Volcano Art Center Rain Forest Runs - Half Marathon

Over 150 participants came out to run the half marathon distance at the Volcano Art Center Rain Forest Runs this past Saturday. (For a recap of the 10K, 5K and keiki races, click here. For more pictures click here and here. For full results, go to JTL Timing's Website.) Even though Big Island Running Company didn't put together a specific training group for the Volcano runs, there were still about 20 members of our group who made the trip over to run one of the race distances. And everyone did great, with many bettering their times from the Kona races on an arguably harder course. While this course had some killer hills (including one that seemed to last for about a mile), it definitely did not have the heat of Kona.

The course started out at Cooper Center in Volcano Village and headed out Wright Road. For me, the race plan wasn't very concrete, since I wasn't sure what to expect with the hills and elevation. (After a fluke knee injury on the Thursday before the race, Jason was sitting this one out and serving as photographer instead). All I knew was that Danny Jesser and I were going to try to run the race together, since we've done several training runs together and seem to have compatible paces. Although if pushed, my main goal was to try to improve on my time from the Kona half marathon.

The first three miles ventured off of Wright Road through Cymbidium Acres, a subdivision with several lettered roads. The course zig-zagged back and forth through the subdivision on those roads, with some rolling hills on each portion. The best part of that early portion was the cow that was stopped right at the end of the road next to a course marshal. I wish I had my camera for that one!

The next three to four miles went back on Wright Road heading out again to the mountains. It was a beautiful, rolling portion, with some good downhills to take advantage of. Since it was a clear day, there were also some great views of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the distance. I had to stop and remind myself to really appreciate the beauty out there.

Right around mile 7 was where we hit the killer hill. We had turned off of Wright Road and were following another road out that seemed to have an endless steep hill. I am not the best of hill runners, so this was an extremely tough portion for me. I felt like I was crawling, but couldn't go any faster. Unfortunately, I know that Danny is a good hill runner, so this must have been torture for him, but he stayed with me the entire way on those hills. Mahalo, Danny!

At the end of the paved road, we had to go about a quarter mile further on a trail. This was probably a lot of fun for people who like trail running, but for me, it was all about keeping my head down and trying not to twist an ankle. The big payoff for all that uphill, though, was the chance to fly back down it for a mile or so. Definitely our fastest, most fun mile of the race.

Once we hit Wright Road again, we had to make one little detour before heading back to the start. Instead of turning left to go back to the start, we had to turn right for about a quarter of a mile. This wouldn't have been so bad, except for the steep uphill right at the end of the road. Once we got that out of the way, though, it was mostly downhill to the finish. There was one more hill around mile 11, but that didn't seem nearly so bad after the other ones we conquered.

About the same point as we hit that last hill, we encountered some of the 10K runners. It was a real boost to see them all out there smiling through their races. Then it was just holding on to the finish. At mile 12, Danny used his leftover energy to run away from me and finish about 25 seconds ahead. I wish I could have stayed with him, but I was still happy with my 1:47:15 finish (almost 3 minutes faster than Kona). Thanks for a great run, Danny!

In the overall results, Billy Barnett won easily in a time of 1:16:44. Coming in second and third were Josiah Jennings (1:21:38) and Mark Schlicting (1:22:42). The first place woman was Megan Brousseau of Lincoln, Massachusetts who was here on her honeymoon! Her time was 1:33:23. After her came Natalie Kramer (1:36:29) and Jennifer Balentine (1:38:29).

And now for the pictures! Here are some of the best of the bunch, along with the ones of our group members.

Billy Barnett on the way to his victory.

Josiah Jennings - 2nd overall

1st Place Woman Megan Brousseau

Ray Whitford

Big Island Road Runner Steve Pavao

Danny Jesser after he pulled away from me.

But I wasn't that far behind him. I almost caught the guy in front of me that you can see in this picture. I have a great finish line photo of him looking over his shoulder at me, like "Who the hell is this girl?"

Kona runner and athletic trainer Mary Edmonds

Chitwin San Tun, who improved on his Kona time by about 3 minutes!

Lisa Bryant finishing with a smile!

Bobbi Reif-Acheson - she'll be doing the Ironman in Kona this year!

Cliff Acheson - He and Bobbi were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this weekend. Congrats, you two!

The Queen! Marie Kuramoto

Gerd Weber in his Tri Big shirt!

I don't know this guy, but I love his pose!

