Marathon

Charles Sayles has run at least 20 marathons a year for the past three years. He runs more than 20 miles a week. He doesn't eat junk food. He's 69. "Slow and steady gets you through it," Sayles said. "Each time I do it, I'm very thankful." The Glendale resident finished his 79th marathon Sunday in Houston, Texas. It beats his original goal of finishing 70 marathons before he turns 70 by more than a few miles — 235.8, to be exact. And as an added bonus, former President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, were at the finish line greeting runners as they crossed.

Rima Shah Lisette Gavina is 26, but she looks 16. Just 5 feet 4, the long-haired coffee executive and resident of La Canada Flintridge is planning to run the Los Angeles Marathon on March 6. Gavina's connection to the marathon, however, goes further than simply trying to complete the long run. Don Francisco's Gourmet Coffee, a brand owned by the Gavina family and named after her grandfather, is the official coffee...

LA CRESCENTA — A Rosemont Middle School program that funnels students into the Los Angeles Marathon is in jeopardy of being canceled if a teacher who is willing to train and run with the kids is not found, organizers said. For the past few years the regional Student Run L.A. program has challenged students to run the 26.2-mile marathon. Many students begin training in September, getting up weekend mornings at dawn for training runs at the Rose Bowl or for early Student Run L.A.-sanctioned races.

Josh Kleinbaum Lee Lightfoot worries about the cold. He followed all the instructions from the experts, packing plenty of layers, two pairs of running shoes, a wool hat, a face mask and sun goggles, but he can't shake that worry. No amount of preparation, it seems, can prepare him for a marathon at the bottom of the world. Lightfoot and Larry Meyer, his soon-to-be roommate, plan to run in the Antarctica Marathon Feb. 26, part of their individual plans to run marathons on all seven continents.

Darleene Barrientos Running in the Los Angeles Marathon was just for fun. Sam Langholz's real passion is hiking. Langholz, a 77-year-old Glendale resident, finished Sunday's marathon in just over seven hours. It was his 10th Los Angeles Marathon. "If not for the heat, I would have done a lot better," Langholz said. Langholz and his brother, Ike, took to the streets Los Angeles with Ike's son to run the 26.2-mile route, not only looking to complete the course, but also to make some friends.

When Glendale resident Henrietta Bovitch decided to get in shape, she learned there was more to exercise than just the health benefits. Bovitch, 61, discovered that walking and even an occasional jog could be a fun way to pass the time. She took daily walks around her neighborhood, and before she knew it, she was walking longer distances and jogging at times. Bovitch changed her eating habits and continued to exercise. She decided to participate in marathons and charity walkathons, and made it her goal to take part in many as she could.

Last Friday, Lincoln Elementary School celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a run. Students ran a mini marathon at the school for one of the biggest fund-raisers of the year. Students in each grade ran for 20 minutes, starting at 8:20 a.m., and completed as many laps as possible. After the run, the school provided the students with popsicles and energy foods as water donated by Trader Joe's and Gardenia Market and Deli. For the St. Patrick's Day Run, students collected pledges a few weeks in advance.

COLLEGE BASEBALL Glendale Community College 9, Citrus College 8 (16 innings): The visiting Vaqueros won their fifth straight game and their second extra-inning win in the last three games, as Julian Jarrard drove in the game-winning run on one of his four hits. . GCC is now 10-2 and remains in first place in the Western State Conference South Division and is 15-5 overall. Sergio Plascencia had three hits and three runs, including the game-winner on Jarrard's RBI. Justin Jones also had three hits.

It was a tough lesson to swallow, but one that definitely has stuck — long-distance running and junk food do not mix. “You have to watch what you eat,” Tiffany Duarte, 14, said. “If you eat the wrong thing, you can definitely feel it while you run. I ate hot Cheetos before a nine-mile run and then I felt like my throat was all hot. I felt sick.” The eighth-grader is one of a dozen Rosemont Middle School students and staff members who will test their stomachs — and their legs — Sunday by running 26.2 miles from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica as part of the Los Angeles Marathon.

Eleven-year-old Spencer Belko said he didn't think running a marathon was difficult until he competed in the Los Angeles Marathon on the unusually hot day of March 7. "I think I was a little wacky at first. I thought it wouldn't be anything," he said. While Belko didn't expect running the 26.2-mile marathon to hurt, fellow seventh-grader Chase Chapman expected a challenge. Like Chapman, eighth-grader Siobhan Hebron expected a challenge, but she found the marathon to be easier than she thought.