Husband and wife among top placers at Honolulu Marathon

Andy Jellema has made a New Year's resolution that most anyone could keep.

"I will not run a marathon this year," the 25-year-old Lansing resident vowed.

It may take a little effort to honor such a commitment, but Jellema is determined — we think.

"I will probably run some 5Ks and do other road races," Jellema said. "I'm not going to stop running altogether."

A former cross country and track star at Illiana Christian and Trinity Christian College, Jellema wants to focus more on his post-graduate physical therapy studies at Governors State University.

"After that, I plan to work full-time in the field I'm going to school for," Jellema said. "I don't see me having much time to train for another marathon in 2013. As for (2014) ... we'll have to see."

Jellema and his wife, Korynn, participated in the Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 9. It was Andy's fifth marathon and Korynn's third.

"We've run marathons from around here," Andy said of 26.2-mile races in Chicago and Rockford, as well as the NAIA National Track and Field Championships marathon, which Andy and Korynn both ran while students at Trinity Christian, "so we decided to run one somewhere else. It turned out to be a pretty good vacation."

Based on its number of entries, the Honolulu Marathon was the world's second largest marathon of 2012, placing behind the Chicago Marathon.

"The New York Marathon is usually the biggest, but they canceled it this year," Andy said of the annual 45,000-plus race thwarted by Hurricane Sandy.

The Honolulu Marathon had nearly 27,000 entries. Despite recording one his slowest times (two hours, 43 minutes, 33 seconds), Andy placed 26th overall and second among USA male participants.

"The conditions weren't bad ... it was humid, but nothing like it was here last summer," Andy said. "We had to run into a strong wind coming off the ocean, and that made it a little tough."

As usual, the race was dominated by Kenyan runners, who claimed six of the top eight positions, including first place as 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Wilson Kipsang paced the field with a time of 2:12:31.

Stephanie Rothstein-Bruce, of Flagstaff, Ariz., was the first USA runner to finish (2:32:47, 14th overall), placing third among women. Thomas Puzey, of Laie, Hawaii, was the first USA male runner to finish (2:33:27, 15th overall).

Korynn, who is recovering from multiple knee injuries, placed among the top 11 percent overall with a time of 4:25:32.