this resolution going!)

Next weekend there are two events happening on the west side of the island.  The first is Team Mango's Springtime Triathlon, a 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike and 6 mile run, starting at 7:00 a.m. from the Kona Pier.  Also that same morning is the Strang Super Bowl Sunday Half Marathon and Pickup Run.  The 13.1 Mile course runs from Kua Bay to Yoga Hale starting at 7:00 a.m.  If you don't want to run quite that far, you can join the group at Kaiminani at 7:45 for an 8 mile run or Kona Mountain Coffee at 8 a.m. for 6.2 miles.