We have been conditioned to understand, through more than a decade of breakneck recordings and epilepsy-inducing live performances, that 'ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro is to slow and easy what wild dingos are to cute and cuddly.

But perhaps the time has come, then if not to explore the snuggability of ravenous dogs, to reconsider what we think we know about the fastest man on four strings.

Shimabukuro turns 30 this year, and with age has apparently come a refined sense of pace and feel. He'll demonstrate both in the coming months with the release of his latest CD, "Gently Weeps," and his first Honolulu Marathon.

"When I was younger, I thought faster was better," Shimabukuro says. "But my musical interests have changed. I'm really into ballads that bring out darker emotions."

On his recent Mainland tour, Shimabukuro brought along CDs by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, Miles Davis and the Beatles.

"I always listen to 'Abbey Road,' " says Shimabukuro, whose latest CD gives a nod in name to the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." "I can't get enough of that album."

The new CD, due out Sept. 19, is Shimabukuro's first solo 'ukulele album. The artist says his playing on each of the 13 tracks reflects his musical maturation while providing listeners more direct access to his musical ideas.

"I usually compose my songs on 'ukulele first before working on the other instrumentation," Shimabukuro says. "So the arrangement of these songs is probably more organic to the original instrument.

"I've changed my approach," he says. "Now it's more about feeling than relying on speed. It's a totally different approach, and hopefully people will like it."

As for his first foray into distance running, Shimabukuro says going slow is simply a matter of prudence.

While he wrestled as a senior at Kaimuki High School, Shimabukuro insists he is not an athlete. The Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 10 will be his first-ever road race.

"I've never been athletic," he says. "I can't do a layup. I can't run and dribble at the same time. I have difficulty catching a football. That's why I got into music."

Nonetheless, with the Big 3-0 looming for both of them, Shimabukuro and best friend Jeff Lau decided a gesture of marathon-proportions would be an appropriate way to storm the new decade.

Shimabukuro is no stranger to the Honolulu Marathon Association. For the last four years, he's been a featured performer at its annual pre-race carbo-loading party, and he intends to honor his commitment to play at this year's post-race celebration at noon on race day — meaning he'll need to cross the finish line sometime before the seven-hour mark.

He's shooting for five hours.

"It will be intense," he says. "I'm really excited about the challenge of trying to focus, trying to play in all of that pain and fatigue after the run. I don't want to play off balance, and I don't want to play sitting down. I want to give the same performance I normally would."

Shimabukuro is following a training program of his own design, based on tips from veteran marathoners, including walk-run guru Jeff Galloway, and his own research. He's starting slowly, of course, incorporating 20 minutes of sustained running within a 45-minute walk-jog-run workout.

"I want to do it slow so I don't hurt anything," he says. "I'm working at this very gradually. I want to take my time with it and do it as close to naturally as possible."

Despite his precautions, Shimabukuro did in fact suffer an injury to his iliotibial band (which runs from the knee to the hip), forcing him to curtail his running for a few weeks. Still, he made the most of his time off by stretching and doing yoga in his hotel room.

"The yoga stuff is really amazing," he says. "I'm a lot more relaxed and focused. I'm taking the time to focus now, and it's been very therapeutic and very beneficial, even in my music."

With an estimated 15,000 Japanese runners expected to participate, Shimabukuro will no doubt encounter a few fans along the route (he's huge in Japan). But he's not concerned.

"I think people will be focused on making it to the finish line," he says.

And he doesn't want or expect any special consideration when he lines up with his 20,000-plus fellow marathoners.

"The Marathon Association has been so supportive, and I really appreciate everything they've done for me, but I don't want to get any special treatment," he says. "It's a personal thing for me, and I'm taking it very seriously. It's not something to take lightly, and I respect the people who do it every year.

"I've watched the finish line before and I've seen people coming in crying, just really dying," he says. "If you've done it, you know the feeling. If you haven't, you might get a sense of it, but you really don't know. After I run it this year, I'll know, and I'll have that much more appreciation of what it's like."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.