True, life is often about the journey.

These 8.15 miles will be defined by the destination.

It was a nostalgia-fueled whim that led to clicking “submit” on an 11th-hour registration for the Great Aloha Run last week. Assuming I don’t hit the snooze button too many times, this morning should start with a pre-dawn drive to Aloha Stadium and a bus ride downtown before following the crowd to the starting area near Aloha Tower, probably about the time today’s edition hits doorsteps.

It’s probably been around 30 years, give or take, since I first decided to enter the run as a college kid. I’ve actually participated maybe a handful of years since, not counting the times I signed up as a New Year’s fitness resolution that didn’t survive January and slept in on Presidents Day morning.

The exact year of my last entry is hazy, but I seem to recall tapping out a Facebook status update on a Blackberry while waiting for the start, so you do the math.

Being able to wear in good conscience the finishers t-shirt distributed at this weekend’s pre-race expo might add to the motivation to show up this morning. But none of that factored into the decision to give it a go among the orange bibs designated for walkers.

Good Lord (and state bureaucracy) willing, the current Aloha Stadium structure will be reduced to a pile of rusty steel and its corrugated walls finally laid flat to make way for a new gathering place and home for University of Hawaii football.

A farewell event for the 47-year-old facility featuring a “limited tour” and on-field entertainment is scheduled for Saturday with tickets available for purchase.

The sprint, jog or stroll down the stadium’s north tunnel toward the finish line was one of the Great Aloha Run’s distinguishing attractions since its inception in 1985. Current circumstances precipitated moving the finish line to the Halawa parking lot today, but even that can spark memories of Saturday evenings in the fall.

Tossing a Nerf football around (when that was allowed), sifting through ice cubes for a Diamond Head soda and the smell of charcoal smoke served as prelude to the main event awaiting inside the gates.

Any list of the stadium’s highlight moments would no doubt include the highs of UH’s series with BYU — the cathartic Garrett Gabriel-led blowouts in 1989 and 1990, Matthew Harding’s catch setting up the thrilling finish to the 1992 shootout and the Chad Owens/Nick Rolovich game of 2001.

But those moments were no doubt sweetened by enduring the frustration of Jim McMahon’s left-footed punt in 1981, BYU safety Kyle Morrell’s “Leap of Faith” and Walter Murray’s drop in 1984, and the stuffed two-point conversion attempt after Warren Jones’ rainbow to Chris Roscoe in a 24-23 loss in ’88.

The stadium witnessed Timmy Chang’s ascension from a sophomore backup at Saint Louis to Prep Bowl champion then on to NCAA record holder at UH. The image of Colt Brennan with his three-quarter delivery slinging throws with uncanny accuracy endures, including the slip-screen to Ian Sample against Purdue in 2006 and the all-too-easy darts to Davone Bess, Ryan Grice-Mullins and Jason Rivers throughout 2007’s Sugar Bowl season.

There were ILH tripleheaders stretching from afternoon to late evening, Radford’s run to the “Blind Man in the Bleachers.” Prep Bowl title, and more recently the mauka grandstands awash in red, bouncing under the rhythm of Kahuku’s chop.

The festive sun-soaked atmosphere of a Pro Bowl, regardless of the effort on the field. Fourth of July fireworks after the Islanders game. A young (and slender) Barry Bonds starting in center field on opening night. Mililani’s Duke Tomimoto spinning a perfect game in the 1997 OIA baseball championship.

Everyone who passed through the gates can come up with their own collection of memories. Those are just a few that figure to come to mind while strolling toward the finish line in this morning’s walk to bid aloha to an old friend.