They're like the tortoise from that story about a race between a hare and someone who managed to persevere despite the odds and obstacles.

In this case, the obstacles have included delayed flights, knee injuries, professional commitments and 26.2 miles of running.

Jerold Chun, Gary Dill and Gordon Dugan will be inducted into the Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame this morning for a feat only they can claim. They've done all 34 marathons since the race started in 1973 and hope to make it 35 after this Sunday's race.

They've never won the race, though they've put up excellent times during their prime. There were also years when they dragged themselves across the finish with a mentality only those who find comfort in running for hours have. While distances in life change over time, the three have remained connected to the marathon, completing it year after year.

Or as Chun pointed out, 35 years is the equivalent of a full generation. "People have gone from being born to having kids."

"All the guys in the marathon Hall of Fame are hares," said Dill, 63, a commercial fisherman from Nu'uanu. "They are speedsters, they won many races, they are fast, they are the best.

"What are we? We are the turtles that keep going and going."

The inductions are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at the Hawai'i Convention Center. The Ho-nolulu Marathon is scheduled for 5 a.m. Sunday.

The recognition is a tribute to their own persistence. In 1985, there were 13 runners who completed all the races. Since 2001, only Chun, Dill and Dugan remain. Three of the 13 have passed away.

"It takes a lot perseverance and luck," said Chun, 48, a molecular neuroscientist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. "A lot of bad stuff can happen to people over the years and things you can't count on.

"People's lives move on and a lot happens over the years, priorities, people have other interests."

All three come from diverse backgrounds. Dugan, 74 of Hawai'i Kai, is a retired University of Hawai'i engineering professor who has done ultramarathons and 50- and 100-mile races. Finishing times in those longer races range from 20 to 30 hours.

"Can you imagine doing anything for 24 hours?" Dill asked.

Dugan said the running "gets into your blood" and his sons have gotten into it as well. In 1985 and 1986, he won the father-son division with his son Patrick.

"I thought I would be better at the longer distances," Dugan said of the longer races. "I feel more competitive as the distance is longer and competitive."

Dill did his first Honolulu Marathon for the T-shirt and after joking with his brother about putting off that weight from Thanksgiving dinner. Dill still has all 34 shirts, awarded only to those who cross the finish line. He kept doing the December race to prepare for rugby season in January.

Chun was 13 when he ran it as part of the "Hunky Bunch," named after his father Hing Hua and for the family's resemblance to the television program "The Brady Bunch." His father and his three children, second wife Connie and her three children did the race together.

They even wore matching shirts and went on to compete at the Boston Marathon, and got a blurb in Sports Illustrated. The family had been running in local races before the spawn of the marathon.

"As people grew up, by the time high school finished, people were going in different directions," Chun said during a flight delay at San Francisco International Airport yesterday afternoon.

"The majority of the years that I've run have not been part of that unit (but) my two brothers and I."

Chun left O'ahu in 1981 and said seeing his father was "the driving force" in returning every year. Hing Hua served as chief of medicine at then-St. Francis Medical Center and taught at UH's John A. Burns School of Medicine. He died in 2002.

"It was a great way to see him, it meant a lot to him," Chun said. "I think in the earlier days, I didn't quite appreciate it. As I got older, I appreciated it more."

All three say their honor is also a tribute to the marathon's longevity and growth. There were only 151 finishers in 1973.

Last year, there were 16,831 finishers from Japan alone.

"It rewards what is true to the essence of a marathon — endurance, stamina, pressing on regardless," Dill said. "It really is reflective of what the marathon spirit is about. I've seen people, hobbling and crawling to the finish line and refusing to quit.

"We sort of embody that spirit."

All three were surprised at the honor when notified a few months ago. Of the three, Dill figured only Dugan would still be running.

"He's crazy," Dill said. "He was one of those ultra marathons. He used to run for 100 miles, not 26."

As for Chun, Dill said, "why didn't he quit? He moved to the Mainland."

Dugan, who has angina and a bad knee, plans to mostly walk in Sunday's marathon. Dill has found it hard to consistently train with him being out to sea for periods of time.

"One thing about getting older, it seems like the training effects are harder to achieve but easier to lose," Dill said.

"It's fabulous they kept going, and they should keep doing it as long as they can," Chun said. "It gives me something to achieve because they have something on me."

It was never like that before. Dugan fondly remembers the 1980 marathon where runners where slowed by the rain. Yet, he finished in 2 hours, 56 minutes, one of several who finished under 3 hours.

Dill turned in a 3:23 once despite tearing his hamstring at the 22nd mile. He walked the last four.

"You're at 22, what else are you going to do?," Dill said.

There have been obstacles for Chun just to get here. Snow that once delayed his flight out of Chicago or that time in 1990 when he arrived five hours before the race. But there's something about the closeness of being home, the community's appreciation and the unheralded work of volunteers who drive the race.

"This is home, it's part of my heritage, my family," said Chun, whose fastest time is a 2:46. "There's something about reconnecting to the physical beauty, the community and all the people we get to see and family."

Reach Stanley Lee at sktlee@honoluluadvertiser.com.