At the last moment, my runner son decided he wanted to enter the Kona Marathon 5K event. I thought it was a great idea for a one night getaway to the sunny side of the island. We quickly got him registered for the event, made hotel reservations to stay at the Hilton Waikoloa Village (near the start/finish line), and made sure our dog had a place to stay.Driving to the west side on the saddle road is so easy and we got there smoothly on a Saturday afternoon. On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the Queen’s Marketplace and picked up water and lunch from the deli at Island Gourmet Markets.I got a bara chirashi bowl and a seaweed salad from Shiono Sushi for my lunch. I never get tired of sushi.  We checked in to the hotel, dropped our bags off at the room, and then went to the health and fitness expo where we picked up my son’s t-shirt and bib number.After that, we went back to the room and like many other adolescent teens, my son proceeded to play his video games. Aw man–we are staying at a resort in a place some consider to be paradise and my son just wants to stay in the hotel room.  I guess that is his paradise–wifi, video games, and air conditioning.

I let him stay there in his paradise and went to the pool and hung out there for the afternoon. I actually was considering a visit to the fitness center, but since I had already had a good kickboxing workout in the morning and the fitness center was far away from the tower I was staying at, I decided to just lounge at the pool with my Kindle.

Since we knew we would be waking up early in the morning, we took my son to carbo load at Dona and Toni’s at the Hilton.

Even though I was not running the next day, I also participated in the carbo loading. I support my son whenever I can.

The next morning, we woke up before the sun came up and made our way to the start line for the Kona Marathon events. They had a marathon, half marathon, quarter marathon, and a 5K. It was well attended with a nice representation of Hilo athletes–Stanley Costales, Davin Padilla, Riley Cabalse, Aris Aynessazian, and Moana Hokoana-Kelii were some of the Hilo runners who participated.  Eddie O from Hilo did a great job as one of the official announcers at this event. I’m so happy to report that my 14-year old son finished in second place for the 5K event.

It was a hot day for the runners and spectators but we all had a great time.