Marathon

Police advised residents to avoid Newport-Mesa areas that will be affected by the O.C. Marathon between 5 a.m. and about noon Sunday. Areas that are expected to be heavily impacted in Newport Beach include Corona del Mar, Promontory Point and Balboa, Linda and Harbor islands, which will be affected from about 5 to 8 a.m., according to the Newport Beach Police Department. The Balboa Island Bridge will be closed from 5 to 7:45 a.m., and residents are encouraged to use the Balboa Island Ferry during that time, Newport Beach police said.

Brian MacKenzie and Robert Baird knew what they were getting themselves into when they applied for the 33rd Western States Endurance Run ? or at least they thought they did. Neither MacKenzie, a 31-year-old Costa Mesa resident, nor Balboa Island resident Baird, 45, is a novice to ultra-marathon races, defined as any marathon longer than the traditional 26.2 miles. Although neither had run the Western States before, both runners knew that running for 100 straight miles ? unthinkable to most ?

A Costa Mesa father ended a 24-hour treadmill marathon Sunday to raise money to assist children with physical disabilities. Doug Hansen, despite having mono, ran about 91 miles and raised over $10,000 for Angels Charity, founded by Hansen and his wife Jennifer in 2003. The organization, named after their daughter, seeks to help children receive physical therapy. The money will go toward Angel's Playground to be built at TeWinkle Park in Costa Mesa and physical therapy equipment for children, Hansen said.

Richard Dunn NEWPORT BEACH - Corona del Mar High cross country and track and field coach Bill Sumner, who also operates Cal Coast Track Club, will take his top two female athletes Saturday to Columbia, S.C., for the U.S. Olympic Trials, where the nation's best female marathon runners will meet to determine U.S. Olympic representatives. Only runners who have qualified are invited to the Trials. Runners must have run a marathon faster than two hours 50 minutes in the last 12 months in order to qualify.

BOSTON — Zoila Gomez, a former Orange Coast College and Costa Mesa High standout runner, is an Olympic alternate after edging Tera Moody for fourth place in the U.S. Olympic team trials for the women’s marathon. Gomez finished in 2 hours, 33 minutes, 53 seconds in the 26.2-mile race, just ahead of Moody (2:33.54) on Sunday. Deena Kastor won the marathon in 2:29.35. Gomez, a member of Costa Mesa’s 1997 state cross country championship team, was an 11-time All-American, at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo.

Jack Shimko, a Newport Beach native, begins his 10-day, 150-mile open ocean paddle-board journey to raise money for cancer research today in Santa Barbara. The water marathon is called, "PADDLE2LIVE," which will raise $500,000 for UCLA Jonsson Cancer Foundation and Livestrong. From Santa Barbara, Shimko will go through the Channel Islands and end in Newport Beach, at the Newport Aquatic Center Oct. 2. Shimko begins today at 4:30 a.m. There will be a paddle-out ceremony at 5 a.m. in Santa Barbara.

With his birthday around the corner, Erik Flowers would normally be preparing for a quiet afternoon at his Costa Mesa home with his wife and 6-year-old daughter. But this year, he will commemorate his 48th year by working up a sweat on an elliptical machine. Flowers, who co-owns Body Builders Gym in Los Angeles, has committed to a 24-hour elliptical marathon in conjunction with the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, which begins Sunday, Flowers’ birthday. The idea came when Flowers purchased some new elliptical trainers for his gym from Octane Fitness in January.

COSTA MESA — Watch out marathon runners, the next generation of competitors is rounding the bend. As preview for what was in store the next day, about 2,000 kids 6 and younger participated in the Kids Run the OC event at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Saturday, the conclusion to a fitness program that saw children from all over the county play games and activities that equated to a 25-mile marathon. The kids ran a full mile in the fairgrounds, finishing off a program that started at individual elementary schools county wide.

It's always wonderful when people go out of their way to help others, especially those who have difficulty without that help. Grace Castro, the supervisor at AbilityFirst's Newport-Mesa After-School Center, completed the L.A. Marathon last week. But she wasn't alone. She pushed Kendall Milteer, an 11-year-old Costa Mesa resident who suffers from tuberous sclerosis, throughout the 26.2 miles. It doesn't even matter that she finished the marathon. After all, it was a team effort.

