Although Brad Becken loves to run, he had never tested himself at a distance longer than 10 kilometers. But after being the 70th male finisher in a field of over 25,000 participants in Sunday’s 20th running of the Los Angeles Marathon, the 24-year-old Palisadian will never have to wonder if he could hold up in a grueling distance event. Becken ran the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 57 minutes and 49 seconds. The men’s winner, Mark Saina of Kenya, clocked a 2:09:35. ‘My goal was to break three hours, so I’m happy with my time,’ Becken said. ‘I hit the wall at around the 30k mark and sort of limped home from there. I realized with two miles left that I was going to meet my goal, so at that point my main concern was just to finish in one piece.’ Becken runs daily through his Huntington Palisades neighborhood, down to the Via bluffs and across Sunset, but 20.5 miles was the farthest he had ever run at one time prior to Sunday’s marathon. He runs five or six 10ks a year, which he proclaims is his ideal distance. He won the Palisades-Will Rogers 10k in July, finishing in a personal-best 32:51 to hold off 2003 co-winners Nate Bowen and Tyson Sacco. ‘I’m planning on coming back and running Will Rogers again July 4 and hopefully make it two in a row,’ Becken said. ‘But I also want to run the marathon again. I had fun and it was a great experience. I’m a little sore right now, but it’s worth it.’ Becken is interning as a financial analyst at Fine Arts Entertainment in Beverly Hills. He was on the cross country and track teams at Davidson College in North Carolina, where he graduated with a degree in economics two years ago.
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