Kusutani, 44, didn't start running competitively until she was 38. But has she made great strides since.

"Running is what brought me to Hawai'i and it opened up more possibilities to a New World," said Kusutani, who was born in Osaka, Japan. She moved to Hawai'i three years ago.

Kusutani will be one of the favorites in tomorrow's Great Aloha Run, an event she won in 2001 and finished second in last year despite running three minutes faster than her 2001 victory.

But those are just two of her accomplishments.

Last year, she won the Straub Women's 10K, the Tamanaha 15K women's division, and the Diamond Head Duet.

She capped the year by finishing seventh overall among women in the Honolulu Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes, 8 seconds, and winning a trip to the Boston Marathon in April.

She defeated Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson in becoming the first Hawai'i female resident to finish.

Kusutani started playing tennis as a youngster. At 15, she decided to join her friends who were running in a race. She beat them.

Flash forward to 2000. Kusutani entered the Berlin Marathon and finished 17th among women with a time of 2:40:05.

Then she came to Hawai'i for a vacation and while at Kapi'olani Park noticed a 5K race was about to begin. The Mid-Pacific Road Runners club gave her a complimentary pass to enter.

Kusutani started at the back but soon found her way to the front in the first 200 meters.

"She whizzed by me like I was standing still," Connie Comiso, a standout runner herself, said at the time.

Kusutani won the race.

She returned to Hawai'i to run for the Hawai'i Pacific University cross country team in 2001. By finishing in the top five nationally, she achieved All-America status.

"I like winning and the competition," she said.

Kusutani logs 80 miles a week with a long run of 20 miles on Sundays.

The 5-foot-6, 105-pound Kusutani says, "I have a big appetite and a good metabolism. I like fruits (bananas and apples) and vegetables. I also like soy milk."

Kusutani said she will use the Great Aloha Run as a "training run for the Boston Marathon. Boston was not a priority before, but I changed my mind. Since living in the U.S., you want to run the challenging races."