Former Olympian and accomplished American marathoner Steve Scott paid a visit to Eastbluff Elementary School Tuesday morning. Scott was on hand to congratulate some future runners at Eastbluff who successfully completed the Orange County Kids’ Marathon Jan. 6. Last week, more than 120 students from kindergarten through fifth grade ran the last leg of their 26.2-mile marathon that began in October. Eastbluff parent and avid runner Diane Daruty coached the kids and kept meticulous records on how far they ran every week, to make sure they earned their marathon medals.

Jake's coaching helped our friend, Jill, clock a personal best at the OC Half Marathon. I hope to benefit from Jake's know-how and flash a smile as big as Jill's when I complete the L.A. Marathon later this year. Yet when I read Jake's email directing me to keep a runner's log, my eyes glazed over. "If you start with 25 miles a week, increase by 10% with a drop back every four weeks. In 20 weeks you are running 125 miles a week ... count running miles only, no walks or hikes.

It's 4 a.m. Sunday. Evie calls. Worried about street closures, she summons me to her house on Bayside Drive earlier than our 5:30 a.m. meeting time. My Saturday night had been a lovely 50th wedding anniversary party, bedtime past 11 p.m. Evie's call subtracts a precious hour of sleep. Turns out to be a day of timing. Before I met the "Serious Saturday Runners," I raced with the goal of finishing and eating. They stressed time — complete a half-marathon in under two hours.

Kimberly O'Donnell graduated from Harvard University last year and ran in the 2012 Boston Marathon. She has a strong connection with Boston. When the Boston Marathon bombings occurred last month, she immediately called friends and former roommates in the race. She stayed at home in Santa Cruz, Calif. instead of going to work because she was too worried. The 23-year-old was among several who ran Sunday's OC Marathon in honor of the tragedy and terror that struck Boston last month.

It's tremendously fitting that an inspirational half-marathon runner in Sunday's OC Marathon has the first name of Hope. Hope Zayas, a 42-year-old Costa Mesa resident, has used hope amid great despair in the form of breast cancer over the past year while training to run in her first half-marathon. The recent terror at the Boston Marathon has caused security to intensify at the OC Marathon, which starts at Fashion Island in Newport Beach and ends at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa.

Youth led the way Saturday morning when hundreds of children participated in the Kids Run to kick-off the OC Marathon at the OC Fair and Event Center. The children's run and the Expo were the lead events Saturday. The marathon begins Sunday at 5:30 am.. and the half-marathon at 6:15 a.m. The OC Marathon announced Saturday afternoon that the 5K, half-marathon and OC Marathon had been sold out. More than 20,000 participants are expected in the marathon, half marathon, 5K and kids' run, according to an Orange County Sheriff's Department press release.

IRVINE - Hours passed Thursday afternoon, but Corona del Mar High senior Alec Adamson and University senior Tyler Lu kept playing. The players had disagreements on calls early in the second set, requiring both teams' head coaches to serve as line judges for the rest of the match, but Adamson and Lu kept playing. Lu started cramping up late in the second set, but Adamson and Lu kept playing. The Pacific Coast League individual singles semifinal at Beckman High lasted for more than three hours.

Melissa Mead ran in the Boston Marathon for the first time Monday. She will remember it more now because of the two bombings near the finish line at the historic race. Mead was among at least 35 runners from the Newport-Mesa area who ran in the world's oldest and most prestigious footrace. Mead, of Costa Mesa, is a Newport Harbor High School and UC Irvine alumna. The 23-year-old said she finished the race in about 3 hours, 49 minutes, some 20 minutes before an explosion went off near the finish line.

OC Marathon officials are watching developments following the terrorist attack at Monday's Boston Marathon as they prepare for next month's race, the organization has announced. The race starts at Fashion Island in Newport Beach and ends at the Orange County Faigrounds in Costa Mesa. On the OC Marathon Facebook page, the organization said Monday it places a high value safety. "We are closely following the situation in Boston with our agency partners to understand the circumstances of today's tragedy and will continue to do so as information is released," according the post.

A marathon brings tens of thousands of runners to a single spot in a celebration of human energy, work ethic and common joy. I have stood, packed together with marathoners at the early-morning start line, feeling strong, secure and anticipatory. What could touch us? I stood at the start of the Boston Marathon in 2008 in the town of Hopkinton, shivering with excitement. Invited to run the Boston Marathon, I began to feel like a real runner. I had to qualify. Friends sent me off with a party.