Hideki Okajima Runs Honolulu Marathon Against Red Sox Wishes

Most of the baseball world was in Las Vegas this week for the winter meetings, but not Hideki Okajima. The Red Sox reliever was in Hawaii so that he could run in the Honolulu Marathon. Okajima finished in just over six hours, almost four hours behind the winners, but a hearty congratulations from all of us to Okajima for his accomplishment.

Just note that "all of us" does not include any members of the Red Sox organization. The team was unaware that Okajima was going to participate in the marathon until Friday and a team official told the Boston Globe that they would have encouraged him not to run if they had known.

The Red Sox have every right to be cheesed off about Okajima's choice. Standard player contracts include clauses forbidding all sorts of activities that could lead to injuries. Motorcycling (remember Jeff Kent's, ahem, car-washing injury?), skydiving, lion dentistry ... that sort of thing.

Marathon running may not seem like quite as dangerous a pursuit, but there's certainly a high risk of injury from the run as well as the training process. There was rain in Honolulu and the slick roads could have led to a fall that would've cost the Red Sox dearly. It seems like Okajima's fine, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see marathons added to the prohibited list in future Boston contracts.