When Bree Wee returned to her first grade classroom at Kahakai Elementary School on Monday, she certainly had much to share about a weekend full of adventure with her students.
When Bree Wee returned to her first grade classroom at Kahakai Elementary School on Monday, she certainly had much to share about a weekend full of adventure with her students.
The Kailua-Kona resident, who retired last year from racing as a professional triathlete to teach on a full-time basis, crushed the women’s field at her first attempt competing in an Ultra distance running event – Saturday’s Hilo to Volcano 50K Ultra Marathon.
The 27th edition of the event that also featured a relay race is well known for its epic 31.1-mile point-to-point course that begins from Hilo Bay’s historic Coconut Island and winds its way around the island on Highway 11, ascending 4,000 feet in elevation to finish at Cooper Center in Volcano Village.
While HTV boasts being the third oldest and longest distance road race on the Big Island, it also happens to be one of the most beautiful. Runners get the unique opportunity to experience a most spectacular sunrise, panoramic views of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, dramatic climate zone changes, and a chance to run next to open lava fields and lush rain forests of the island’s most active volcano – Kilauea.
“The sunrise was unbelievable,” Wee said. “I started crying when I saw the sunrise because it was so emotional for me as we don’t get to see it in Kona. And the weather was ideal – it really couldn’t have been any better, especially for Kona people. It was never too cold, and it never rained.”
Wee said that the idea to compete at the prestigious HTV event began with the urging of her younger sister, Brooke Myers. Myers, who has completed the event twice and won the women’s division in 2015, encouraged her older sister to take on a new challenge that would help with the transition of her two careers.
“One of my biggest goals last year was to avoid that depression that people get from completely changing their career,” the 37-year old said. “She told me; ‘Bree, you are going to love this journey. The race itself is awesome, but you’ll never have another journey like it. Just the friends you make, the miles you put in, and the whole experience you won’t regret.’ This was my little sister giving me advice.”
Wee began training for her first 50K in October and did what any woman on a mission would’ve done – gather a few reinforcements to boost motivation and to ensure a successful outcome.
She enlisted two talented and strong endurance runners as training partners (Pat Stover and Mikey Brown), purchased new running shoes, and followed the ultimate training guide in a book called Ultra Running.
“I absolutely fell in love with this journey,” she said. “Me and Pat literally ran every mile together which amounted to about a 1,000 miles together over the last couple of months. And following my little sister’s book with all of her notes in it made it more meaningful as I was following the same running plan that she used for all of her Ultra marathons. While the race itself was fun, what was really exciting was everything else leading up to it.”
On Saturday, 36 individuals and 35 relay teams gathered at Coconut Island for the 5:30 a.m. start. Wee immediately found herself in good company and on pace during the first 16-miles as she was surrounded by her training partners along with HTV veterans, Alan Ryan of Laupahoehoe and Hilo’s Joe Barcia.
But as everyone knows, when it comes to long distance racing it’s hard to escape the mental, physical, and nutritional challenges that typically come along for the ride and Wee’s began at mile 17, when she accidentally drank her volunteer’s coconut milk. She thought her race was over.
“I drank this coconut water that had milk in it,” she said. “Having a dairy allergy caused me to have the worst side stitch and I felt like I was paralyzed in my stomach. I freaked out because my legs felt good and my head felt awesome but I realized I drank the one intended for Kawika which had milk and coffee in it to keep him up.”
From there, Wee said it turned ugly but drew strength from remembering one of her training sessions that took 7-hours to complete – an adventurous run through the gnarly, single-track trails of beautiful Waimanu Valley – known to be one of the toughest hiking spots on the island.
By mile 25, Wee was back on pace and cruised through the finish line to win the women’s race in a time of 4 hours, 21 minutes and 30 seconds – good for fourth place overall.
Hilo’s Jon-Erik Jardine was the only runner to go under the 4-hour mark – taking home the overall victory in 3:52:10. Second and third place went to Stover and Ryan with their times of 4:02:49 and 4:18:45 respectively.
Following Wee in the women’s race was Hilo’s Noe McMahon in 4:31:30, and Susan Cordell in third with her time of 5:41:13.
The relay races were equally exciting with Sunrise Athletics A Team (high school males) taking top honors with their combined time of 3:33:22. Vacationing Velociraptors (womens open) were next at 3:43:26, followed by Sunrise Athletics B Team (high school males) in 3:56:53.
A few Kona teams made it over to the east side for the 31.1-mile trek with Team Bad Ass Babe and a Dude (masters mixed – Grant and Janet Higa-Miller) finishing in a great time of 4:53:56. Following the Millers were Team Bad Ass Babes 3 (womens open) in 5:02:05, Team Bad Ass Babes 2 (womens open) in 5:02:17, and Team Bad Ass Babes 1 (womens master) in 5:36:23.
Also from Kona was Team Tootsie (womens open) in 5:00:41 – credited with having the most team spirit, and Team Enhance Your Awesomeness (mixed – Agnes Prehn and Alika Hoomana) in 5:56:01.
As for Wee possibly setting a new course record, David Cotter, the new president of the Big Island Road Runners Club and race organizer of the event said in an email; “To the best of my knowledge Bree did not set a course record. Her time was 4:21:30. I believe this to be the second fastest course time for women. In 2009, Jenn Shelton, from the Sacramento, California area set the course record of 4:15:10.”
Regardless, Wee said that she completely fell in love with her journey toward completing her first 50K and now all that she can think about is doing Oahu’s HURT 100 Trail Run.
“I’m actually going to put my name in the lottery after next week’s HURT race as the lottery opens up after the race,” she said. “So HTV qualifies you to do the Peacock 50K over in Oahu (held in October), as it’s one of the leg (segments) of the HURT 100. But even if I do the Peacock, I still need to get my name drawn. Doing the HURT 100 will be my goal for 2018.”