Great Aloha Run Results

~ by Kawika Carlson

The 30th Annual Great Aloha Run was held on President’s Day – Monday Feb. 17, 2014. Over 16,000 finishers on the 8.15 mile course from the Great Aloha Tower to a finish inside the Aloha Stadium.

Thomas Puzey cruises to his first victory at the Great Aloha Run. ~ photo; Hawaii News Now

Thomas Puzey from Flagstaff, Arizona, a former Oahu resident who has previously finished in the Top 5 several times, finally broke through with a win this year. His winning time of 43:02 was over a minute faster than runner-up Leandro Santillan (44:14) from Argentina. 3rd place went to Kevin Miller (44:18) from Boise, Idaho, and the first local finisher was Nate Carlson (44:43) in 4th place place overall. Nate is a former GAR winner, and was recently married to this year’s women’s winner Polina Babkina Carlson (49:13) who has been dominating local races recently. Runner-up and teammate, Natasha Kravchuk (49:50) was last years winner. Lindsey Wilbur (51:57) from Kihei, Maui rounded out a Hawaiian sweep of the Top 3 places.

Top 3 Women. ~ photo: courtesy of Facebook/ Polina Carlson

Nate Carlson coaches Champion Running Group on Thursday nights 5:30pm at Ala Moana Park and everyone is welcome. In addition to Polina and Natasha, some of his their top runners include: Tommy Sands (49:24) 26th, Kengo Yoshimoto (50:42) 38th, and Yuko Nakai (56:46) 1st in AG. You can find out more about their group here: http://championrunning.blogspot.com/

The top Military finishers were Val Curtis (54:14) from Mililani and Marty Muchow (45:59) from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Marty is another former Oahu resident, who at the age of 48 pulled off a terrific performance finishing 6th overall.  Jon Lyau (47:17) at the age of 49 landed back in the Top 10 this year with a 7th place Elite finish and 9th overall behind two military runners. His 30th consecutive year of running this race, despite a serious knee injury several years ago. Other tremendous performances were turned in by master runner and UH professor Joseph Bariyanga (48:17) at the age of 58 in 13th place overall, and by the youngster Jacob DeWald (49:02) from Mililani who is but 16 years old.

Jon Lyau lands back in the Top 10 in his 30th Great Aloha Run.

Jon Lyau coaches his group, Personal Best Training on Tuesday nights 5:30pm at Ala Moana Park near the tennis courts. Everyone is welcome to their group training sessions. For more information, please go to: http://personalbesttraininghi.com/

Juan Romero finishes first in his age group and 14th place overall in his first GAR.

Kukini Run Club had several runners participate in the race and were led by a strong finish from Juan Romero (48:24) who was first place in his age group and 14th overall. Juan is a grad student and teacher assistant at University of Hawaii and recently started training with the group to get back in shape. He was a former outstanding runner in college at CBU – California Baptist University. Mariah Gosling (1:01:28) was the group’s top women finisher. She was 3rd place in her age group and 48th woman overall. Mariah has been training with the group to improve her speed and it looks like it’s starting to pay off. A Senior at Kalani High School is the reigning Miss Teen Hawaii with high ambitions. Other group runners who did well in their age group include: Ron Higashi (1:02:33) 41st, Daniel Lum (1:05:22) 24th, Andrea Wong (1:07:28) 16th, Angela Sy (1:08:28) 9th, Cindy Berkoski (1:08:59) 25th, Loren McMillen (1:10:40) 30th, Mike McMillen (1:12:35) 102nd, and Vondi Irwin (1:47:24) 397. Outstanding performances considering there were hundreds, even thousands of runners in each division. Everyone finished in the top half of their age group!

For more information on the group, please check on this site or on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KukiniHawaii

Dr. Nate’s Champion Running Group

by Kawika Carlson ~

Tonight I had the opportunity to visit and run with Dr. Nate’s Champion Running Group. They meet every Thursday night 5:30pm at Ala Moana Beach Park near the tennis courts on the Ala Moana Blvd. side. It’s free, and open to everyone.

