KAILUA-KONA — The past year has been kind to David Wild.
Since moving to the Big Island in 2014, Wild has made a name for himself, landing at the top of many endurance event leaderboards — from smaller, local races to large scale events like Ironman 70.3 Hawaii.
But despite all that success, his 37th place finish at the Honolulu Marathon last weekend will go down as one of his most impressive and memorable.
“It was awesome,” Wild said. “Probably my best race ever. The conditions were great and everything set up for me to succeed.”
Among the goals Wild set for himself before the race was going sub three hours, shooting for a 2:55 finish. In pristine Oahu conditions, he did just that, crossing in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 55 seconds. He was the first Big Island runner, fourth Hawaii athlete and seventh American overall at the 43rd edition of the Honolulu Marathon.
Close behind was professional triathlete Bree Wee, who finished as the top Big Island female at 3:02:40 — good for 65th overall.
There were 260 Big Island athletes among the mass of nearly 22,000 runners who completed the 26.2-mile course.
It was Wild’s second go at the Honolulu Marathon. Last year, he finished in 3:01:28, just missing that highly sought after three-hour mark and finishing just outside the top 100, in 101st place.
The Konawaena High School teacher took away a lot of lessons away from that race. The most important — don’t get lonely on the course.
“I learned last year that running alone sucks,” Wild said. “It seems slower and you are thinking about too many things. When you are with someone you can pace off of them and — in a way — try to use their energy.”
After battling past the hoards of runners at the start of the race, a familiar face helped Wild set his pace. Around Mile 14 he ran into Alan Ryan of Laupahoehoe — the top Big Island finisher of a year ago.
“When I saw him, I knew I was with someone who knew the course well and was in a good place,” Wild said. “We were doing a really solid pace and I felt like I could take off, but I told myself not to get cocky and to keep doing what he’s doing.”
Wild stepped it up around Mile 18, and soon found himself in a new pace group with some new-found inspiration.
“It started getting rough around Mile 22, but I was catching up to this guy who was an amputee and had a prosthetic leg,” the San Diego native said. “That grit he showed was super inspirational.”
Wild continued his solid pace, making it up and around Diamondhead, letting loose downhill to the finish line.
“I’m officially on my offseason,” Wild said with a sigh of relief. “I probably won’t do another marathon until I try to do a full IRONMAN. It’s so much impact. I can tell I need a good three to four weeks to recover.”
Wild got another moment to celebrate shortly after he finished, when Ragan Leslie — one of the students he trains with the Konawaena Tri Club — finished the marathon. Leslie completed the race in 3:41:20, good for eighth in his male 15-19 division.
“Just great energy all around,” Wild said. “I think we can say it was a very successful weekend.”
