L.A. Marathon: Kirui wins men’s race; Lehonkova first woman to cross finish line

Minutes before each Los Angeles Marathon, members of a select club gather for a group photo. They are the legacy runners — those who have reached the start and finish line of every race since the inaugural in 1986 — and their number is eroded each year by the effects of age, health and other issues.

Richard Ringwald, 72, had signed up as one of 157 charter contestants Sunday. Not even open-heart surgery could snap his streak last year. He thinks his recovery was accelerated by chasing the ambition of a 30th straight race, and he covered the course four months after the operation.

This one, he missed. Ringwald’s wife recently was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She returned home Thursday from the hospital, and Ringwald stayed at her side as she gears up for surgery.

“I made the right decision,” he said. The retired technical writer resisted a peek at the television coverage, though he did monitor the progress of a running pal on his cellphone.

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I’d rather have my tongue waxed than run another marathon. If I ever suggest it, just gaff me, OK? Hoist me on my own petard. Shoot me in my knee, because even that would be less painful than what I just went through.

Marathon, a Greek word meaning, “Oy, my aching ankles.” No human being should run this far for free.

Heard over and over at the L.A. Marathon finish line Sunday: “This was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Never doing this again.”

You do remember the very first marathon killed Pheidippides, right? And he didn’t even have to trudge up that nasty hill by the VA hospital. Somehow, the L.A. Marathon, despite ending at sea level, seems to have more uphill than down.

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Julia Budniak nears the finish line of the L.A. Marathon.

(Chris Carlson / Associated Press)

Through more than half of the Los Angeles Marathon, Julia Budniak was resigned to running for fourth place. Three competitors had pulled so far ahead that they were no longer in view, so she assumed an optimum finish would keep her one spot off the awards podium.

At the same time, Budniak’s expectations were modest. Her main event while growing up in Poland was the steeplechase, which is 1/14th the distance of the marathon, and this was just her third time stretching out.

Budniak, 34, did wield a home-course edge over most of the elite division. Twelve years ago, she enrolled at USC on a track scholarship. Since graduation, she has served as an assistant coach, now at Cal State Los Angeles, and once belonged to the Santa Monica Track Club in the city where finishers in Sunday’s race made their final strides.

Unshadowed, Budniak clocked in at two hours 44 minutes 44 seconds — a full 12 minutes behind the runner-up. The yawning gap mattered little to her. This was a personal best for someone whose coaching duties, plus internship as a clinical dietitian, cut into time available for training.

“I still didn’t believe it,” she said of her lowest time yet, “for 30 minutes after I finished.”

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After completing the L.A. Marathon, these runners stopped by our photo booth at the finish line in Santa Monica.

(Mariah Tauger / For The Times)

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L.A. Marathon organizers reported this on Facebook: “Runners, we appreciate your patience at gear pickup. Eight UPS trucks did not show up at Dodger Stadium this morning. We are doing our best to find a quick solution. We appreciate your patience.” They also tweeted it (below):

Shawna Horvath waited at mile marker 10, looking for her husband Michael in the crowd of L.A. Marathon runners so she could give him a water bottle.

“Follow me,” Michael Horvath said, leading his wife to an arch of red, white and pink balloons at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

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A couple is married at the 10-mile mark of the L.A. Marathon.

Robert and Rosa Bliss were among the couples married at the 10-mile-mark during the L.A. Marathon.

Ukranian Nataliya Lehonkova crossed the finish line at 2:30:39, her personal best to win the women’s L.A. Marathon.

Weldon Kirui of Kenya crossed the finish line first at 2:13:05 (unofficial) to win the L.A. Marathon. Kenya finished 1-2 as Willy Koitile crossed second about 15 seconds after Kirui.

We should know the answer soon....

Kenyan Willy Koitile and Ukranian Nataliya Lehonkova are still in front in the men’s and women’s races, respectively, as we near the end of the marathon.

Weldon Kirui, also of Kenya, is also running strong for the men.

Runners cross the starting line at Dodger Stadium

(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

PHOTOS: VIEW THE PHOTO GALLERY

(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

Check out the best images from L.A. Times photographers around the marathon course

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If you’re meeting up with a marathoner in Santa Monica, the city has a parking guide and an app for that.

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We want to know why you run too. Let @latimes know on Instagram with the hastag #WhyIRunLa

A man wearing firefighter gear crosses the starting line at Dodger Stadium.

(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

PHOTOS: VIEW THE PHOTO GALLERY

The top runners at 15K are running at a pace of just over five minutes a mile.

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In the dark and fog before the sun came out, the air was chilly. A few miles into the race? Not so much.

