ALOHA!
My Team In Training teammates, after months of training, will be running in the Honolulu Marathon this weekend. Here's my shout out to them:

Aloha TNT Teammates!

This is Roman and I’m honored to be one of the team’s honorees. Congratulations on a great training season and for getting to the start line of the Honolulu Marathon, you’ve already accomplished so much.

I was born here in the city in which you are about to run. As a matter of fact, my birthday is this month (27th) and it happens to be my big 4-0. My maternal grandmother was full-blooded Hawaiian. I’ve lived on “the mainland” for most of my life but am proud to have a rich heritage of hospitality and beauty.

The word Aloha, recognized around the world as a Hawaiian greeting, means much more than “hi, how are you” or “see you later.” It comes from the Hawaiian word ha, which is the very essence of Hawaii. It means “breath of life.” So Aloha, though a simple act of greeting, is filled with deep and profound implications, literally translated, “may you have everlasting breath.”

In ancient times, Hawaiians would greet one another by pressing their foreheads together, nose-to-nose, and inhaling at the same time. This represented the exchange of ha, or “exchanging the breath of life.”

What a beautiful and sacred description of what you do as part of the Team In Training family! Your sacrifice, fundraising and commitment to the Cause is “exchanging the breath of life” with the thousands of people and families whose lives have been impacted by blood cancers.

Mahalo (thank you) from my family and I. Have a wonderful race, may you feel the Aloha spirit as you run.

Stay well.

-R