"Some people stopped to take pictures, others were wearing costumes. A recent
bride wore her veil and organza slip," Dyer said. "I stopped at every (water)
station."
But all was not frolic. Temperatures of 88 degrees resulted in the treatment of
400 people for heat related illness. A man who had run the 26 mile marathon in
four hours last year took seven hours this year.
The fact that there were 35,000 runners (21,000 of them Japanese, and lots of
Hawaiians) meant that Dyer had to "run for 10 minutes just to get the starting
line." Dyer ran the race in 4 hours, 49 minutes.
Dyer decided to run the 23rd Honolulu Marathon after she ran 18 miles in the
Hood to Coast Relay earlier this year. She decided if she could do that 18
miles, she could go on and run a marathon.
She trained for the last three months, including long runs of 18 to 22 miles
every other weekend in the woods near her home.
Dyer, 40, didn't start running until she was in college. She and her husband
Rad have two boys, Towner, 11 and Beau, 14. Nancy works in rental management
for the Dyer family's Ponderosa Properties in Sisters.
Dyer said she would "probably enjoy running another marathon, but I don't know
when. It could be this year, or in five years. There is no hurry."
