Set to start on December 9th, the 40th annual Honolulu Marathon is boasting a massive increase in popularity from last year as runners prepare to make their marks. Coming on the heels of the canceled New York Marathon, organizers expect the event to boost the local economy. Organizers praise the use of social media for the explosion in popularity.

It might sound like a line from election night, but the numbers are in and it's a big victory for the candidate.

In this case, it's the Honolulu Marathon and the "numbers" are the number of entries into the 40th running of the event.

"To me it's a rejuvenation. You know we're competing against ourselves in so many ways. We look at those numbers from the mid 90's when we were over 30,000 and we know we had a great event. But you look at those numbers and you say we're just competing we're never going to get there. We can't top what we did," Honolulu Marathon President Dr. Jim Barahal said.

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