A 26-mile wedding preparation.

Jim Riggio

Who doesn’t want to look good on their wedding day.

Katie Budman thought about that long ago, preparing for when she gets

married next month.

So the 25-year old Glendale resident set out on a mission to make sure

she looks and feels right April 8, when she and fiance Rene Valdes, a

teacher at Glendale High, exchange vows at St. Bede’s Catholic Church in

La Canada Flintridge.

By doing so, Budman began a rigorous training schedule four months

ago, leading up to last week’s L.A. Marathon.

The training paid off as Budman finished 16th among women, finishing

the 26.2-mile course in three hours, 11 minutes and eight seconds.

It was her first marathon.

“I put in a lot of millage and that’s one of the reasons why I did so

well,” Budman said.

Budman, who graduated from Glendale High in 1992, was a student

teacher there last year, and has since moved on to Canyon High in Canyon

Country, where she is a health teacher.

Also an assistant cross-country and track coach at Canyon, Budman got

herself started in the direction she hoped to by running with her team.

Canyon’s difficult training regime helped get Budman on the right path

to begin with, but she knew she would need to do much more to get ready

for a marathon.

“For a couple of years after college, I started running with the girls

I would coach, but I never ran for myself,” Budman said. “In September

and October with the girls I would do whatever they did. In November, I

was going an hour a day and that’s about 50 miles a week and it gradually

increased.”

Budman eventually found herself running as long as three hours a day

on weekends leading up to the marathon. Along the way she also got Valdes

into running, as he too finished the L.A. Marathon.

“His goal was to run the whole way and he did. I gave him workouts to

do,” Budman said of her fiancee. “Now he’s like, ‘I want to run again’.”

*

Success in running never came instantaneous for Budman.

She ran cross-country for four years at Glendale High, but enjoyed

just moderate success as she recalls her best time of being 21:42 over

the three-mile Crescenta Valley Park course.

“I was a dedicated runner, but I wasn’t a completely dedicated

runner,” she recalled.

Budman said part of the reason for that was because she played

softball in the spring instead of opting for track.

She then went on to USC and decided to give running her full

attention.

In her four years with the Trojans, she served as the team captain of

the cross-country team in her junior and senior years.

Under the tutelage of Coach Tyrus Deminter, Budman’s time in

cross-country dropped two minutes, as she had a best time of 19:40 on a

three-mile course.

But it wasn’t until recently that Budman, who still trains with

Deminter, turned in her best results.

She ran a half marathon Jan. 31 in Huntington Beach, finishing seventh

among women in one hour, 25 minutes.

Two weeks ago in a road race in Los Alamitos, she ran her best time

ever in a 5-kilometer race as she went 18:52.

“That was my first half marathon and I was happy that all the ladies

that beat me were older and you usually peak when you’re older in

marathons.,” Budman said.

Those results in the weeks leading up to the marathon left her feeling

good going into the L.A. Marathon.

That was until the morning of the race, when heavy rains soaked the

downtown Los Angeles course.

“When I woke up that morning, I didn’t want to run in the rain, but I

still wanted to go out and run a good race,” Budman said. “It was cold

and windy, but I didn’t want to hay on the rain and say it gave me a bad

race.”

Budman’s time in the L.A. Marathon was well under the Boston Marathon

qualifying standard of 3:40 for women.

But she won’t take up on the offer to compete in the prestigious race,

which will be on April 17 this year.

Instead she will be enjoying married life on her honeymoon in Jamaica.

Down the road, Budman said later this year she is looking at making

the Long Beach Marathon her second marathon.

She also plans finding time to make a side career as a marathon

runner.

But for the time being the only thing that is important for Katie

Budman is to make sure that she fits into her wedding dress and that all

goes well on her special day.

Budman file

BIRTHDAY: Sept. 1, 1974

HOBBIES: running, needlepoint, reading, talking on the phone, eating.

PERSON WHO GOT HER INTO RUNNING: Mr. Scott Napp, physical education

teacher at Wilson Middle School.

COLLEGE: USC

DEGREE: Exercise science

FIANCE: Rene Valdes