Emmanuel Saina formally started training for marathons when he finished high school in Kenya.

The preparation to compete began well before graduation.

“Going to school we used to run,” Saina said on Friday. “Our parents used to be, ‘Don’t walk, you must run.’ ”

The drive to run on the dirt roads of their hometowns were indeed ingrained early on and have led Saina and Reuben Kiprop Kerio across the globe in their professional careers. After a close to 40-hour journey from Kenya to Hawaii this week, they’ll close the year by hitting the pavement in Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon.

While they’ll run together for the first time this weekend, Saina and Kerio will lead the field onto the course on Ala Moana Boulevard similarly motivated to push through the 26.2 miles to the finish at Kapiolani Park.

Saina, 29, has two children back home in Eldoret — known as the Home of Champions — a 5-year-old son and a 6-month-old daughter. Kerio, 27, is also a new parent, with a 7-month-old daughter in Nyaruhu.

“To be a parent is not easy,” Kerio said. “You have to work hard so you can provide anything they need.”

The pandemic left them with few opportunities to compete in 2020 and Kerio and Saina will run in their third marathons of the year on Sunday.

The 48th Honolulu Marathon is pushed back a year and, as with many aspects of the event’s return, the elite fields were scaled down compared to previous years, with a quality-over-quantity approach.

Kerio will make his fourth Honolulu Marathon appearance this weekend. He placed second in 2018 and served as the designated pace-setter in 2019. He ran with Titus Ekiru into the Hawaii Kai loop before dropping out, as planned, and Ekiru went on to set the course record of 2 hours, 7 minutes, 59 seconds.

While he’s happy to be back in Hawaii, he knows the challenge running in Honolulu’s humidity will present.

“It’s not comfortable, it’s not easy, you have to work hard,” Kerio said.

Kerio’s 2020 schedule was limited to one race and Sunday’s start will be the 15th of his career and third of 2021. He picked up this third win on Oct. 3 when he crossed the finish line in 2:07:18 in the Kosice Peace Marathon in Slovakia.

Kerio started working toward a career in marathons after completing high school in 2012.

“Every time I see (somebody running in) newspapers or television … I feel I can do better,” he said of his initial push into the sport.

Saina began running with family members while he was in school, and had a relatively recent start in marathon competition. He surprised himself by winning the Buenos Aires Marathon in his debut in 2018. His winning time of 2:05:21 was the fastest in a South American event.

In his previous starts this year, Saina placed 15h in the Milano Marathon in May and finished fifth in the Rotterdam Marathon on Oct. 24.

He gave himself a week off before going back into training for his first trip to Hawaii and his first race in the United States.

Saina and Kerio will typically cover at least 15 miles per day and 125 miles per week. Like Kerio, Saina finds inspiration in fatherhood in maintaining the regimen.

“It’s more responsibility,” Saina said. “It automatically changes. You’re running for something. You run to provide for them and you have to work hard.”

The Honolulu record has fallen in three of the past four races, with Lawrence Cherono resetting the mark in his back-to-back titles in 2016 and 17 and Ekiru establishing the current mark in 2019 in his second consecutive win.

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Honolulu Marathon

>> When: Sunday, 5 a.m.

>> Where: Race starts at Ala Moana, heads westbound into downtown, turns back to Ala Moana and continues into Waikiki, Diamond Head, Kahala and East Honolulu. Runners turn around in Hawaii Kai and finish at Kapiolani Park.

>> Registration: Late registration is accepted through today at the Hawaii Convention Center. Race packets can be picked up there today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Participants must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to enter the facility.

>> Traffic: Lane closures, detours and tow-away zones along the marathon course will be in effect this weekend.

>> Info: honolulumarathon.org