When life got tough, Hawaii has been there for Lanni Marchant.

She ran for the first time in Hawaii following hip surgery in 2018.

The 37-year-old Canadian won her debut at Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon, closing a five-year period of physical setbacks and heartbreaks that made her question racing ever again.

“This one was purely fun,” said Marchant, the marathon’s first Canadian winner with a time of 2 hours, 41 minutes, 24 seconds. “New York (Marathon) I had no expectations. I tried to come with very little expectations. I wanted to see what my body would do with back-to-back marathons. My big message is you can go through crap and it will get better. It can’t stay that bad that long.”

Grace Oetting, an assistant cross country and track coach at Lipscomb University in Nashville, was second in 2:52:48. Sarah Guhl of Colorado was third in 2:56:52 and Kona’s Bree Wee was fourth in 3:01:31.

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The last five years have been physically and emotionally exhausting following several surgeries and the death of Marchant’s father and both grandmothers. Thoughts of making a second Olympic team evaporated when she found her friend, Zach, dead from an overdose on his bathroom floor in April.

Marchant, who lives in Denver, initially turned down an invite for November’s New York City Marathon. Her agent urged her to do it and she ran with no expectations except to raise awareness for the Release Recovery Foundation, a nonprofit that works with individuals affected by mental illness and addiction. Her father also died of an overdose.

“I just really just want to make sure people know that there’s help out there,” said Marchant, who ran Sunday with a cap with the foundation’s name. “Just keep treading water, it does get better.”

Atsede Baysa, the 2016 Boston Marathon champion, was unable to start on Sunday. That left Marchant running with training partner Carmen Graves, an All-American at Division III Roanoke College who won Saturday’s Kalakaua Merrie Mile. They ran together until the 10-kilometer mark when Graves veered into Kapiolani Park to become to top female finisher in the Start to Park 10K. Graves then ran back out, caught up to Marchant and paced her through 14 miles before dropping out.

Big Island runners John Benner and Billy Barnett, who ended up finishing second and third in the men’s division, ran with Marchant until they pulled ahead during miles 16 and 17 in Hawaii Kai.

“It gets tough but that’s the beauty of marathoning, you do a lot of the training solo and it really gives you a chance to get in a groove and go,” said Marchant, who ran in the 2016 Rio Olympics. “I’m a big loner so I was OK out there. When it started to hurt, it actually worked well because the runners that were going out on the course, the vibe just kept me going. Even if I was slowing down, everyone was so excited to see me out there.”

Graves hitched a ride on the pace vehicle after pulling out of the race and watched her training partner win her first marathon.

“She had high spirits the whole time,” said Graves, who competed in June’s U.S. Olympic trials in the steeplechase. “She was throwing (shakas), she was just having so much fun. That made me so happy just to see her and all of her hard work. She’s been through so much so to see her have this moment was so special.”

Oetting, in town to visit and run with former Lipscomb teammate Courtney Brenner, said Nashville’s hills prepared her for Sunday’s course. Running her first marathon, she had no idea what bystanders meant when they yelled “you’re second.” She assumed second in her age division, not second overall.

“I started conservatively enough that I wanted to negative split,” Oetting said. “That made me feel really good on the second half.”

Wee, 41, was told she wouldn’t run more than 10 miles after breaking her right leg several years ago. She finished Sunday as the top local female for the first time.

“I have not run this fast since they healed it, put the plate and pins in it,” said Wee. “This is my best finish being recovered.”