Loaded Kalakaua Merrie Mile might be the main event

Dec. 9—A newcomer to the islands just a few months ago, Emily Lipari gets to play the host role this week.

A newcomer to the islands just a few months ago, Emily Lipari gets to play the host role this week.

After completing a competitive season late in the summer, Lipari moved to Hawaii along with her husband, a submarine officer based at Pearl Harbor.

Along with setting up their new home in Kailua, she spent much of the fall acclimating to her surroundings and within the local running community. So now she can provide tips for her fellow professionals in town for Saturday's Kalakaua Merrie Mile, the kickoff event for the Honolulu Marathon's 50th anniversary weekend.

Originally from New York, Lipari said she she found a welcoming environment when she arrived in Hawaii and "I'm equally glad I can help people out as well."

"For runners you build this sense of community, " she said. "You see them at all the same races and everybody has been really kind, so it's really nice to know I can help people out while they're here visiting."

Following a year without pros, the Kalakaua Merrie Mile will feature a group of 20 elite milers for the first time since 2019, with Lipari now qualifying as a local presence in the field. The field is considered the strongest in the event's six-year history.

Along with Lipari, who won her third USA Track and Field road mile championship in April, the field includes Matthew Centrowitz, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 1, 500 meters. Heather MacLean enters Saturday's race as the reigning USATF 1, 500m indoor champion and 2021 Tokyo Olympics semifinalist.

Hobbs Kessler will also make his Merrie Mile debut as the USA High School and U20 record holder in the 1, 500 meters and fourth fastest high school miler of all time (3 :57.66 ).

Close to 2, 100 runners are entered in the Merrie Mile, with a mass start on Monsarrat Avenue set for 7 a.m. Saturday. The elite runners are scheduled to hit the out-and-back course at approximately 7 :30.

The pro race is a gender challenge—the women getting a 29-second head start, with the men to follow. The field will head west down Kalakaua Avenue, and turn around at the Hyatt Regency. The first to finish at Queen's Beach takes the $4, 000 top prize.

"I'm super excited about it. I think it makes it really fun, " Lipari said of the race format. "I've never run a race like this. It's definitely going to be in the back of my mind that the guys are trying to hunt us down."

Although the women will get the head start, Lipari said the men "have a little bit of an advantage where they can see what's happening to us up front and we just have to wonder what's happening behind us. I'll be really curious to see how that plays out."

Lipari, 30, had been aware of the Merrie Mile, but the timing of her schedule and the distance from the East Coast kept her from entering the event.

Those obstacles were eliminated when her husband's career in the Navy carried them to Hawaii.

"Now since I'm living here, this is the year to do it, " said Lipari, who is looking forward to being introduced as a Hawaii resident in the event.

"Seeing the quality of field they're bringing into the mile is pretty special as well. A lot of these people I've competed against and I know they're all really good people, so it's going to be a fun experience to get to hang out with some of my good friends after the race."

Lipari spends much of her season based in San Diego, and given her husband's military career, is practiced in exploring new environments to find training spots. She's taken to running along the marsh in Kailua or around the Lanikai loop and through Enchanted Lake while also working into the local scene.

"I've found the people who live here have been so welcoming and everybody's got a different background, " she said. "I've met other New Yorkers who have been here for years ... and people that have been here their whole lives as well. I've been finding it really easy to make friends because everybody's been really welcoming."

Along with receiving a warm reception in the islands, Lipari is enjoying a holiday season in a new climate.

"I see everybody going through their winter and snow and everything—now for the first time in my career I don't have to really worry about weather as much, " she said.

"It's just really cool to be, 'Wow it's December and I'm dealing with heat and humidity versus sleet and snow.' "