HONOLULU — Along corridors crowded with spectators and at water stops, Nathan Kahaiali‘i could hear them.

Sporting a bright red long-sleeve shirt he made, bearing the outline of his home island bearing messages of “Lahaina Strong” and “Malama Maui,” the Lahaina Intermediate School health teacher was a popular figure throughout the 26.2-mile course of the 51^st Honolulu Marathon on Sunday morning.

“They see the island of Maui and they see Lahaina Strong. They cheer you on with like, ‘Lahaina Strong, go Maui,’” Kahaiali‘i, 32, said as he cooled down from a respectable 4:38:35 race. “I loved it.”

Kahaiali‘i has made it his mission to keep Maui recovery efforts at the top of mind for people who might otherwise have moved on from thinking about the Aug. 8 wildfires and rampant destruction in his hometown.

He figures the heavily international and visible events like marathons are a perfect stage to do so. He ran the Chicago Marathon in one of his shirts in October and plans to do so at the Tokyo Marathon in early March. He started an Instagram account to document his journey.

Kahaiali‘i flashed double shakas as he crossed the finish line at Kapiolani Park, a finisher’s medal around his neck that he said he would show off to his 6^th-grade students during show and tell.

“I think it’s important because the recovery for Lahaina is going to be years in the process and so, I know the people of Hawaii aren’t going to forget about it, but (we need) as much help as we can get,” Kahaiali‘I said. “I feel like running these marathons internationally is a good platform to keep it in the minds of people – Lahaina still needs people’s help in whatever way they can.

“It may not be much compared to what else is happening, but it’s something I can do and love to do, which is running.”

Besides general awareness, he is selling his shirts, tank-tops and hoodies online to generate funds that he says will go to families impacted by the fires in conjunction with the Lahaina Strong fund.

His family was one of them; their home was lost in the blaze that day, though they were not among the 100 fatalities. At the time, he was three months into training for the marathon. The ensuing two weeks of survival in response to the disaster basically reset what he’d built to that point.

They eventually found temporary housing in Kaanapali and are among the many looking for something more permanent.

“It’s kind of a bummer to see that all of my memories living there are now wreckage,” Kahaiali‘i said, “but because it’s gone doesn’t mean that the memories are gone. The people of the community share stories of the memories they have there, and that’s what’s important.”

The back of his shirts bear the image of an ulu (breadfruit) with names of the four public schools of Lahaina: Lahainaluna High, Lahaina Intermediate, Princess Nahiʻenaʻena Elementary and King Kamehameha III Elementary. The last of those was destroyed by the fires.

Note: The hyperlink to Kahaiali‘i's apparel has been updated to the latest edition of the fundraiser.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.