Experienced runners come prepared, wearing clothes they plan to dump along the route, never to be seen again.

As someone I won’t name just told me, an eagle-eyed spectator might be able to score an angelic windbreaker.

— Megan Garvey

We’ve got you covered. Try the race from the comfort of your own home. See how you stack up against your friends, previous marathon runners and some unexpected participants — such as a Metro bus, a grizzly bear or a BB-8 astromech droid — in the 26.2-mile trek from Dodger Stadium to Ocean Avenue.

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The elite women passed the one mile mark at about 5:47.

Here’s the current temperature and forecast for downtown L.A.

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The joint forces of the LAPD, Los Angeles mayor’s office, Santa Monica fire and police, FBI and Los Angeles County Fire department report they are ready to go.

Marathons are easy. You just run till your toenails peel off, then you run a little more. Done. Ginomenos, as the Greeks would say.

If that’s not for you, you’re probably a very sensible person. Stick with very sensible sports: Skydiving. Car racing. Throwing harpoons at passing trucks. Just respect the marathon, because it’s the most difficult, most amazing sport around.

I’m running the Los Angeles Marathon again Sunday, and “I’m in it to win it,” as always. If that doesn’t come to pass, I’m not ruling out stopping for coffee and doughnuts along the way. We’ll see what the day brings.

As per tradition, I rigorously trained but not nearly enough. Never took a practice lap longer than 12 miles, less than half the entire distance. On Sunday, it’ll be hot enough to cheese-melt my shoes, so I might make it halfway and decide that a Bloody Mary brunch is a far better idea. If I make it all the way to the finish line, it’ll be somewhat of an upset.

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Sunday’s 31st Los Angeles Marathon will not only be a race against the course and the clock, it will also be a race against Mother Nature.

Temperatures are forecast to be in the mid-50s when the wheelchair athletes push off at 6:30 a.m. from Dodger Stadium toward the Santa Monica finish line, followed by the elite women at 6:45 and the rest of the 25,000-runner field at 6:55.

But as the competition heats up, so will the weather, with temperatures expected to soar past 80 degrees just before 11 a.m. To beat the worst of the heat, runners will have to complete the downhill stadium-to-the-sea course in less than four hours.

That won’t be a problem for some.

“The race is in the morning,” said Weldon Kirui, who has a marathon best of 2 hours 9 minutes 6 seconds. “It’s going to be cool.”

For the rest of the field, the 22 aid stations on the course will be stocked with water and a sport drink, air-conditioned “cooling buses” will be parked at the 10 medical stations along the course and misting stations, cold towels and ice will also be available for runners.

The L.A. Marathon is traditionally run on the third weekend in March; last year, when temperatures hit a race-record 90 degrees, nearly 200 runners needed medical attention. The event was moved to February for the first time this year to coincide with Saturday’s U.S. Olympic trials, but the warm weather followed.

The trials affected the L.A. Marathon in another way, too, luring the nation’s top 364 marathoners to the starting line Saturday, narrowing Sunday’s elite field to only 25. Those runners will be competing for a share of $100,000, $46,000 of which will be divided equally by the men’s and women’s winners.

They trained together, dreamed together, pushed each other through grueling workouts when neither thought she could possibly run another inch. If Amy Cragg was too tired to lead the way one day, Shalane Flanagan would set the pace, knowing Cragg would take her turn the next time and strengthen the partnership they forged last October after Cragg moved from Providence, R.I., to run alongside Flanagan in Portland, Ore.

They shared pain and exhilaration, each feeling she would be incomplete if only one made the U.S. Olympic team for the Rio de Janeiro Games. In an individual sport they became a selfless team, sharing water bottles and cooling towels Saturday as they ran smoothly as 1 and 1A for most of the Olympic marathon trials race through the toasty streets of downtown Los Angeles.

“She’s helped me so much the past four months. I’ve kind of just been hanging on to her,” Cragg said.

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For Galen Rupp, Saturday’s Olympic trials marathon in Los Angeles was something of a coronation, a race that allowed America’s best distance runner to conquer the one distance he had never tried.

And he appeared to do it without breaking a sweat or into a smile, breezing through the record heat to win easily in two hours 11 minutes and 12 seconds.

For Meb Keflezighi, America’s most experienced, decorated and seemingly happiest marathoner, the race was a celebration. In gutting out a second-place finish in 2:12:20, he became the country’s first three-time Olympian in the event, an accomplishment he celebrated by dashing the final 200 yards carrying an American flag and wearing a wide smile.

“This,” the former UCLA runner said, “was a victory lap for me.”

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