Tradition, fun and, of course,
a T-shirt are reasons some wake up
early for the Great Aloha Run

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

TRADITION, runner's high, crowd support, testing personal fitness, and cool T-shirts are a few of the many reasons drawing about 24,000 people to run today's 8-mile Great Aloha Run.

"The Great Aloha Run has been a tradition for quite a few years now," said William Lee, 31, of the Big Island, who came to run for the first time. "Every year it gets bigger and bigger. I just want to do it, mainly for fun."

Two skydivers from Southern California who registered for the run yesterday said they couldn't believe nearly 24,000 people were going to run with them. The 7 a.m. start got thousands up early on the Presidents Day holiday each year.

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Marty Shue was the top women's finsisher in today's
Great Aloha Run, covering the 8.35-mile course from
Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium in 46:00.01.

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When today's race was over, Malcolm Campbell was the top finisher. He was clocked at 42 minutes, 38 seconds over the 8.35-mile course that grew by one-tenth of a mile because of highway construction. Marty Shue was top women's runner with a time of 46 minutes, .01 second.

"I think it's crazy. I can't believe 30,000 people can finish eight miles," said Sandra Hirotsu, 30, an attorney from Orange County, Calif. "It doesn't seem that many people run."

Curtis Southern, 38, an Army major at Schofield, wants to test his fitness level. "I suffered from a running injury four years ago, and I want to see how I can do."

The simple act of running draws Southern to the Great Aloha Run. "It's a mainstay of my fitness, and it's also a central part of conditioning in the military."

The family that runs together, earns cool T-shirts together. That's what drew the Kice kids into running today's race with their mother, Delayne Kice.

"I wanted to get them into it," said Kice, a Georgia native whose Air Force husband is stationed here. "They're both athletically inclined, but they don't push themselves." But the nifty T-shirts did.

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Malcolm Campbell, of England, was the top men's
finsisher, clocking 42:38:00 over a course that grew by
one-tenth of a mile because of road construction
in the area of Aloha Stadium.

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Kice, 33, ran the Great Aloha Run last year. This year, 11-year-old Dani asked if she could walk the course with mom. Kice's answer: "Why don't we start running together?"

They trained for the past three months, running two to three days a week. "Now she's killing me," Kice said, rolling her eyes with a smile.

Her son, 13-year-old Steven, joined them in training, but then pooped out. "A few bribes of new running shoes kept him going," Kice said. "And they both wanted the cool T-shirt."

Kice said she runs for the "runner's high," the jet propulsion of energy runners feel during the race and a few hours afterward. "My daughter got it the other day for the first time," Kice said, beaming. "She took off like a bolt."

A teacher at Moanalua High School, Edee Shinsato, runs in the Great Aloha for the crowd support. A runner since high school, the 23-year-old says it feels good to be in a sporting event with tons of people.

"In the beginning, your adrenalin is pumping. You're running with thousands and thousands of people next to you.

"You almost feel like you're in a family, and the crowd supports you through it."