Ben Williams set a personal record during last year's Honolulu Marathon, he was also the first Hawaii resident to cross the finish line, this year, he wants to do it again

Ben Williams is no stranger to marathons, he's been doing triathlons since 2012.

Most of his training runs start at his shop in Kailua. He swaps out the slippahs and laces up his shoes. Then off he goes. Sometimes he runs one mile, sometimes a half marathon. Others times, up to 23 miles.

"You have to build up to it. You have sort of a progression where you increase your mileage and you increase the intensity of the workouts and you have to just gradually increase that over time and you work your way up to race day," Williams said.

I tried to follow along on one of his runs. He runs so fast, our speedometer has him at around 8 to 10 miles per hour. Williams is no stranger to marathons, he's been doing triathlons since 2002. Part of his motivation: Passion.

"It's really not that hard, I'd probably be doing this no matter what," Williams said. "The other thing is I just really like it. I like waking up early, I like exercising, I like being outside."

Not only is 26.2 miles a physical challenge, but also psychological.

"My own body as the race is progressing at different points throughout the race. I feel better and worse. You have to convince yourself to keep going when you're feeling pretty bad," Williams said.

When times are tough, he says it'll get better.

"Just keep moving forward. Don't stop, keep moving forward. It'll pass. You'll work through it," Williams said.

One advice he has for other runners, go into every race with no expectations.

"In the race, the road blocks are very real. You've got tactics and strategy of other competitors and where they're at and kind of how you think they're gonna hold up in the race," Williams said.

He won't share his goal time this year. He says it's bad luck but no matter the result, he's happy doing what he loves.

posted Tuesday November 26th
by Nicole Tam