For more information, go to their group page at: http://championrunning.blogspot.com/    Or contact Coach Nate at: championrunninggroup@gmail.com

Nate and Polina Carlson – Hawaii’s fastest couple at the 2013 Honolulu Marathon. ~ photo: Matt Holton/ mauirunner.com

The group is coached by Nate Carlson (no relation, other than we are both running coaches), one of Oahu’s top runners and Hawaii’s fastest resident finisher (2:45:43) in his first marathon, at the recent Honolulu Marathon – December 2013. After the marathon he took a month off from running, moved to the windward side of the island, visited family and friends on the mainland for Christmas and New Year’s, and oh yeah, he got married and went on a honeymoon too. Of course, it was to Hawaii’s fastest women finisher at the marathon, Polina Babkina  (2:46:44) and the 5th woman overall. How’s that for a fast moving couple!

The group attracts some of the fastest runners on the island. So, it’s perfect for those that have outgrown their old running groups and have been running on their own. However, Nate insists that you don’t have to be fast to run with them. He modifies the training runs for those that are less experienced or just coming back to the sport. So, no need to be intimidated. As the saying goes… you only get faster, by running with those faster than you.

Dr. Nate’s Champion Running Group meets every Thursday evening 5:30pm at Ala Moana Beach Park near the tennis courts.

First up is the Word of the Day. Nate throws out a word for you to think about each week while you are running. Today’s word was SACRIFICE. It can either mean something physical – like a sacrifice on the alter to God. Or, it can mean something that you have to give up. The example given was – as a runner you often have to sacrifice time. Time as in – losing sleep because you have to get up early for a run, or time as in giving up family time, or fun time at the beach with your friends. However, as a runner we know how to overcome these time sacrifices by either including our family/friends, or that by allowing us to run – makes us a happier/healthier person who lives a longer life. But, t’m starting to stray from the main point. Nate also read a scripture passage which referenced a great sacrifice.  * Listed below –

So, each time I passed by the beach on my run today, I was thinking about how much I love to lay out at the beach and relax. Yet, today – on my day off – I was on my third run of the day. Yes, third! This morning I ran some errands downtown. Literally, ran them. Next up, I ran with my coach during lunchtime. A nice easy run around the Ala Wai canal from UH campus. And, here I was tonight meeting with Nate’s group. Tommy Sands reminded me about this group and suggested I attend tonight’s workout.

Beautiful sunset at Ala Moana Beach Park during tonight’s training run.

Nate recommends that you come to the workout having warmed up. I ran over from my apartment in Waikiki, so I was ready to go. They started out with some dynamic stretching and running drills – so, I suppose if you had to come straight from work, it would still be ok. Tonight’s main workout was a 48 minute fartlek run alternating 2 minutes hard and 2 minutes easy x 12. Nate wanted an additional 10 minute lead in and 10 minute cool down run on both ends. So, a total of 68 minutes. I had to take a business phone call right when the run started, so I walked off in the opposite direction they were running, thinking I would join in with some of the slower runners as they passed by.

Nate and Tommy were the first ones to go by. I knew I couldn’t keep up with them, so I waited for the next group. I don’t know what made me jump in with them – but it was Polina Carlson, Natasha Kravchuk, Kengo Yoshimoto, and Charlie Harty. They were starting their 5th pickup and the pace was a fast and furious 6 min./mile. I ran with them until the 8th one. For some reason at that point I thought we were doing 8 repeats and were done. When they started the 9th I was a little confused. Then I realized it was 48 minutes and 12 repeats. Four more to go. Ughhh! Somewhere along the way we caught up to Tommy, as he had gone out too fast with Nate at 5:30 min./mile pace and had to drop back. And, Charlie was able to keep up with us during the hard ones, but he needed to run slower for recovery in between. So, he usually took some kind of a short cut during the recovery portion to catch back up with us.

I managed to hang with them for 2 more, but that was all these tired, out of shape legs, who had just run 14 miles in the morning could handle. I settled for taking some sunset photos and walked back over to the finish start/point where I re-joined the entire group for some stretching and conversation.  All in all, it was a great workout tonight – reminiscent of a video I had just watched on Kenyan running and their fartlek training runs.

Running by so fast they are a blur! First row: Polina Carlson, Kengo Ishimoto, Second row: Tommy Sands, Natasha Kravchuk, Third row: Charlie Harty

So, where did my personal run total stand for the day? I ran about half of tonight’s workout with the group, with an additional warm up and cool down from home – around 8 miles. Combine that with this morning’s two runs – 14 miles. That makes 22 miles for the day. I finally feel that I’m beginning to get back on track with my running. Getting stronger and faster. And, I’m glad to know there’s a group that I can run with each week, that will push me even harder. Thanks Coach Nate!

* “He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.” Isaiah 53:3-7 NLT

** all photos: Kawika Carlson ~ except as noted