Peter Ballerini - A 12-minute improvement over Kona!

Kristina Sawaya - one of our runners who was completing her first half marathon ever!

Maggie Leite - She worked her way up from the 10K in Kona to a great half marathon in Volcano!

Jason Heady with a great finish line pose!

Billy Barnett accepts his overall award - a great piece of art!

DJ Blinn accepts his age group award!

Congratulations to all race participants and mahalo to all the volunteers! And a special congratulations and huge mahalos to race director Sharron Faff! This was a great event and we can't wait to come back next year.

That night after the race, Sharron told us we had to go see the glow from Kilauea at night. I'm glad we did, because it is truly amazing. You definitely have to check it out if you are ever in Volcano. Here's a photo that turned out ok, but still doesn't do it justice. Go see it for yourself!

Papa Pea's Birthday Biathlon and Salute to the 70s!

Yesterday morning saw several great events taking place in Kona - the State Cycling Championship, Bubba Gumps's Run Forrest Run Keiki Fun Runs, and Papa Pea's Birthday Biathlon and Salute to the 70s. Unfortunately the events overlapped, though. Since we aren't cycling on the Big Island yet and we're just slightly too old for the keiki runs, we headed out to the Peaman event. Jason was official photographer for the day, having already completed his 10 miler that morning.
Although we thought the turnout at the race would be small because of the other events going on, the turnout was great, with a lot of people that we didn't recognize. This month's event was a 3/4 mile swim and a 3.1 mile run. Typical Peaman swims are 1/2 miles, so this was a little bit longer. I've been swimming 3/4 miles fairly regularly, but "racing" it was an entirely different thing. I use the term "racing" loosely, since I am still SLOW and towards the back of the swim pack. But this time I was swimming with packs of people the whole way out to the turnaround, getting elbowed, getting run over, and running over people. Although it didn't cause me to panic this time around, it was still a little unsettling. It makes me rethink this "get faster at swimming" goal!

Speaking of people who are really fast at swimming, Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen (below) was the first swimmer out of the water (a little predictable, since she holds many masters swimming records).


Luis De La Torre was next, with the rest of the swimmers streaming in behind. I think I was only about 12 minutes behind Karlyn (which means she was finishing right about when I was turning around)! I told Jason to expect me out of the water sometime between 30-35 minutes, so I was pleasantly surprised when I came in under 28 minutes.

Then it was on to the run. Today definitely felt like a hot Kona summer day, even at 8:30 a.m. But one nice thing was the run course went right past the Bubba Gump's run. So I got to see a little bit of the keiki race and on the way back got a nice boost of encouragement from the Beckers and Currys! And since it was a Salute to the 70's, Doug Henbest and Jay Plasman got to show a little skin and roller skate the course. Below is a picture of them cheering on Rani Tanimoto to the finish.

Looks like some good competition!

Michael Woodbury

Gerd Weber

My run time came in just under 24 minutes, for a total time of 52:49. Definitely not setting any speed records, but I'm still seeing improvement. Full results for the races are here.

After the race was over, we celebrated Papa Pea's birthday and congratulated all the fathers on Father's Day. We also had a special guest appearance by Frank Shorter! He's in town already in preparation for the Kona Marathon races and came out to the race with Jon Kunitake.

Frank gave a nice speech about the importance of local community events like Peaman races. Afterwards, Jason and I were talking about how lucky we are to have come to a community with so many local, free events, something that's really hard to come by in Chicago! Those events really do help create a community - one that we are happy to be a part of. Thanks as always to those who make it possible!

Don't forget - Frank Shorter will also be at Big Island Running Company on Thursday, June 24 at 3 p.m. on to sign autographs, answer questions and talk running. We'll have some giveaways, free smoothie samples from Tropical Frozen Yogurt, a pretzel and Italian Ice special from Kiliki'i Italian Ice and more!

Then we hope to see everyone out participating, volunteering or cheering on participants in the Kona Marathon races on Sunday! Good luck to all the runners!

2010 EMS Run

Happy Memorial Day and special thanks to all those who have served our country! Yesterday was a special celebration and showcase for the men and women who provide Emergency Medical Services back here on the Big Island with the annual EMS Run/Walk in Hilo. The run distance was a 5K and the walk was 2 miles. The EMS Run has become the biggest 5K on the Big Island, so we closed down the store and headed over to Hilo to check it out.

