Peaman's Splish Splash and Super Bowl Shuffle Biathlon 2011

With the Super Bowl one week away, yesterday Peaman held his event honoring the game. Although I would have been a little more excited about the Super Bowl if the Bears had defeated the hated Packers, at least the Peaman event was a fun time - and I didn't notice a Packers jersey all day, thank goodness!

The distance for this event was a 1/2 mile swim and a 3.1 mile run. And unlike last month, the ocean was very cooperative yesterday - clear and relatively calm. Which is good, because these events just keep growing, so there is plenty of chop and commotion at the beginning of the swim anyway! As usual, the top island swimmers took off and blazed the swim course.

Chris Lieto, Bree Wee, Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen and the high school crew were some of the first out of the water and one to the run course. Chris managed to hold on to the lead and finish in 30:40, followed by Antonia Ferreira Da Silva Neto (31:03) and Matt Ward (32:25). Bree Wee finished in fourth and first for the ladies with a time of 33:04.

Second place female was Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen in 35:06, followed by Rani Tanimoto in 35:54. Full results from all the races are available here. As for me, I'm still slowed down by the swim, but cut 40 seconds off my last time at this distance to finish in 44:59.

In the Peawee event, Chris Prater took first in 11:16, with Kaiden Lieto in second at 12:45 and Kakoa Kolman and Kanaipono Eckart tied for third in 13:40. For the female Peawees, I think it was Ryanne and Taylor Doherty coming in together at 13:50.

Here are some photos that our guest photograph Kyle Hammond snapped of the event. Mahalo to him for pitching in while Jason worked the timing machine. More photos are available here.

Jon Kunitake

A crowd of runners pushing for the finish.

Charlie Camacho

Gerd Weber

Looks like a good race between Sam Brown and Papa Pea.

This month we returned the Perpetual Pea and it was passed along to Peaman's father Papa Pea. He'll be undergoing shoulder surgery soon and we wish him the best of luck and a speedy recovery!

Up next weekend is Team Mango's springtime triathlon (1/2 mile swim, hilly 15 mile bike and hilly 6 mile run) on February 6 at 8 a.m. at the pier. On the Hilo side, it's Big Dog's Lover's 5K run/walk on Sunday, February 6 at 7:30 a.m. The race starts at Coconut Island in Hilo and is free, although a canned good donation is requested for the Hawaii Island Food Basket.

Go Steelers!

Maui Oceanfront Half Marathon

Last weekend was one of several marathon/half marathon races being held in Maui in January/February. While Jason participated in the Run for the Whales last year, this year it was my turn to head over for a race. After hearing Jason's race report on the hilly Run for Whales, I opted for the Maui Oceanfront Half. Several years ago, Jason and I ran this 15K when it was the Maui Surf 'N' Sand race. That race was perfectly flat, and so was this year's race.

With several distances to choose from (marathon, half marathon, 15K and 5K), this race could have gotten really confusing, but everything seemed to go smoothly. The marathon started at 5:45 am in Wailea and ran up the west side of Maui to the finish line in Lahaina. The half marathon started an hour later in Lahaina and was an out-and-back course. The 15K and 5Ks started 15K and 5K south of Lahaina respectively and ran straight to the finish line. All of the courses ran along the scenic coast, right between the West Maui Mountains and the ocean. Although I didn't see any, I talked to people who actually saw whales breaching during the race!

It was great weather for a race, fairly cool at the start and warming up once the sun came up. Although I had trained fairly hard for the race, an unfortunate bug hit me on Wednesday before the race, so I knew I would not be running as fast as I had hoped. I started the race trying to hit an 8 minute pace. Things were going ok, but once I hit the 5k aid station I had a coughing fit and realized even an 8 minute pace was not going to happen that day. So, I hung out for a couple of minutes and met up with one of our running group members, Megan Livingston, who was also doing the race. She was hoping to beat her time from the Kona Half Marathon and I decided to run with her. Although we've trained together and done most of our long runs together, running a race with someone is totally different, because you're never exactly sure what their race strategy is going to be. While I usually am the one being passed at the end, Megan made it her goal to pass people the whole way back. So we ended up with a pretty big negative split for the race. With about 3/4 of a mile to go, I knew Megan was going to hit her goal, so I told her to go for it. She pulled away and finished in 1:53:10, about a 2-minute PR! I was a little bit back in 1:53:43. That was a great way to run the race and not feel like I was dying at the end (except for the whole coughing thing). Congrats to Megan!

Megan is all smiles after the race.

There were a couple of other local Kona runners over for the race. Bree Wee came in first overall for the women's half marathon with a time of 1:24:29. Jano Soto was close behind in 1:28:59. Sarah Boretz ran her first half marathon in 2:15:58, with the help of Chanda Zavodny who finished one second ahead of her. Jano's wife Paola Soto ran her first full marathon in a time of 4:32:05. It was a great showing for Kona! Full results from the races are here.

