A 14-year-old Island School freshman ran his second marathon and a 25-year-old research assistant ran her first, on Sunday despite the rainy conditions. “It was harder to run (than my first one) because it started to pour around Diamond Head,”
A 14-year-old Island School freshman ran his second marathon and a 25-year-old research assistant ran her first, on Sunday despite the rainy conditions.
“It was harder to run (than my first one) because it started to pour around Diamond Head,” Ryan Perez said of his second time running the Honolulu Marathon.
Perez, of Po‘ipu, first ran it with his father, Henry, last year. This year, instead of running together, they were competing against each other.
“It was such a good experience that I wanted to do it again,” he said. “I wanted to do it again to beat my time.”
Running in what was later switched to a 19 and Under division, Perez finished with a time of 4:47:58 (chip time 4:47:22), and in 68th place out of 315. It was nearly two hours better than his finish last year — 6:46. His ultimate goal was to finish between four and four-and-a-half hours.
His father, in the Mens 40 to 44 division, clocked in at 5:21:16 (chip 5:20:40).
“It started raining pretty hard in the first hour,” Perez said. “I almost quit because it got so bad.”
Despite his confidence about his knowledge of the course and what to expect, Perez, a member of the Voyagers cross country team, said that he is not at his best when the weather is bad.
“That’s one of my weaknesses,” he said. “I start thinking negative thoughts like ‘my shoes are heavy’ or ‘my shirt’s heavy,’ ‘I’m not going to finish.’ Things like that.”
But instead of stopping, Perez made sure he finished.
“I was thinking of how much training I went through and what a commitment to the marathon was and to turn around would be a waste of all the training sessions I had,” he said.
Perez trained on occasion with a group on O‘ahu, winning a couple of its practice meets.
Perez’s fondest for distance running came when he was in fifth grade.
“I was always the fastest in my class and I started getting into training,” he said.
He later explained that it was his father who got him interested in the marathon, and since then, he was hooked.
“My goal, for my whole life, is to run a marathon in every state,” he said. “I’m going to run the Kaua‘i marathon, and since I’ve already done one here, I’m thinking next year I’ll try the one in San Diego.
“If any of my classmates ask me for advice on running a marathon, I would tell them it’s a great experience and that finishing a marathon is really big when you think of what you’ve just accomplished.
Margot Taylor of Kekaha was excited to run her first marathon and got to experience it with her boyfriend Sean Head, also of Kekaha.
“I always liked to run,” Taylor said. “I decided I was going to run a marathon and the Honolulu Marathon was recommended.”
She received lots of encouragement from a family friend, Grace Lord and helpful tips from Oceanit coworker and Waimea High School distance co-coach Basil Scott.
She and Head trained together early on Sunday mornings, waking up before 5 a.m. and ready to run by then so as to be accustomed to the marathon’s start time.
On other days, the two trained separately and did so for the past eight weeks.
But unlike Perez who on occasion trained with a group, Taylor found an online training program that worked for her so she could run on her own. Running along the beach in Kekaha and programming herself to wake before dawn, Taylor was ready for the marathon.
“I wasn’t so much nervous as I just didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “It was really hard, but really fun.”
Taylor finished with a time of 4:20:26 (chip 4:17:51) and 79th of 1772 in her Women’s 25 to 29 division. It wasn’t exactly the time she was looking for, but she was happy with what she’d accomplished.
“I started with a real fast pace, but I slowed down the last third of the race,” she said. “But I finished, which was my goal.”
Head finished with a time of 4:12:13 (chip 4:09:38) to come in 158th out of 1072 in his Men’s 25 to 29 division.
There were 23,230 amateur runners and 28 professionals in the field on Sunday. More than half of the participants (14,406) were from Japan.
Patrick Ivuti of Kenya won the marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 14 minutes, 35 seconds and Japan’s Kiyoko Shimahara won the women’s race in 2:32:36.
“It was pretty neat to see the real fast runners. The course was kind of like a loop so you could see the guys coming,” Taylor said. “And the wheelchair contestants, it was pretty cool to see them. I definitely want to do it again next year.”
Kaua‘i’s best finisher was Ed Conrad of Waimea. Running in the Men’s 25 to 29 division, Conrad finished eighth in his division, 138th in the gender place and 148th overall.
The race is the country’s third largest marathon behind the New York and Chicago. For a complete listing of race finishers, visit honolulumarathon.org
• Lanaly Cabalo, sports editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com
