L.A. Marathon: Michael Ward finishes race in his first marathon

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Michael Ward, who was featured in a front-page story in The Times on Thursday, finished the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday. It was his first marathon and a race that he began training for after he was laid off from his job as an editor at an aviation newsletter last year.

‘I made it!’ he wrote in a short e-mail. ‘I struggled for a while with my knee, but kept going and finished really strong (which surprised me).’

The Santa Monica native was featured as part of a new group of marathon runners: the unemployed who lost their jobs and took up running as a way to help manage stress. He found employment in October after losing his job in April.

Ward said he was still waiting for an official time to be posted Sunday. He said last week that he aims to run more marathons, if he can. One interesting aspect with this marathon, though, was that he ran past his old place of employment in Century City where he worked for 10 years.

‘I did have some emotions seeing old work ... and switched caps from a Road Runner one to an all-black one,’ he wrote. ‘Finishing just felt so wonderful, especially as I was RUNNING and not walking or staggering.’

-- Baxter Holmes