Glendale News Press
Published March 7, 2005
Finish accomplished
By Robert Chacon, News-Press and Leader

They jogged, walked and rolled across the finish line hours behind
the elite runners of the race, but for locals who participated in
the 20th annual Los Angeles Marathon, finishing was the goal.

“I can’t believe I haven’t passed out yet,” said Spencer Belko,
an eighth-grader at Rosemont Middle School who ran with 13 other
classmates in the event, after crossing the finish line 6 hours 2
minutes after he began. “Even though it was hotter last year, for
some reason this year was much more difficult for me.”

Aside from the students who ran in the marathon, there was a La
Crescenta woman who was bouncing back from major surgery, a La Cañada
Flintridge business owner, and a double amputee representing a Glendale
group that competed in the wheelchair portion of the race.

“She fell out of her chair during the race, but one of the spectators
helped her out,” said Lori Sivazlian about Greta Khndzrtsyan, who lost
both her legs in an earthquake in Armenia 17 years ago. Khndzrtsyan,
17, finished the 26.2 mile course in 3 hours, 15 minutes, Sivazlian
said.

Sivazlian is a board member of Pyunic, a Glendale-based organization
that provides financial and medical assistance to disabled people in
Armenia. Her group sponsored Khndzrtsyan’s participation in the race.

More than 25,000 people ran in this year’s marathon. Mark Saina of
Kenya won the race in 2 hours, 9 minutes, and Russian Lyubov Denisova
won the women’s division in 2 hours, 26 minutes.

Along the way, runners experienced sore feet, tense backs, painful
knees and doubt about finishing.

La Crescenta resident Joann Norris, 45, experienced her greatest
challenge at mile 19, when her Apple iPod ran out of batteries. The
R&B music she was listening to kept her legs going, she said.

She has overcome greater obstacles, however. Two years ago, she
weighed 247 pounds, but she had a gastric bypass procedure in June of
2003. Since then she has lost more than 100 pounds and has accomplished
one of her greatest feats — finishing a marathon without walking. She
crossed the finish line in 5 hours, 12 minutes.

She hit a wall at mile 24, she said, but a training buddy ran alongside
her and helped her finish. Three hours after finishing the race,
she was at a local Mexican restaurant, drinking margaritas and eating
with a group of friends.

“I have been through a lot of changes in the past year,” she said. “I
was just so happy to finish and accomplish my goal.”

Just finishing the race indicates greater accomplishments in the
future, local runners said.

“Finishing this race means that I can basically accomplish anything
if I just keep at it,” eighth-grader Spencer Belko said.

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