Honolulu Marathon participants really do come in all shapes and sizes. Young, thin and fast. Middle-aged and paunchy. Old and slow, but determined. Somehow, after 26.2 miles, they all feel part of one family.

This year, there's Kenya's 32-year-old Jimmy Muindi and Russia's 34-year-old Lyubov Morg-unova, back to defend their record-setting 2004 titles.

There's 87-year-old Gladys "Glady" Burrill, a part-time Wai-kiki resident hoping to better her time of 9 hours, 9 minutes and 33 seconds last year.

There are Gordon Dugan, Gary Dill and Jerold Chun, the only people who have run in all 32 previous marathons.

Then there are more than 27,000 other people — from 48 states and 39 countries — expected to be at the 5 a.m. starting line today. And don't forget the nearly 10,000 volunteers from Hawai'i and elsewhere who make the race possible every year.

"Honolulu has to be the friendliest marathon in the world," said Kelly Webb, a spokesman for the Canadian Diabetes Association, which is bringing almost 300 people to Hawai'i this year, including 10 runners from places so far north that there's no daylight at this time of year. "It's that tolerant spirit that keeps bringing people back every year."

The marathon's easy-going spirit is one of the factors that moved almost 18,000 Japanese visitors to sign up this year — the largest number since 1996 — contributing a large part of the estimated $90 million that the marathon and race walk add to the local economy, according to a study done by Hawai'i Pacific University professor Jerome Agrusa.

The Japanese face strict time qualifications that often bar them from their own country's races. In Honolulu, everybody is welcome to go at their own pace, and the race support system doesn't close down until the last finisher crosses the line, no matter how long it takes, race officials said.

Burrill, who finished her first marathon last year at 86 years old, said the experience made her laugh and cry and want to do it all over again.

"You're standing with all those people at the starting line in the dark, and then the fireworks start. It's just overwhelming. I had to cry because it was so beautiful," Burrill said.

This year, she hopes to finish the race in under eight hours, even if it means brushing by the many people who want to stop her on the route to offer well wishes.

"I feel like I'm part of a big family now. I guess I'm hooked," said Burrill, who trains for the event by walking six to 12 miles a day.

'OHANA FEELING

The 'ohana feeling starts with the Honolulu Marathon Association itself, said co-race director Dr. Jon Cross.

"The marathon association feels like a family, since there are so many people who have been helping for so long," Cross said. "It's amazing how few meetings we have because everyone knows their role and gets along so well without any infighting. Then, we treat our participants as part of the family. It's the basically the aloha spirit that keeps bringing people back year after year."

Three years ago, the first group from the Canadian Diabetes Association numbered about 10 runners, Webb said. This year, the group is up to 300. "Canadians coming to Hawai'i in December? Everybody wants to do it," Webb said.

In northern Canada, Webb said, racers train however they can. One runner goes up and down the airport runway, the only cleared space in town. Another one trains all year in the local high school gymnasium. Several have reported encountering wolves and grizzly bears on their runs.

The running group raises money each year for diabetes research by traveling to marathons around the world. The northern-most participant this year lives in Kangiqusjuag, Quebec, a town of 550 residents on the 61st parallel inside the Arctic Circle.

Even nonrunners and walkers want to be in on the marathon activity. Each year, almost 10,000 people contribute time throughout the year and race weekend to help make it happen.

"People here from other marathons are positively amazed at how we do it," said Michael Macdonald, a former Honolulu resident who flies back every year from his home in Haverhill, Mass., to take charge of the thousands of students, sailors, civic groups, businesses and others who help pass out more than 35,000 glasses of water and sports drink at each of the 13 aid stations along the race course that stretches from Honolulu to Hawai'i Kai and back.

Some groups, such as 200 or so sailors from Pearl Harbor, keep coming back year after year. They start setting up the aid stations about 3 a.m. on the race day and sometimes stay in the same spot for more than 12 hours.

"The advantage we have is that we've been doing it for years and have gained so much knowledge," Macdonald said. "If we had to start all over from scratch, it would be so much more difficult."

MODEST START

The race started modestly in 1973 when 167 runners ranging in age from 8 to 58 entered, and 151 of them finished. A 24-year-old University of Hawai'i medical student, Duncan Macdonald, was the first men's winner; 14-year-old June Chun, one of seven family members to take part that year, was the first woman to finish.

In all, 528,523 people have entered and 433,539 have finished the marathon in the past 32 years, race organizers said.

"The thing that amazes me year after year is how many people are out there for the pure pleasure of it," Michael Macdonald said.

"Everyone and their grandmother is doing it now. And they're all determined to finish, no matter how hot it is or how much it hurts."

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.