Great Aloha Run (Walk) #9

We did our 9th Great Aloha Run (Walk) yesterday. I can hardly believe we've done this 9 years in a row. I gripe and groan every year prior to the GAR. Art insists we do it so that I will force myself to prepare for it and stay in shape throughout the year.

We set out our gear the night before. Art offered to once again carry my cookies, Advil, toilet tissues and antibacterial hand cleaner, 1 small package of fruit chews, IDs, light wind breaker and hat.

We attached our racing bibs to our favorite good luck t-shirts and went to bed as early as we could.

3:30 AM We woke up, changed, ate breakfast and got ready to leave.

5:00 We left the house for the Aloha Stadium in Halawa. There was a lot of traffic but it took us just 16 minutes to get there.








5:16 We arrived at the stadium and joined the very long line to the buses. The line moved very quickly and we were soon on our way to Honolulu.


5:43 We were dropped off a bit of a distance from the Aloha Tower and had to walk the rest of the way.

Although, the race course is about 8.15 miles I add on this bit of walking to make it more like 8.5 miles for me.

We hoped to see our friends, Terry and Craig on Bishop Street, but couldn't spot them. We waited near the tower and saw the military march by in preparation for starting the race.

One group waiting in front of us had this strange blue and white flag with a blue stripe going across. We couldn't figure out what it was. I looked online and found this on the Flags Unlimited website:

Meaning of the Thin Blue Line Flag: The Blue represents the officers and the courage they find deep inside when faced with insurmountable odds. The Black background was designed as a constant reminder of our fallen brother and sister officers. The Line is what police officers protect, the barrier between anarchy and a civilized society, between order and chaos, between respect for decency and lawlessness. Together they symbolize the camaraderie law enforcement officers all share, a brotherhood like none other.

While we waited for the race to begin at 7:00, our friends, Al and Kris found us. We'd gone to Vietnam several years ago and I discovered that Kris was the sister of another one of my high school classmates.

Al, Kris and their neighbor, Eleanor had participated in the race for over 30 years.


The Star Spangled Banner was sung followed by Hawaii Ponoi, Hawaii's state song.


And then the soldiers started running and the race began.

Kris and Eleanor said they would take the race slower. Al said he would join us because we planned to go at a little faster pace.

Al and Art are both runners. I don't run but I'm willing to walk a little faster.

The crowd surged forward to the starting line where the timing chip on our racing bids were activated by the timing pad that we stepped over.

This dragon raced past us at a fast clip.

I missed taking a photo of a fellow dressed in a fabulous Superman costume.




I did enjoy these girls wearing tutus and this fellow dressed as Cowman.

Al said he's at many of the races in Hawaii.

We also saw that big GAR sign made entirely of balloons.

There were water stations to insure everybody stayed hydrated and high school bands to cheer everybody on.

The nice thing about the beginning of the race is that the sun isn't fully up yet. There was also a brisk 40 mph wind that kept us cool.

We saw a couple of Chinese lion dancers.

We were now happily under the viaduct which provided cool shade.

It was sad to see that a lot of homeless people were living there.

Yay! We're at the five mile mark! I started to really feel tired so I ate my fruit chew snack which really perked me up.

Taiko drums added a beat to our walking.

And then we were out in the sun!

We got to the 6th and 7th mile without a problem. I did have three cookies and an Advil for my knees. There was also a 10 kilometer marker this year.

Alas! I'm afraid my picture taking did slow us down.

This was the only downer in the race.

And then suddenly there was the Aloha Stadium again!

Woo hoo!

We were hoping to better our finish times, but I'm afraid we actually came in slower than the previous years. Ummm... It's true that this is the first year that I didn't train before the race.

2014: 2:35:55
2015: 2:35:24
2016: 2:29:05
2017: 2:36:30


On the other hand, we really enjoyed walking with Al this year and hope we get to walk together next year.

Maybe I can convince some other friends to join us. The proceeds from the race goes to numerous charities around the islands and there's such a feeling of camaraderie among all the participants.

And now we've got two more t-shirts to add to our collection!

OK... That's it. I'm going to go to bed now. I'm exhausted. I've actually walked over 25,000 steps today. I think that's good enough for two days!