First-time runner finishes marathon in 6 hours 2 minutes

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Sharon Keith never said she was going to set any records during yesterday's 31st Honolulu Marathon.

Sharon Keith

"I think I said I'd finish it in 6," Keith said, exhausted but smiling.

Her husband, Andy Keith, who finished the race in 4 hours and 30 seconds, said he saw his wife at the turnaround in Hawai'i Kai. He said she looked good and was not surprised that she finished.

"At first she wasn't going to do it," Andy Keith said. "I told her, 'What do you have to lose? Worst case you walk.' "

Sharon, 51, battled a spate of injuries while training for yesterday's race. While she is an active person who has participated in five triathlons since last December, Keith never has been much of a runner.

She swam in high school and has enjoyed bicycling for most of her life. She joined Brian Clarke's marathon clinic and began preparing.

While Keith made good progress with the group, she wasn't convinced that she could do the marathon until late October, when she completed the Niketown 30K, one of several races Clarke's groups participate in as part of their training.

Keith's progress was surprising, in part because she suffers chondromalacia, a painful softening of cartilage in the kneecap, and had recently developed Achilles tendinitis.

Yesterday, her pain was lost in the euphoria of finishing.

"(Running a marathon) is something you don't think you can really do," Keith said, one of 12,370 first-time runners. "Anyone with the interest can train for it and do it."

But there were tense moments.

Ellen Frifeldt, Keith's 73-year-old mother, who flew in from Oregon for the race, said she got nervous when she watched another runner go down in a heap at the finish line.

"I was a little concerned, but (Sharon's) sister finished the Portland marathon so I felt she was going to be OK," Frifeldt said. "It's quite an accomplishment."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.