While the guys on bicycles zoomed past on Kokee Road on their way up Waimea Canyon, Doug Rasmussen kept running.
Steady and strong, step after step. Around each turn, up each hill, on every dip and every rise, he plugged upward.
Wearing dark blue shorts, gray New Balance shoes, white socks and a watch on his left wrist, the shirtless Koloa man kept moving. Always moving, slowing only to refuel with water and energy gels provided by his support crew of one, his wife Janet.
For nearly 16 miles, with an elevation gain of nearly 4,000 feet, Rasmussen pushed ahead as he made his way from Kokee Road in Kekaha to near the entrance to Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow in Kokee State Park. Not fast. Not slow. Steady. And when he finally stopped running after 2 hours and 56 minutes at the finish line of the Pedal to the Meadow on Sunday, there was no wild celebration. No party. No victory dance.
Instead, he just chatted with a few people, shook a few hands, and wandered away with his wife. Since it was 55 degrees, he needed to warm up a bit,
“This is as good as it gets,” the 59-year-old said, smiling.
His wife laughed.
“He needs to take a shower,” she said.
Rasmussen, a man who has been running for four decades and has completed the Western States 100 mile race in under 24 hours to earn the coveted belt buckle, climbed the canyon last year, too. You wouldn’t know he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a few years ago. But you should know it’s one of the reasons he runs seven days a week, logging about 40 miles in those seven days. Just get out there and put one foot in front of the other.
“It’s just motivation,” he said. “It’s my way of trying to beat the disease.”
So far, it’s working.
He’s fending off the effects of Parkinson’s, a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. It develops gradually, causing stiffness or slowing of movement, and symptoms worsen over time.
But Rasmussen, who works at Costco, is feeling strong enough to run up Waimea Canyon — of course, with his wife of nearly 40 years as his support crew — almost every Sunday. He starts about 6:30 a.m. near the Kekaha park and runs some 13 or 14 miles before calling it a day.
He often competes in local races and has finished the Kauai Marathon and Honolulu Marathon. One year, he ran marathons on five islands.
“Exercise is wonderful,” he said. “Doctors say it’s one of the best things you can do.”
Running, even more so. He loves it because there are no shortcuts. No easy route to success. You have to work at it. And keep working at it. Parkinson’s disease likely won’t let up, and neither will he.
“You get out of it as much as you put into it,” he said. “The harder you work, the better you get. It’s not a matter of talent.”
When he ran up Kokee Road on Sunday, starting an hour before the cyclists, it wasn’t a leisurely stroll. He tracked his progress on the Garmin GPS attached to his wrist. Once some of the bike riders caught up, his pace increased, too.
He finished 35 minutes faster than last year, which he attributed to better training.
The 6-foot, 135-pounder said conquering the canyon road is not as difficult as it might sound.
“It’s a matter of pacing,” he said.
Doug Rasmussen is pacing himself to a strong finish. In running, and life.
