Top 10,000 Ain't Bad

Last Monday was President's Day. For the past 25 years, President's Day in Hawaii meant the annual Great Aloha Run. The 8.15 mile course starts at Aloha Tower Marketplace and goes along Ala Moana Blvd, under the airport viaduct and finishes at Aloha Stadium.

Keao and I ran (and I use the verb rather loosely) the race a few years ago and a bunch of our friends wanted to run it as well so we decided to put a group together.

Some of us brave the cold, dark morning

The race officially starts at 7:00am, but with some 20,000 runners, walkers, strollers and wheelchairs we didn't hit the start line until around 25 minutes after 7. Of course this is on top of waking up at 4:30am to get to Aloha Stadium where we parked and caught a ride to Nuuanu. Once we got to Nuuanu we met up with our friend Diedre and her running group to stretch out and get loose. This was at 6:10 an our friend Mr. Sun wasn't even up yet.

Keao and I inching ever closer to the start line (note we're still smiling)

Dural's confused because that couple behind him are running "three-legged" style

Next to the Honolulu Marathon, the Great Aloha Run is Hawaii's premiere running event. This year being the 25th anniversary made it even more special. They announced that over 20,000 signed up to run (although I'm sure there were drop outs). Of course there was lots of people there and lots of fanfare.

We're almost to the start line

As you run the route there are people cheering you everywhere. There were a few marching bands, cheerleaders and even a taiko band after mile 5. And as you would expect people run at different paces. That meant that as we were jogging we had to dodge, bob and weave our way through the crowd.

Keao had been running and working out for a few months so understandably she's in much better shape than I am. My goal was to jog as far as I can and then jog/walk the rest of the way. We decided that we would try to jog two miles first (as I have not really been training too hard). I'm happy to say that I did make it the first two miles and even did one more! Who would've thought that I could jog three straight miles?

Of course the first five miles are fairly easy because it's so flat. The second half of the run is slightly more difficult because there are inclines and declines. Plus, by the time you exit under the airport viaduct the sun is now burning harshly and brightly.

Can you see Aloha Stadium in the background (hint: it's to the right of those white buildings)?

Still smiling just a little more tired and sweaty!

As you get closer to the stadium everyone gets more excited to be finished. There is cheering and loud music. Kids line the sides with signs meant to encourage the runners. Unfortunately they make you go halfway around the stadium, which seems a little cruel to me, before you run down the tunnel and onto the field. At this point there are tons of people cheering and they put you on the Jumbotron. After that they give you a t-shirt, donuts, bananas and all the water you want. No matter how long it takes you, you've just finished the 8.15 mile Great Aloha Run!

I'm still smiling on the outside, but inside I'm exhausted

The different colors indicate where you think you will finish (yellow is faster than green which is faster than pink)

Despite making some of the people in this group wait an hour for us to finish, we're all still smiling!

So where did we finish? According to the unofficial results Keao and I finished in 9098th and 9097th place respectively. We had the same time of 2:02:41. This was a little disappointing since the last time we ran we finished around 15 minutes faster but it was probably my fault for being lazy and not training. Roughly this equates to 15 minute miles over the course of the run. Not great but not too bad either.

If you're interested in running with us next year you can sign up at www.greataloharun.com. Hope to see you there!