The Great Aloha Run

Great Aloha Run 2008 from hawaii on Vimeo.

I wasn’t expecting to have President’s Day off. Neither was my body clock, which drew me out of bed well before dawn yesterday. On a whim, I decided to head downtown for the start of the 24th annual Great Aloha Run. In addition to some blurry cameraphone shots, I put together a five-minute video of the morning’s event. Watch it above, or click through to my videoblog for other formats and players.

Note how the starting cannon very nearly knocks my off my feet, even though I was bracing myself for it. That buggah stay loud!

I saw Carole Kai, Great Aloha Run’s host and perennial island icon, greeting people well before the sun came up. But she didn’t make an appearance, in my video nor the media’s coverage, because she had lost her voice. She was walking around waving and holding up a sign explaining her uncharacteristic silence.

It’s a 8.15-mile run (or walk) from downtown to Aloha Stadium, and plenty of families and kids participated. Perhaps next year, I’ll do more than just watch the fun.