Post Windward Half Marathon Report

Today was the running of the Windward Half Marathon and it was run under some pretty good conditions. Though it was very humid we were fortunate to have good cloud cover. I am not sure how many participated (I had heard around 750 but not sure if this is accurate??) however several HURT runners and HURT friends were out pounding the pavement.

Nick Kaiser took home a medal and was probably the fastest HURT runner. Ask him about why his legs were foaming. He had one story but I think it was left over beer foam from him running the Berlin Marathon just a week ago. Ben Cavaso was making quite the statement! He was pushing his son in a baby stroller and making a lot of us look really slow. Bev was also out there as well.

HURT runners also included Mike Garcia, Patricia Carroll, PJ Salmonson, and Cheryl Loomis. PJ & Cheryl were there to surprise and support Kelly McPhearson. Triathlete Wendy Minor ran as training for her upcoming 25th Ironman triathlon and then a week later, Xterra. Since she is in training, a half marathon was not quite enough distance so Cheryl and her went out and ran an extra 5 miles. Barbi ran a good race however had some foot numbness problems that slowed her some. Peter Daspit was out as well. Ray Woo from Runners HI was also running.

Special thanks to Mike Muench who ran the race and then hosted a nice post race party. We all enjoyed fresh fruit, cool drinks, muffins, chips & salsa and most importantly, each others company.

Next year hopefully the race will be on a different day then the Niketown 5K. My daughter was running that today as were lots of other Windward runners. It was nice to have Fleet Feet involved and The Boys and Girls Club. I hope both of these groups plus Castle Medical Center stay involved and see the benefit to promoting this race. I heard some comments about the need for better organization and more aid stations. I know this will come. Personally I would like to see more Kailua support. Barbi and I cashed in our Chip and Cookie 30% off coupon. It was fun, as our friend Wally Amos, was actually in the store. All in all, I think people enjoyed themselves and had a great time.

Aloha, Bob