Bo knows…
Arguably one of the greatest athletes of our time, Bo Jackson’s career and popularity highlighted Nike’s “Bo Knows” advertising campaign in 1989 when he became the first athlete to play both professional baseball and football in the same year.
The series of commercials centered on Jackson’s athletic versatility to market Nike’s latest cross training shoes with Bo knowing how to play just about anything.
“Bo knows football, Bo knows baseball, Bo knows basketball, Bo knows tennis…” There didn’t seem to be a sport that Bo didn’t know.
Come April 10, Bo will know Triathlon.
Although it may not be the Nike super hero toeing the start line at Sunday’s Lavaman Waikoloa Olympic Distance Triathlon, another athletic Bo will be – former Kona District Court Judge, Joseph Florendo.
Florendo, who is Hawaii Island’s longest serving full-time judge at 27 and half years and also the youngest to be appointed the position in 1986 at the age of 35, will compete in his first ever triathlon event.
“I feel very excited,” Florendo said. “I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out but I feel that I can finish the race. Hopefully, I’d like to aim somewhere between finishing in three hours or less which would be very good for me. I’ve never watched Lavaman before so I’m a bit apprehensive of the mosh pit at the beginning of the swim and wonder how that’s going to turn out.”
The early years
Affectionately called “Bo” by family and close friends, Florendo was born and raised in Oahu and the second of five children. When asked how he became involved in sports, Florendo smiled and said that sports weren’t a primary focus in the household. His mother, a care home operator, wanted to get her children involved in music first.
“I started taking piano lessons but then I quit because I wanted to play baseball,” he said. “I got into Little League baseball but didn’t really do much there. I didn’t do very many sports until high school.”
At Damien Memorial High School, Florendo said he and his friends turned out for the cross-country and track team under head coach Happy Chapman, who was fairly well known in the running circle around Oahu at that time.
However, having their names on the team roster was never for the intention to compete, but more as a means to keep in shape for other sports they were interested in.
“We had no idea what we were getting into as we had never run long distance before,” he laughed. “In those days, 1968 through 1972, the cross-country course was two miles instead of three and the equipment wasn’t nearly as great. Some of us had shoes, but most of us ran barefoot. I ran barefoot and then eventually I got rubber shoes but they weren’t as sophisticated as they are now. So when we would run the streets of Honolulu we would just tape our feet with athletic tape. It was wild, but fun.”
As a teen, Florendo found himself enjoying runs around his high school with one of his favorites being a two-mile training hill climb – a run up Houghtailing street to the top of Kapalama and back. While his team took first at States for a couple years, Florendo’s interests also turned to student politics, eventually becoming student body president.
Florendo’s natural born talent to run and strong leadership skills among his peers were only the beginning of what would later follow in his career path.
The passion for running
As an undergraduate at the University of San Francisco, Florendo said he enjoyed his new social life and independence, as all young adults do, which left little time for running. It wouldn’t be until he went to law school at the University of California, Davis that he would realize his passion for running.
“That’s when I started running again to relieve the tension of school,” he said. “I found that it was quite soothing, a good outlet for me. I could think about things and sort of meditate during my runs. That’s when I started to enjoy long distance running.”
After earning a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1979, Florendo returned to Oahu and began working for Waianae’s Legal Aid Society followed by the Public Defender’s Office in Honolulu.
By then the running boom had taken the country by storm. Honolulu became a nice hotspot for runners who were inspired by Frank Shorter’s victory in the men’s marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Florendo also found himself back on the roads, but this time, as a competitor.
“This was before triathlons became popular so running was the thing and the Honolulu Marathon was a big thing for a lot of people,” Florendo said. “That’s when I really began competing in a lot of shorter distance races as well as Honolulu Marathon. I also got involved with a running club called, The Sub-Six International, because supposedly we could run a sub-six minute mile. It was a good group that kept me motivated.”
When Florendo moved to the Big Island in 1982 to continue work as a Public Defender, he found that Kona had a very small running community with a limited number of running events. But that didn’t stop his passion for running or from producing some of his best results.
A win at the Keoua Canoe Club Rocky Road 10K in 1982 with a time of 34 minutes and 34 seconds, a 1:18:03 finish at Oahu’s popular Val Nolasco Half Marathon in 1983, followed by a 2:51:22 at Honolulu Marathon that same year puts an exclamation mark to how fast Florendo’s running times were.
Moving to Kona also meant a front row seat to the newest sport in town – the IRONMAN World Championships – consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, followed by a 26.2-mile run.
“The year that I moved to the Big Island, triathlon had also moved to Kona at that time,” Florendo recalled. “I actually thought about doing IRONMAN but I couldn’t get over the thought of doing the swim, and the time it took to complete it. I was not a very good swimmer. I was actually afraid of it because I knew I couldn’t swim very well.”
And like most people with full-time jobs and family responsibilities, running and any thoughts of doing a triathlon were once again put on the back burner when Florendo was appointed Third Circuit District Court Judge in 1986, a position he respectfully held for nearly three decades until his retirement in 2014.
The transition to triathlon
Now, while enjoying all of the perks and free time that come with a well-deserved retirement life, Florendo has set the bar even higher for himself – competing in his first triathlon.
But of course, he had to learn how to swim first.
“After doing Masters for a year, swimming has opened up a whole new world for me,” he said. “I began in the guppy lane like most people and I found that I like swimming a lot. It’s very similar to running. You are by yourself, on your own, and you can meditate and think about things. I can now say I enjoy swimming.”
As for cycling, Florendo said that he used to deliver newspapers around his neighborhood as a kid on his one-speed Mongoose bike and continued doing a lot of riding through college. He now trains 3-4 times per week and feels just as confident on the bike as he is on the run.
What does Florendo feel he has learned from the courtroom that will help him through his first triathlon?
“Perseverance and sticking to a schedule,” he said. “The courtroom that I worked in was a very high volume court. A lot of people so a lot of pressure to get the work done. In the courtroom, you just have to persevere and maintain your focus to get through the work. And I believe it’s the same with triathlons particularly because it’s a relatively long-distance event. Swimming, cycling and running is quite repetitive like a metronome. So I think just persevering and getting through the day is something that I’m used to.”
With experiencing his first triathlon event just around the corner, Florendo says there are no butterflies, just excitement to finish, do a good job and have a good time.
“Every athlete gets excited by the prospect right before the race, wondering how they are going to do, the adrenaline is pumping, and they want to have fun at the same time. What I’m feeling right now is just the excitement before the main event.”
And after Sunday Florendo will be able to say; “Bo knows triathlon.”