Sarah and Chanda finish the half marathon.

Another special runner in the races was my mom! Over the last month she's been motivated by some friends who are on the Biggest Loser (Courtney and Marci, if you happen to watch the show), so she signed up for the 5K at the last minute. Despite not having a ton of training, she finished the race with a great time of 41:34! Her next goal is to bring that time down in Kona in June. Congrats Mom - I'm very proud of you. That's her below, enjoying her celebratory beer.

Later that afternoon, we recovered by taking a whale watch. We saw some great activity early on with a mother whale trying to teach her baby how to breach. I don't think the baby was quite getting the hang of it yet, but it was fun to watch. I didn't get any pictures of the baby breaching, but I got some good pics of the fin slaps and a tail.


The next morning it was up again for another walk along the beach before heading back to the Big Island. It was a great trip, and I'd definitely recommend that race for next year!

Tomorrow is the next Peaman race - the Splish-Splash and Super Bowl Shuffle Biathlon. It's a 1/2 mile swim followed by a 3.1 mile run, starting at 8 a.m. at the pier. We hope to see everyone out there for some free fun!

Hawaii Island United Way Resolution Runs

This past weekend we had the opportunity to participate in an inaugural event on the Big Island - the Hawaii Island United Way Resolution Runs/Walks. These 5k events were hosted by the Big Island Road Runners and held simultaneously in Hilo and in Kona. They were made possible by the generous donations of HELCO. Approximately 50 people participated in the Hilo race and 75 in the Kona race (including Jason and I).

The Hilo race was held on the Bayfront course used for many 5k races. Results from the Hilo race are available at Wayne "Big Dog" Joseph's blog.

The Kona race was a new course out at the Old Airport. It was a nice, completely flat course. I haven't been able to locate any results from the Kona race, but I do know that Jason had a tough race with an out-of-state runner before managing to break away for the win. In the women's race, it was a battle between me, Renee Wilson and another runner, with Renee coming in just behind me and then the unknown runner.

But the real story of the day were the number of people, at least in Kona, who just came out to show their support and either walk or run. There were many new faces at this race and we hope they all keep coming out and staying active! Of course, there were some usual suspects, too, including Jon Kunitake and Lori Montgomery, below.

Post-race, there were 10 door prize giveaways, including Nathan belts, jewelry, fleeces and gift certificates.



Congratulations to all of the runners and walkers! We look forward to seeing this event grow next year!

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had safe, healthy New Years' celebrations and that those New Year's Resolutions are still going strong! Between end-of-the-year inventory and 2011's first cold, we haven't yet posted info on the New Year's Day run that we did in Hilo. After a relatively early night on New Year's Eve, we headed over to Hilo on New Year's Day for Big Dog's Resolution Run 5K at Coconut Island. The race started at 9 a.m., so we didn't have to get up too early, but it also made for a little bit hotter of a race. Since we were both running, we didn't manage to get any photos, but Big Dog has a nice race recap and some photos over at his blog. Full race results are also here.

Coming up this weekend are the Hawaii Island United Way Resolution 5k Runs/Walks presented by the Big Island Road Runners. These events are being held in both Hilo and Kona at 8 a.m. on Saturday, January 8. Registration forms are available at Big Island Running Company and entry fees are $35. It's a great way to keep going on those New Year's exercise resolutions!

Peaman's Birthday Bonanza!

After all the excitement of Christmas on Saturday, the party kept on going with the celebration of Peaman's birthday on Sunday, December 26. And what better way to celebrate than a swim/run event, complete with slime, silly string and whipped cream?

Before things got messy, we had to get the athletics out of the way. The race was a 1/2 mile swim, followed by a 3.9 mile run. The ocean was rolling that morning, so there wasn't a lot of excitement to get in the water. I was going to complete the whole event, and Jason was doing a relay with Peter Parisi (so no actual race pictures). This was actually the first Peaman event that I ever did last year, and it was amazing to see how much had changed in a year. Last year we maybe recognized 1 or 2 people - this year, we knew a majority of the participants! And I felt a lot more comfortable getting in the water, too.

Peter Parisi was one of the first people out of the water, so Jason was out fast on the run course. He made it back for a total time of 35:29. About that same time, I was getting out of the water. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I did pass Jason when he only had 1-mile to go on the run and I still had three. The swim wasn't my fastest, but I think it was somewhere around 22 minutes. After a slower-than-usual transition, I was out on the run. The run went pretty well and I think I came in around 30 minutes, for a total time of 52:23. That's over a three-minute improvement from my first time at this event last year and 1-minute improvement from when I did the same distance in February last year. Although my swimming is still my weak point, I'm happy with the progress I've made in a year. If I could ever make it to swim more than once or twice a week, though, then I might really see success!

Full results from all the distances are here.

After the race was over, it was time for the real party to begin. Katie Moore was there doing some Zumba dances with the crowd. Lots of people got into it and I even went out for a song or two, even though I had no idea what I was doing!


