Laurie Hunt, Rachel and Elana Greenberg, and Ilana Lupovitch are all health care workers and friends from their college days at the University of Maryland. They chose to gather from around the country at the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday.

“We came here because it’s safer than any other state,” said Lupovitch, an ICU nurse who has treated many COVID-19 patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “We did our research.”

So did Jim Barahal the marathon president.

“We got some pushback,” he said. “But to put it on was a win.”

Barahal is confident in the safety of the event because he compiled data that shows packed football stadiums around the country and 22 other marathons around the world have not put people in hospitals this year.

Also, safety measures for Sunday’s races included requiring runners to be vaccinated or have recent negative COVID-19 tests.

“No one wants to do anything that causes harm,” he said. “And actually, I believe it’s harmful for us as a society to continue to not do anything, for physical and mental health.”

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The Honolulu Marathon was among a vast number of sports events that were canceled last year.

“We wanted to show that now we can do more things,” said Barahal, who also noted that outdoor events are safer. “The people here are not fearful.”

Sunday’s event was the largest gathering of people in Hawaii by a wide margin since the 2019 edition of the 26.2-mile race and accompanying 10-kilometer “Start to Park” race, which both finish at Kapiolani Park.

In addition to around 9,000 people who started either of the races Sunday, there were also thousands of other people who were spectators, workers and volunteers at the park and along the race routes.

But people appeared to keep their distance while running their distance or completing their tasks.

That was especially true for Emmanuel Saina, who ran the last 23 miles way ahead of everyone else.

There aren’t many people in the world who have the talent to run 26.2 miles in 2 hours, 14 minutes and 32 seconds. There are even fewer who can do it without competitors pushing them.

“A lesson in intestinal fortitude,” Barahal said. “People can be inspired by that.”

John Benner, who won the Kala­kaua Merrie Mile on Saturday, completed a feat Sunday unlikely if the usual complement of eight elite runners had been invited. He finished second in the marathon.

“I couldn’t decide whether to enter the mile or the marathon, so my girlfriend (Ellie Kaiser) said, ‘Why don’t you do both?”

Pre-COVID, the marathon and 10K would attract more than 20,000 starters. This year, veteran runners compared the lessened density to the marathon’s formative years in the 1970s and early ’80s.

That was before thousands of runners from Japan started entering. This year only around 500 did.

Mitsuo and Sakuko Suzuki came from Tokyo to support their friend, Kazumi Fukuda. Fukuda is from Kyoto, but lives here now and finished her 17th Honolulu Marathon on Sunday.

“I think we will see many more runners from Japan back next year,” Fukuda said.

Barahal hopes so, for the sake of the event’s financial welfare.

“It’s really a local race this year, and some people like it this way,” he said. “It’s a great event, it’s just not economically viable. … This year, we had to decide we weren’t going to worry about things like finances, and that keeping it alive would pay off in the long run. We’re expecting a really great one next year. It will be the 50th anniversary.”

Carlos Lucio plans to be back for it. He finished his first marathon Sunday, completing the course in under four hours.

“I went from 250 pounds to 180 in two years from running,” the 20-year-old college student from San Francisco said. “My friend here (Mason Oania) challenged me to do this, and I said, ‘I did all that running, so why not?’ Now that I’ve done it, I’m excited to do it again.”

The Greenberg twins and Lupovitch decided they needed to get together to cheer up Hunt after she broke off her wedding engagement.

“Instead of a bachelorette party, we had a women’s empowerment meeting,” said Elana Greenberg, who ran the 10K.

“I’m so happy I was able to do my first marathon with my best friend,” Rachel Greenberg said, referring to Hunt.

Hunt completed her fifth marathon (first Honolulu), but her friends are novice runners.

Chet “The Jet” Blanton represents the other end of the spectrum. He’s lost track of how many times he’s run Honolulu, and marathons are a jog around the block for the 63-year-old fixture on the Hawaii running scene who does things like run 524 miles in 28 days, and regularly does six-day runs. He was disappointed because he did “only” 241 miles on his last six-day run.

“This was like the old days, because we were all spread out,” he said, and then, with a laugh. “If you got behind someone and try to draft they give you a funny look. That doesn’t happen when it’s crowded.”

This was wheelchair winner Tyler Byers’ first Honolulu Marathon.

“It was great,” he said. “I hope to come back. Next time we’ll bring the kids.”