Little boys and old ladies. Potbellies and reindeer antlers. Runners of all shapes and sizes — 4,631 of them — finished before the man who four years ago held the title "World’s Greatest Athlete."

It didn’t bother Bryan Clay one bit. The 2008 Olympic decathlon champion was overjoyed with his experience Sunday at the Honolulu Marathon.

The 32-year-old Castle High graduate finished his first marathon in 4 hours and 46 minutes, taking more than twice as much time as winner Wilson Kipsang. But what mattered most to Clay was finishing hand-in-hand with his wife, Sarah.

"This was not my idea, not my idea by any means," said Clay, who won the decathlon silver medal in Athens in 2004 and the gold in Beijing in 2008. "This was definitely her idea. She wanted to do a marathon when we first got married. but she found out she was pregnant a couple of weeks before the race, that was nine years ago."

They chose Honolulu so they could "walk straight off the finish line and go to the beach."

Clay said he decided to enter with Sarah because "she started doing these long runs and I’d feel like a complete bum, so I better get in this with her."

Both said they’re not sure if they’ll do it again. "I don’t know, it was fun," said Sarah, who like Bryan, was a track and field athlete at Azusa Pacific. "It definitely hurt, but it was fun."

Bryan said he enjoyed interacting with other runners along the course who recognized him and wanted to say hello and take pictures.

One Final Run

It proved to be a busy week for Russian runner Svetlana Zakharova.

The 42-year-old was inducted into the Honolulu Marathon hall of fame on Thursday, and finished seventh in Sunday’s race. While her time of 2 hours, 39 minutes and 49 seconds was the slowest of all her Honolulu Marathon marks, she bows out of the event having won it three times, most recently in 2009.

"It’s one of the things that’s very nice, because Svetlana, she’s (an icon) at the Honolulu Marathon," women’s winner Valentina Galimova said of her countrywoman. "It’s nice to keep the tradition of Russian women running in this marathon."

Double Duty

While completing the 26.2-mile marathon course is a chore in itself, Shayne Enright continued her recent trend of making the trek twice in one morning.

Enright started the day in the back of the pace truck in advance of the women’s race, providing running commentary and analysis for the live radio broadcast from the race’s 5 a.m. start through the finish by the elite runners. Once her on-air duties were complete, Enright — a former television news reporter and current spokeswoman for Honolulu’s EMS — headed back to the starting line and ran the course.

"It’s definitely challenging," said Enright as she prepared to embark on her unique venture for the fourth consecutive year. "It would have been my dad’s 30th marathon, but he had an accident, so I kind of took over. It’s a personal feat."

Lyau leaves on top

Jonathan Lyau claimed top kamaaina honors for the 17th time in his farewell appearance in the Honolulu Marathon.

Lyau, the 2009 inductee to the marathon’s hall of fame, crossed the line in 2:54:20 to finish first among Hawaii-born entrants. He said his 29th running is his last.

"My focus is on helping other people achieve their goals, so I’ll come down here and support them and it’s gonna be just as exciting watching them finish and perhaps get their best times and have them be successful in a marathon," said Lyau, who also coaches the ‘Iolani cross country team.

Thomas Puzey of Laie was the top local resident to finish, coming in at 2:33:27 to place 15th overall.

Polina Babkina, a member of the Hawaii Pacific University cross country team, was the top female local finisher with a time of 3:03:10. Brigitte Egbert of Kailua won the top female kamaaina award at 3:05:58.

Hall of famer Shige Schabort won the men’s wheelchair race for the ninth time here, crossing in 1:33:17. Wakako Tsuchida took the women’s wheelchair race in 1:53:57.

A total of 25,719 entrants picked up race packets for the 40th running of the event, the most in 10 years according to marathon spokesman Pat Bigold.

Holder breaks world record

Yolanda Holder set a world record with her 107th marathon of the year, surpassing the mark she set in 2010.

"I can’t believe it’s here and over," Holder said. "It feels awesome."

Well, it’s not quite over yet.

She’ll go for No. 108 in the Hoover Dam Marathon in Las Vegas on Saturday and could get up to 117 by year’s end.

"The logistics is the hard part. Doing the 26.2 is the easy part," Holder said. "It usually takes a year of planning."

It was actually a relatively light weekend for Holder, who arrived on Friday and had power-walked through at least two marathons each week this year. She participated in four marathons in Seattle over Thanksgiving weekend and did two last week outside of Death Valley to tie her previous record of 106.

Holder finished No. 107 in 6:28:13.

Chun, Dill make it 40-for-40

Jerold Chun and Gary Dill maintained their streak of participating in every Honolulu Marathon since the race’s inception in 1973.

Chun was 13 then, and his 40th run held special meaning since this year marked a decade since the death of his father, Hing Hua "Hunky" Chun, a former chief of medicine at St. Francis Medical Center and a marathon regular.

"This is a way I’m sure he’d like us to remember him by," Chun said. "He was passionate about this marathon. He loved this marathon."

Chun, a professor of neuroscience at Scripps Research Institute in California, flew in from Chicago on Friday to take part in the 40th race. Chun finished at 5:19:02. Dill came in at 6:56:42.

Chun expressed gratitude to the volunteers, the residents "who have put up with this marathon for 40 years" and the Honolulu Marathon Association "because without those guys there would be no marathon."

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