We started over to Hilo bright and early (actually it wasn't quite "bright" yet) with Ray and Michelle Whitford of the Big Island Honda Crew. We arrived in Hilo with plenty of time to warm-up. The run started and finished in Lilioukalani Gardens, where several activities and vendors were set up for the day. There were helicopter tours:

bouncy houses:

and a rock climbing wall:


Since all of us were running, we unfortunately don't have any pictures of the actual race. The course was great, though. It started with a loop around the gardens before heading out along the Bayfront towards downtown. After the turn-around, it was straight back into the gardens. A flat, fast course. Many people sensed that, as the field was out pretty fast. Billy Barnett led the race out at a fast clip and never let up. He ended up winning the race with a time of 16:35. Jason followed in second with a time of 17:27, with Tyde Kaneshiro coming in third at 17:46.

In the women's race, Farrah Madanay cruised to a fast winning time of 19:55, with the next group of women coming in right around 22 minutes. Lory Hunter was second with a time of 21:42 and Shalila De Bourmont was third at 22:00. Full results from the race are on Wayne "Big Dog" Joseph's blog here.

For the rest of the Kona group, Ray finished in a time of 21:33, I came in at 22:41 and Michelle was at 25:38 (after being sidelined for the past several weeks with some injuries). Another Kona resident, Lisa Bryant, finished 1st in her age group in a time of 24:51. Jon Kunitake came in second in his age group with a time of 22:33. Some of the award pictures are below.

Lisa Bryant - 1st place in her age group

Jon Kunitake - 2nd place in his age group

I finished second in my age group.

Jason accepts his 2nd place overall trophy.

The family fun atmosphere after the event was fantastic. There was a special keiki race around the helicopters, which I'm sure many kids followed up with a bounce in the bouncy houses or a climb up the rock-climbing wall. For the adults, there were great post-race refreshments from the Boys and Girls Club and booths from HMSA and the Kona Marathon Family Runs. Reminder - register now for any of the Kona Marathon distances (marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K) on June 27!!!

One of the other great features of the race was the amazing number of door prizes that they gave out! At the finish, they had two sides of a huge bulletin board filled with prizes and the names of the winners. There had to be at least 150 prizes given away. I walked away with a $20 gift card to Kozmic Cones, which we promptly used that afternoon. It was delicious and completely hit the spot. Although we waited to the bitter end, no other prizes were won by our group. But it was a great way to spend a day off and get a chance to see some of the Hilo folks!

Ray and Michelle post-race

Jason and Harvey in "Run Big" post-race.

Hilo Marathon Recap Part II - Expo and Race!

Saturday

Saturday morning of race weekend started off calmly enough. After a brief run for Jason and Erica, we drove the back half of the marathon course and grabbed some breakfast at Ken's House of Pancakes. We filled up on pancakes because we figured we might not get a chance to eat lunch. It's a good thing we did, because about the only thing I managed to eat between breakfast and dinner was some pretzels around 5 p.m.

The doors to the expo opened up for set-up at 11 a.m. and the expo was supposed to begin at noon. Unfortunately, the hotel front desk started telling people the expo started at 11, so people started coming through pretty early. We only had a little over an hour to set everything up and it was quite an undertaking. Jason took care of the computer and cash register, I tried to set up shoes, Jason's dad brought loads and loads in from the van, while his sister and mom set up the apparel and everything else that we brought.

Even with all the help, we still didn't have everything set up by noon. And little did we know that everyone would decide to come to the expo between noon and one and our booth was right next to the door where everyone stopped first.

So the first hour of the expo is a complete blur in my mind. We were still throwing things on the table for people to buy; the credit card processing wasn't working, so Jason's dad and I started taking cash and trying to keep track of what people bought; Erica tried to help people with shoes. It was completely chaotic. But thankfully everyone was very patient with us - people are always in such an understanding mood in Hawaii! :)

After the first hour, things slowed down a little bit and we had some time to catch our breath, but we were still busy all throughout the day. People seemed to really like the "Run Big" and Big Island Running Company shirts and hats.

Others needed to stock up on their nutritional products or get a FuelBelt for the race. We started packing up a little before six and were able to have the van completely packed by 6:55. By then we were all exhausted (and stinky) and ready to put our feet up for awhile before grabbing another pre-race pasta dinner.

Overall, the expo was a great experience. We learned a lot and hopefully will be a little more efficient if we get the chance to do it again next year.

