As a young child growing up in the quaint town of Honaunau, Patrick Stover said that he never gave much thought to running.
Like many kids his age, Stover enjoyed the freedom of playing in the coffee fields and hanging out with his friends down at Manini beach in Kealakekua.
It wasn’t until young Stover entered the sixth grade that he was introduced to his first race.
“My first running race was at Honaunau Elementary,” the 28-year-old recalled. “I did the 100, 200, and 400-meter dash. The race that I won gold in was the 400, so that’s when I realized that I was a good distance runner. While all the kids were slowing down, I sped up.”
But as Stover tells it, his passion for running didn’t kick in until he entered high school.
He tried out for the track team while in the 7th grade and did it for only a week before realizing that he didn’t like structured training. He quit.
Then when he was in the 8th grade, students were required to do laps around the field for their PE class. Stover said that he was always the first to finish but would continue to do laps until everyone else finished. It was then that something began to click.
“That’s when I realized that I might be good at this,” Stover said. “When I started going to Konawaena High School, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be coached by Ken Foreman. He was an unbelievable coach and he coached me for both cross-country and track. I credit all of my success to him as he helped me to develop my strength and passion for running. He could see that I could become a really good runner, and that helped me to set my focus.”
Ken Foreman is regarded as one of the most prominent cross country and track coaches of our time. He was the head coach for Seattle Pacific University for 38 years and a leader in coaching women’s track and field. Foreman has been on 17 international team staffs, including the 1980 and 1988 Olympic teams. He retired from SPU in 2000 to live in Kailua-Kona and coach the Konwaena cross country and track teams.
Being under the tutelage of coach Foreman, Stover said he began to stand out by winning races during his junior year, ending with a victory in the 800 meters at the BIIF track and field championships. But it was during his senior season in 2006 that Stover’s name was finally inked in history — winning the individual BIIF cross country title.
However, after graduating from high school Stover said he lost his focus as being a typical teen, he wanted to get away from anything structured and just have fun with his friends.
“I wanted to enjoy the freedom that you get at that age,” he said. “But once it got to the point when a lot of my friends were getting married and getting on with their lives, then it hit me that I needed to learn how to enjoy things alone as all of my friends were gone. I felt in limbo for a few years. That’s when I started getting back into physical activities.”
He first turned to the Insanity workout program — a challenging total body workout that requires no gym or equipment but allows one to exercise at home using their own body weight for resistance.
“After two months of this structured training sessions at home, I felt like I was pretty fit and I decided to run in the Waipio 18-miler Challenge in 2012,” Stover said. “I remember that’s where I met Chris Gregory and was surprised that I could keep up with him during the whole race. That’s when I started to really love running again.”
From there Stover dabbled in a few marathons — Hilo, Kona, Honolulu, and one in Pennsylvania — but never ran a time under the coveted three hour mark. That was until this year’s Hilo Marathon in March where Stover had the race of his life. Stover won with a time of 2:55:17 and outran pre-race favorite, Oahu’s Kengo Yoshimoto, by 10 minutes.
Now, Stover hopes to continue his mojo at Sunday’s Kona Marathon held at Waikoloa Beach Resort.
“I feel confident and ready for it. I haven’t been able to put a major focus on the training because of all the races that I’ve had before this run. But I feel really good. Right now, it’s just about staying relaxed, recovered and enjoying the time of slowing down a bit by tapering.
“I’m hoping my confidence from my win in Hilo this year can be proven on Sunday with a similar result. Hilo showed me that I could achieve that time. So if I can do it again in Kona, I feel it will give me that certain confidence to do it every time.”
Stover will have his work cut out for him, as it will be a rematch with Oahu’s Yoshimoto from the Hilo Marathon. Last year’s winner, Joshua Espinoza of Glendale, Arizona has not signed up.
Race director Sharron Faff said Sunday’s running events will draw over 1500 participants that will compete in the marathon, half marathon, quarter marathon and 5K.
As of Monday, there were 250 registered for the marathon, 525 for the half marathon, 200 in the quarter marathon (10K) and 500 in the 5K.
She said the event is comprised of around 60 percent women and 40 percent men.
Among the reasons more female racers have flocked to the race, Faff cited hosting multiple, more doable distances — most notably the half marathon — and having the event dubbed as a “destination race.”
“Women have added a lot more fun to the run and their favorite race is the half,” Faff said.
Faff added that the popularity of the Kona Marathon event brings in over $10 million for the economy during the weeks surrounding the one-day event.
“People don’t fly over just to stay a day or two,” Faff said. “They come and bring their families to stay one, to two weeks. Seventy percent of our participants come from out-of-state, and we currently have 14 countries registered.”
Last year’s half marathon winner, Bree Wee, is also on the start list to compete in her first Kona Marathon.
“I’m just really excited to be able to do it after not having the time to fit it into the training schedule for so many years,” Wee said. “Putting a marathon in your body is a lot of work and you can’t just go run them whenever you want when you are racing Ironmans. But now, all that I’m trying to do is collect miles, so it’s perfect timing.”
Yes, it is perfect timing as Wee has been putting in long hours and distance, anywhere between 30 to 40 miles in one training session to ready her body for the ultimate goal of competing in next January’s HURT 100. Wee said running 26.2-miles on Sunday will feel mentally easier.
“I think the only scary thing is the tendency for me to want to go fast because I’m on the road,” the 37-year-old said. “On the trails you can’t go that fast, so that’s what I’m afraid of.”
Wee will be competing against three-time defending champion, Yuko Nakai of Oahu, and feels excited to be able to run with her.
“I think I’ll just try to hold on behind her and let her set the pace,” Wee said. “I’d like to do around three hours — that would be nice. But I know it’s a really hard course and I don’t have much speed work in me so we’ll just have to see.”
For Stover, competing in Sunday’s Kona Marathon will be a fresh reminder of how running gave him purpose to live his life to the fullest.
“Before I started to run, I really didn’t see the point of existing. I wasn’t suicidal but I felt that I was doing the same mundane things every day – like working to just pay bills. But once I started running again, it gave me a purpose.
“Now I know that working and paying bills is part of life, but running is the one thing that I can choose to do on my own terms. It’s what I do for my escape and enjoyment. Some days are hard and some days are easier but running has helped me to get through every day life. I now have a better outlook. Instead of being in limbo I feel that everything I do helps me to move forward in life. I feel like I have a future and something to look forward to. I owe all of it to running.”