FAQs

Some questions and answers:

Really, why?
Well, some people want to try a marathon but not have all the pressure of an official race, with high entrance fees, etc. Some people want to run a marathon, but don't want to run the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday. Some people just want to run.

What is an "unofficial" marathon?
To do an official marathon, you have to get permits, security, medical staff, and on and on and on. That takes time, money, and lots of coordination. So we don't want to do that. I jokingly came up with a good working definition of an unofficial marathon: "If anything goes wrong, it's your own fault, and you can't sue anyone else." We'll keep that in mind as we get ready.

There's no hard line in place between an unofficial and an official marathon. We're kind of flying by the seat of our pants. For example:
-Could we have some door prizes for participants? I guess so.
-Can we have sponsors? Probably not, because then you might be able to sue them.
-Can we get the road closed down for the race? Definitely not, because then the city/state would assume the liability, and would get sued.

Can we do a half marathon, too?
Why not? If people want to just do a half, they just run to Waimea. Then they can cheer on those turning around, and then either take the bus home or arrange their own rides. We could have a volunteer there to coordinate finish times.

I want a T-shirt!
Indeed. That's why many of us run--to get a T-shirt. I think we could come up with a nice design for a shirt, and someone has already said they'd help make them. It wouldn't be free, of course, but I bet we can get the cost to $5-7 or so, and I bet most of us would be willing to pay that.

What if my friend wants to do it, too?
Since it's all at our own risk, I say whoever wants to do it can join in. Tell as many people as you'd like. As we get a bit closer, and as we bounce ideas around, we'll provide all the details to whoever is interested.

I want it to be an official marathon!
Go right ahead and organize it, then. :)

How about logistics?
We'll provide the route (I'll get the specific starting and ending points soon, but basically Laie to the bathroom at Waimea Bay and back) and coordinate some volunteers. I'd like some advice about the following:

-Aid Stations. We can get family members and friends to provide some people at aid stations. I'm thinking we have everyone make their own drop bags for different aid stations for anything besides water. So, for example, if you want a Gatorade and a Powerbar at Mile 10, you put that in a bag with your name on it in the "Mile 10" pile and then when the race starts someone takes all those bags to Mile 10. A few family members sit at Mile 10 (off the road far enough to be a bit safe) with some coolers of water. When you get to Mile 10, you grab your bag, munch away, and then throw everything away in the rubbish bag. I think anything more official than that becomes problematic from a cost and logistic perspective. However, that doesn't mean that some friends can't buy a bunch of oranges and have them at the Mile 20 point to share. Another question I have is about medical. We can have a few people driving around the course looking for people who have passed out, but other than that I'm really scared to even offer anything, because I don't want to get sued. That brings me back to my main point--everyone is responsible for their own selves.

There are already some natural aid stations:
-There's a water fountain at the Kahuku Police Station (about 2 miles from Laie)
-We might be able to ask one of the shrimp trucks to let us set up something there--most have water and a porta-potty (about 4 miles from Laie)
-The biggest stretch where there isn't much is from the shrimp trucks to Sunset Beach--about 5 miles. We probably don't want to go in to Turtle Bay. There's a porta-potty at Waile'e Beach (or Mystery Beach) that's at the sharp turn before you get to Crawford's Old Folks Home (about 7/12 miles from Laie) but no water.
-Once we get to the Bike Path by Ted's Bakery, we're pretty good. There's a nice(r) bathroom at Sunset Beach (a little over 9 miles from Laie), but it's across the highway.
-Finally, of course, there's a bathroom and water at Waimea Bay.

Water's not that big of a deal, because we can have some volunteers with coolers. Bathrooms are a bigger problem. Any ideas on that? I guess if we let people know where the public restrooms are, they can plan accordingly.

-Volunteers. I'm sure there will people willing to help out. As we talk with people, we can ask them to ask others to help--the more volunteers the better.

-Finish Line. I've seen some great finish lines where there's just an informal potluck at the end. Again, nothing official, but still a great way to celebrate.

-Timing. We won't have an official race clock or anything, but we can have someone keeping time at the finish, and even have an unofficial time and placings at the end. That's easy enough to do.

-Start time. Starting early is better to avoid the heat of the day. But running before the sun comes up means running in the dark. At that time of year, it gets light enough to see what you're doing by about 6:30 ish. In most areas there's enough light, but the stretch from the Kahuku hospital to Turtle Bay is quite dark (I know that from personal experience). Any ideas on start time? We also should highly recommend that runners wear reflective vests until the sun comes up.

If you have other thoughts or questions, please share. I'll provide as much information as we get closer.