A little bit earlier, the kids had a blast covering Peaman with slime, silly string and whipped cream. Although, judging from the photos below, they had as much time getting each other dirty as Peaman.

We managed to avoid becoming too much of a sticky mess, although Peaman did not! The picture below was taken right after Peaman awarded the Perpetual Pea - to us! The Perpetual Pea is at the store on the counter, so come by and rub it for luck anytime before the next Peaman event! Thanks to Peaman for the award and to everyone else for all of your support over the past year!

Up next is Big Dog's New Year's Resolution 5k in Hilo on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Then the weekend after that, Big Island Road Runners is presenting a Resolution Run on Saturday, January 8. The neat thing about this event is that races are being held simultaneously in Hilo and Kona. We'll be out at the Kona event and hope to see everyone there! Happy New Year!

2010 Jingle Bell Run

The 2010 Jingle Bell Run was a fantastic way to celebrate the holidays and cap off an active and fun year (although it's really not over, since there's one more Peaman event next week)! The race was also the goal race for our Couch to 5K Program!

This race, like most others in Kona, was a laid-back, free, fun event with a 5k race, as well as a 1-mile distance. Hosted by Rani "The Roadrunner" Tanimoto-Henderson and her many volunteers, the event ran from the pier, south on Alii Drive. The 1-mile turnaround was at Bubba Gump's, while the 3.1 mile turnaround was near the Green Flash (partially up hill #2 on Alii Drive).

Everyone was encouraged to dress up for the holidays and many people took that to heart. There were tons of Santa hats and reindeer antlers and noses. Here are some photos of the day and the various costumes. More photos can be found here.

I don't think you can really tell in this picture, but the babies had on Christmas outfits with striped socks!

Ms. Claus with the sleigh and reindeer won first place in the costume contest.

And here are some pictures of our amazing Couch to 5k Group - most of them plan on continuing on and training for other races!

In the men's race, professional triathlete Chris Lieto won the men's 5k distance, while setting a new course record of 16:18. That won him a Fair Winds snorkel cruise! Awards were given to the top 6 male and females overall in both distances. Following after Chris Lieto were Karl Moats (17:23), Brandon Fell (18:03), Jordan Littell (18:08), Brandt Mabuni (18:46) and Alan Ryan (18:48). In the women's 5k, I held on for first in 21:33, Zoe Sims was second in 21:55, Monica Scheel was third in 22:27, Shirley Pratt was fourth in 22:50, Cecilia Woodbury was fifth in 23:53 and Ann Griffin came in sixth in 23:57.

For the 1-mile distance, the winners were a mix of kids and adults. For the men/boys, it was Cody Bergfalk in first with a new course record of 5:32, followed by Kaiden Lieto (7:49), Elijah Reid (8:14), David Bowden (10:01), Dax Aho (10:26) and Jack Jeremiah (12:29). For the women/girls, Sidney Vermuelen won in 8:08, followed by Koren Kobayashi (8:09), Belinda Herd (8:41), Faith Yamakawa (9:18), Ciara Blaber (10:32) and Tayvhe-Lei Kaupu-Galon (11:01). Full results from the races are available here.

The post-race was when the event really got going. I don't know how she did it, but Rani had tons of great prizes to give away - coffee, Starbucks schwag, snorkel cruises, restaurant gift certificates, massages and more! The first prizes went to the costume winners, with the sleigh and reindeer coming in first, Tasha the reindog in second and the guy in the Santa Claus beard in third.

Rani then dedicated the Special Recognition Award to a truly deserving individual - Peaman. The time and effort that he puts in to planning monthly free events is astounding. And he's been doing it for twenty years - through various health ups and downs as well. Mahalo plenty to Peaman for everything he's done for the community!

The surprise award of the day for us was the Community Member award. Rani started talking about the recipients of the award and it was like one of those new CFL lightbulbs going off (you know the ones - they need some time to warm up). Slowly I started to realize that she was talking about Jason and I! We want to thank everyone who has supported us over the past year+. We love being a part of this community and truly enjoy all the events that we get to attend, race, volunteer at, etc. Thank you all for being so welcoming!

The next awards were for the outstanding participants in the Couch to 5k program. While everyone that participated in the program did a great job, these two stood out. Matt Sutherland made it to all but one of our group runs, even when he was the only one with our leader, Maggie. And Michelle Heid battled some injury issues when she first started, but by the end of the program she was running extra days on her own. Congratulations to them!

We'd also like to thank Maggie Leite for all she did to keep everyone motivated and ready to run. She was the perfect group leader! I know many of the participants want to keep training because of her.

Congratulations to all of the finishers and many mahalos to Rani for putting on such a great event! Next weekend is the last Peaman event of the year - Peaman's Birthday Bonanza, a 1/2 mile swim and 3.9 mile run. Mele Kalikimaka!

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!