Their numbers have dropped over the decades, and now there are only two.

Two Honolulu Marathon runners, that is, who have managed to complete every one of the 26.2-mile races for the past 49 years and intend to run their milestone 50th at 5 a.m. today, along with more than 20,000 others who are registered for the event.

Their names are Dr. Jerold Chun, 63, a neurologist from La Jolla, Calif., and Gary Dill, 78, a retired fisherman from Honolulu.

What keeps them going?

“It’s just sheer desire,” said Dill as he reminisced about his first Honolulu Marathon in 1973. “My desire is the same for this one as it was for the very first one. My desire is I want the T-shirt — that’s it.”

In 1973 Dill was an active rugby player and university student who decided with his housemates after a large Thanksgiving meal that they needed to work off some of the feast they had just consumed. One of his housemates held up a copy of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin with an entry form for the Honolulu Marathon, and that was how he ended up running his very first one.

The entry fee was $2, Dill recalled, and he really wanted to qualify for the T-shirt given to runners who complete the race within five hours. He and his friends became “The Judd Street Joggers,” running through Punahou and Manoa Valley and back for their training.

It was a tough first marathon, and Dill remembers that Hawaii Kai was just dry weeds and rocks with not nearly as many homes as there are now. Somewhere along the route in Aina Haina he sat down on a guardrail in pain until his friend came along.

Together they hobbled and walked, then jogged, and managed to cross the marathon finish line at Kapiolani Park within five hours, earning a bright-orange T-shirt that Dill has kept as a memento all these years.

He had planned to enter just that one race, but ended up, at the request of friends, running two more — and after the third marathon he was hooked.

“I’m the fish and I’m hooked … I’m doing a streak,” Dill said.

Dill said he loved being in the best shape of his life and remembers after one of his early marathons still having the energy to dance at the old Waikiki bandstand.

For Jerold Chun, the Honolulu Marathon is a family tradition and a way to carry on the legacy of his late father, Dr. Hing Hua Chun, who got him started running.

Chun, a Roosevelt High School and University of Hawaii graduate, was only 14 years old when he ran his first Honolulu Marathon in 1973 as part of a large ohana nicknamed “The Hunky Bunch.”

His father, who ran the marathon 25 years in a row, thought running would be good for their health and a perfect way to bring the family, including three sons and three daughters, together.

According to articles in the Honolulu Advertiser and Star-Bulletin, Chun family members all finished the 1973 event in under four hours and went on to run the Boston Marathon the following year.

“I guess it’s more of a lifestyle type of thing,” said Chun. “In the early days it was to come back and to see my dad and brothers. That was a great motivation, and as time has passed it’s more just continuing the activity, which is both good for personal health but also a great way to stay in touch with family and friends in Hawaii.”

For years Chun, who researches brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, and his two brothers, Daven, an internal medicine and sports medicine doctor, and Hingson, a cardiologist, ran the marathon to honor their father. Now he is the only one still going.

“It’s continuing this acti­vity that he really, really loved,” he said. “It meant a lot to him.”

This year will mark the 20th year since his father’s passing in 2002. Chun will run today with his own son and daughter as they participate in their first Honolulu Marathon.

There have been some close calls and numerous injuries along the way for Chun and Dill, who both managed to soldier on through every marathon since 1973.

Dill remembers the one year he signed on for an albacore fishing expedition in Seattle with the understanding he would fly back for the Honolulu Marathon.

Due to fog and other issues, his plane was delayed several times but he made it back in the nick of time to run the following morning.

For Chun, who left Hawaii in 1981 to attend Stanford Medical School and has lived on the East and West coasts, there has always been the additional challenge of flying in from thousands of miles away for the race.

“There’s a sense of excitement as well as nostalgia as well as peace, in a way, every time I fly in,” he said. “When I fly out, I have a sense of longing as well. That’s what happens with home.”

One year he faced flight delays as he tried to get from New York to Honolulu via Chicago and San Francisco, and didn’t arrive until just past midnight on race day — but still in time for the 5 a.m. start.

In 2020, when the Honolulu Marathon was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and participants were given the option to complete a virtual race on their own schedule, Dill said he ran his 26.2 miles at Ala Moana Regional Park, close to where he keeps his fishing boat at Kewalo Basin.

Chun ran all 26.2 miles on a treadmill, which he chalks up as one of his most challenging marathons due to the boredom and monotony.

“It was miserable,” he said. “It was terrible. I don’t ever want to do that again.”

At least 19 people have done 40 or more Honolulu Marathons, according to organizers. Of those participating this year, 153 have run somewhere between 20 to 30 of the races.

Generally, some 55% of Honolulu Marathon participants are first-time entrants, while about a third have never run a marathon anywhere. The event is a popular choice for novices because there is no time limit for finishing.

Dr. Jim Barahal, chief executive officer of the Honolulu Marathon Association, said Dill and Chun represent the true spirit of the event, and he is just as amazed that Dill has managed to save his T-shirts from every year.

“When we look back at the 50 years, I think it’s amazing we have these two,” he said. “It’s about making that commitment to a healthy, active lifestyle, and continuing to overcome obstacles, which I think is a metaphor for life. The idea is to be out there and participate and be part of something larger than yourself and to, basically, over the course of 50 years, continue to get up and participate not only in the marathon, but in life — to make that decision and to keep on persevering.

“I think it’s a living symbol of what the marathon represents.”

Dill said this year’s race will be challenging because an illness put him out of commission over the summer.

To stay in shape, he walks several times a week and goes to the gym with his son to pump iron. His strategy this year is to maybe jog about a mile and then set a steady walking pace all the way across the finish line.

“I’m going to be looking at this year probably the slowest I’ve ever done,” Dill said. “But I’m experienced. I know what pain is like, I know at what point in the race you get it … I’ll pray for rain because it keeps you cooler and cross my fingers for the rest of it. I do hope I’ll get across the finish line and to the T-shirt tent. It ought to be a very special T-shirt.”

Chun is looking forward to hitting all the familiar milestones along the 26.2-mile course, adding that he appreciates the organizers and volunteers who put on the event every year.

His fastest marathon was 2 hours and 47 minutes in 1978, but nowadays he just strives to finish, and it’s always a combination of relief and a sense of accomplishment when he does.

“I love seeing that finish line coming up,” he said.

Afterward, Chun plans to get together with other Honolulu Marathon old-timers to talk story.

“I just feel a sense of a celebration of life,” he said. “I feel really blessed to be able to do it every year and hope to be able to do it for a good number of years.”

Asked about returning next year for his 51st Honolulu Marathon, Chun replied, “Well, why not?”

50TH ANNUAL HONOLULU MARATHON

>> What: The fourth-largest marathon in the U.S., with more than 20,000 participants expected. Results will be posted at honolulumarathon.org.

>> When: Starts 5 a.m. today with fireworks

>> Where: The 26.2-mile course starts on Ala Moana Boulevard at Queen Street with a turnaround in Hawaii Kai and finish at Kapiolani Park in Waikiki.

>> Traffic advisory: Traffic will be restricted at various times on portions of Ala Moana Boulevard/Nimitz Highway, King Street, Kapiolani Boulevard, Piikoi Street, Kalakaua, Kapahulu, Monsarrat and Paki avenues, the H-1 freeway eastbound, Kalanianaole Highway, 18th Avenue, Diamond Head Road, Kahala and Kealaolu avenues, Waialae Avenue, Hawaii Kai Drive and Keahole Street. Some bus routes will be canceled or detoured; call TheBus at 808-848-555 or check the Oahu Transit Services website for details.