Sunday

Race morning started nice and early. Since the course started outside of town, we had to leave around 5:15 a.m. to drive to the start. Jason's parents dropped us off and snapped some pictures of the starting area, before beginning their ride around the course.

As you can see, the race started in the dark, so those glimmers of light in the last photo are all the reflective gear on the runners! The sun started coming up shortly after the start, so we didn't have to run too long in the dark. And after all our worries about the weather, the morning was perfect for running! A little overcast, cool and no rain early in the day, although there were some showers about two hours into the race.

As I mentioned yesterday, the first 8 miles were beautiful and hilly. Since I was running just a *tad* bit slower than Jason, I didn't get to see much of his race, so anything I can include here I heard from others. Apparently eventual marathon winner Billy Barnett got off to a really fast start during those hilly miles. Jason tried to stay controlled on the hills and save up some energy for the flat portions through Hilo, so he didn't see Billy for a long time. But he did run a good portion of the race with third-place finisher Andrew Taylor.

Cemetery around mile 8

I was quite a bit further back running my own race and trying to enjoy the scenery, which is a lot harder than it sounds. At one point I noticed that the guy in front of me had turned his head towards the ocean and I had to remind myself to look around then, too. As far as my time, I realized that the first portion of the course would be very inconsistent as far as times went. And it was true - my splits in those miles ranged from 7:20 to 9:00. But once we got out of the major hilly sections, I was able to hold onto a pretty consistent pace. I think this was where all my training really paid off. This was the first time I've run a half marathon where my times didn't completely die towards the end.

The course crosses past the finish line around mile 11 and then heads out on Banyan Drive for a loop before heading back to the finish again. The picture above was taken on my first pass through the finish area. I'm glad I knew about the last loop because it would take quite a toll on you if you weren't expecting it! Even knowing about it, the last half mile stretched on forever. As I was heading into the finish, I knew that I was a bit slower than I was hoping for, but also still in a good PR range, so I wasn't paying too much attention to my actual time. However, as I got closer, I saw that the clock was rapidly approaching 1:46 and a sprint just might get me under it. Unfortunately I made that decision about 2 seconds too late and ended up finishing at 1:46:01 - a little frustrating, but still a PR by almost two minutes. In the end I was very happy with my performance.

Then it was time to wait for Jason to come through the finish. Jason's parents were there at the finish line when I crossed, but then Jason's dad and Erica headed back out on the course to watch the end of his race. Unfortunately they took off before I could really talk to them, so I had no good idea of how his race was shaking out. At one point, Billy was about 4 minutes up on Jason, but eventually began slowing down. Jason stayed strong through about mile 20, including holding off a surge by Andrew Taylor, but said the pounding on his legs from the early hills began to take its toll. His last few miles were also a little slower than the early miles, but he was still gaining on Billy.

I camped out about 1/2 mile from the finish, not knowing who was going to be first one coming through. Some of the half marathoners were still finishing, so I had to keep my eyes peeled for someone passing those runners. Eventually I saw Billy coming over the hill by the Suisan bridge. Jason followed a little way behind him. I hurried back to the finish line and saw Billy cross in 2:50:20. Jason had made up some time and came in at 2:51:29, still looking pretty good:

Jason and Billy talking to Randee Joseph

Jason and Erica post-race

After Jason got some fluids and finished an interview with the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, it was time for the half marathon awards ceremony. I finished second in my age group and got to go up on the podium!

After the half marathon awards, we all got showers and headed to Ken's House of Pancakes (again) before the marathon awards. After a delicious breakfast, we headed back to the finish area to watch some of the later finishers come in. We got some great pictures of Jason's mom with Team B*tch (or the men in pink skirts) and of Marie Kuramoto finishing with her grandchildren.

In the women's race, Reka Batai of Hungary finished in first place in a time of 2:53:13, breaking the old course record. Yoko Yamazawa of Japan finished second with a time of 3:18:01 and Akemi Ueda of Honolulu was third in 3:23:06.

And for the men, Billy Barnett was first in 2:50:20, Jason second at 2:51:29 and Andrew Taylor of Honolulu was third in 2:52:49. Full results from all races are available here.

All in all, it was a fantastic race. The crowd support and volunteers were amazing. All of the activities ran smoothly and everyone had a great time. Mahalo again to Wayne Joseph, the Braswells, and all the volunteers who made this such a wonderful race!