Carole Kai honored with special day

Entertainer and philanthropist Carole Kai, wearing an expression of pleased surprise and a peach cardigan, received a ceremonial koa key to the city Friday from Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi for her 50 years of charitable work.

The honor came as Kai prepares to head the Great Aloha Run for the last time. The event she co-founded will be held Monday for the 39th time, with organizers expecting more than 11,000 people to run or walk the 8-mile course from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium.

Kai said the Great Aloha Run has raised more than $17 million over the years for more than 150 nonprofit organizations.

After a tune from the Royal Hawaiian Band in the atrium at Honolulu Hale, Blangiardi declared it “Carole Kai Day.” In accepting the key to the city, Kai quoted her mother as inspiration: “If you love Hawaii, you better do for Hawaii, and if you don’t do for Hawaii, shame on you.”

So, do she did.

She started the Carole Kai Bed Race in 1974 to raise money for the Variety School of Hawaii for children with learning differences. The race featured teams in costume pushing beds on wheels until that became an insurance liability and Kai called it off in 1994.

Along the way, in 1985, Kai decided to try a more conventional race. The event’s name came from Aaron “Buck” Buch­wach, the late editor of The Honolulu Advertiser, who Kai recalled saying, “Carole, why don’t you do a run that goes from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium? And if you do it, let’s call it the Great Aloha Run.

“He was very smart to think about something like that,” Kai said.

The Great Aloha Run has since donated funds raised to the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii, Leeward Special Olympics, United Cerebral Palsy of Hawaii, Hawaii High School Athletic Association and more than 100 other causes.

Monday’s race runs from 7 to 10 a.m., and registration is open over the weekend from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday during the Sport, Health and Fitness Expo at the Neal Blaisdell Center’s Exhibition Hall.

General admission for the exposition is $8, $4 for active-duty military and dependents, and free for people 65 and older or younger than 13. Along with activities, giveaways, booths and vendors, a Warrior Deadlift Showdown will occur from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A one-minute pushup contest involves strapping a 24-pound bag of pet food to each contestant’s back.

A separate Great Aloha Keiki Run starts at 7:30 a.m. today at Ala Moana Regional Park. The 1.5-mile fun run goes from the Magic Island concession stand to the Ewa side of McCoy Pavilion. Obstacle courses and other activities will be set up in the park after the race. Registration for that event is closed.

In years past, Great Aloha Run participants crossed the finish line inside Aloha Stadium. But with that structure now closed, the race will finish in the stadium’s lower Ha­lawa parking lot.

“We’ll have a big setup over there,” Kai said.

Roughly 2,000 of the 11,000-plus expected participants are affiliated with the military, Kai said. There are separate divisions for elite runners, age groups, hand-cycle and wheelchair racers, military runners in formation, and walkers just looking to chat “in the back of the pack,” according to a news release.

The Hawaiian name for the race, “Ke kukini me ke aloha pauole,” reflects the philosophy behind the “race with compassionate love,” the release said.