Huntington man finishes L.A. Marathon in leisurely manner

Mike Sciacca

As more than 500 participants were treated for heat-related problems

Sunday, Huntington Beach’s barefoot runner Ken Saxton went about the

L.A. Marathon in a relaxed manner.

Saxton again ran the marathon sans shoes -- he said he was one of

four runners Sunday to do so -- but his wife, Cathy, whom he ran with

the duration of the course, wore running shoes.

Cathy Lee Saxton is deaf.

With video camera in one hand, a cell phone in the other, and

wearing his multi-colored propeller hat, Saxton filmed his wife cross

the finish line.

Their official time was 6:27.33.

“But it was 6:38.54, if you include the 11-plus minutes it took to

get to the start line after the gun went off,” he said. “This might

well be the longest I have been on my feet in my life.”

Temperatures soared up to 108 degrees, Saxton said, during the

day.

“Carrying my video camera and cell phone, I had no intention of

running fast, and that seemed to be the ideal plan for a hot Sunday

in the city of Los Angeles,” he said.

“We had fun, though. There were about 23,000 people around us. I

managed to stay comfortably hydrated, encouraged some of the Students

Run L.A. kids to keep drinking water, not to stress out and just

relax and finish comfortably.”

Saxton avoided injury when he stepped on a half-crushed aluminum

can near one water station along the course route, he said.

As Saxton finished the race and filmed his wife’s finish, he was

talking on his cell phone with his friend and training partner, Al

Valdez.

Tatyana Pozdnyakova of the Ukraine finished first among all

marathon runners.

David Kirui of Kenya won the men’s race.