Los Angeles Marathon

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX) -- Taking the tour This year's route will give participants a tour of some of the city's landmarks and highlights. Hollywood Bowl Soon after the start near Universal City, runners will head downhill past the Hollywood Bowl. -- Hollywood & Highland At Hollywood & Highland Center, site of the Academy Awards ceremonies, Walk of Fame regulars such as Darth Vader, Superman and Elmo pose for pictures with tourists. -- Hancock Park South of Melrose Avenue, the route passes through a residential area of tree-lined streets and lovely old homes.

Samantha Gutierrez, a runner who was featured in The Times last week leading up to Sunday's L.A. Marathon, completed the event, her first ever, in 4 hours 26 minutes and 12 seconds. "The feeling of crossing the finish line was something I will never forget!" Gutierrez, 33, of Mar Vista wrote in a text message. "Especially when I looked down and saw my shoe drenched in blood ... yay! Bloody blisters, I'm a runner!" Eladio Mendoza, 65, of Canoga Park, completed his 27th L.A. Marathon in 5:26:09.

When Dodgers owner Frank McCourt bought the Los Angeles Marathon last year, he gave management a new goal: Create a route that shows off the best of Los Angeles. That new "Stadium to Sea" route will be unveiled today, and it will start -- where else? -- at Dodger Stadium. The 25th edition of the race, on March 21, will wind through downtown, pass through West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica and end at the beach. Along the 26.2 miles, runners will pass landmarks including City Hall, the Capitol Records Building, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive and the Santa Monica Pier.

Frank McCourt, who agreed this week to sell the Dodgers, also has put the Los Angeles Marathon up for sale. McCourt expects the Dodgers to sell for more than $1.2 billion at auction, according to a person familiar with that sale process. The marathon probably would sell for less than $20 million, according two racing industry executives who declined to be identified. McCourt bought the marathon three years ago, revitalizing the race with a course that starts at Dodger Stadium, runs through Hollywood and Beverly Hills and ends in Santa Monica.

Frank McCourt, who agreed this week to sell the Dodgers, also has put the Los Angeles Marathon up for sale. McCourt expects the Dodgers to sell for more than $1.2 billion at auction, according to a person familiar with that sale process. The marathon probably would sell for less than $20 million, according two racing industry executives who declined to be identified. McCourt bought the marathon three years ago, revitalizing the race with a course that starts at Dodger Stadium, runs through Hollywood and Beverly Hills and ends in Santa Monica.

An attorney for Dodgers owner Frank McCourt dismissed a $1.2-billion bid for the team as a "publicity stunt," according to documents filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court. McCourt remains steadfast in his intention not to sell the Dodgers, two people familiar with his thinking but not authorized to discuss it publicly said Thursday. McCourt received the $1.2-billion offer in an Aug. 30 letter from a group headed by Los Angeles Marathon founder Bill Burke and funded in large part by financial institutions owned by the Chinese government.

The Dodgers are not the only Los Angeles sports institution facing an uncertain future because of the protracted divorce proceedings between Frank and Jamie McCourt. Frank McCourt also owns the Los Angeles Marathon. The McCourts are divorced but have not settled on how to divide their assets. In the meantime, Major League Baseball has taken over the day-to-day operation of the Dodgers and is investigating the finances of the team "and related entities," including the marathon.

Los Angeles Marathon When: The women's field is scheduled to start at 7:11 a.m. Sunday. The men's field is set to start at 7:28 a.m. Where: The 26.2-mile course starts at Dodger Stadium and heads downtown before stretching into West Hollywood and Beverly Hills and finishing at Ocean Avenue and California Avenue in Santa Monica. On the air: TV: Ch. 5; Radio: 570. Defending men's champion: Wesley Korir of Kenya, who finished last year's race in 2:09:19, the third-fastest time in race history.

Wesley Korir trained for the last two Los Angeles Marathons while balancing his full-time job as a maintenance worker. Not this time around. Last March, after winning the L.A. race for the second time in a row, he quit. "I miss my job," the 28-year-old Kenyan admitted the other day. "I call there all the time to visit it. " Korir on Sunday will try to become the first to win three L.A. Marathons after having set a race record and personal best in 2009 with a time of 2:08:24 and, in 2010, clocking 2:09:19, the third-fastest in race history.

In Uganda, an impoverished East African nation where roughly half of the population lives on $1.25 a day, some children run 10 to 12 miles, from one village to another, to deliver mail or a message. Daniel Okabe never worked as a postal carrier or message boy. The longest he ever ran in his native country was about three miles, for his high school cross-country team in Mbale. Had he been called on for such duty, Okabe might have discovered before he was 24 that he is a natural distance runner, one with enough ability to finish 10th in the Orange County Marathon last May and run in the prestigious Boston Marathon this April.

When I stood on the starting line of the Los Angeles Marathon this spring, my main objective was to beat my husband. This was to be John's first marathon and my 10th. After years of track and cross-country, where I learned to jab with my elbows and spit neatly between my front teeth, I'd discovered that I'd grown from an upstart kid who kicked out short races into an adult athlete who valued serious training. Still, the marathon was my race; I didn't want to be dethroned by my husband.

Running a marathon is usually considered solid proof of cardiovascular fitness. Not so for Jay Yim, a runner in the recent Los Angeles Marathon. Yim, 21, suffered a heart attack around mile 18 and was taken to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He's expected to make a full recovery. Here's what happened: After Yim collapsed in West L.A., LAPD motorcycle officer Joshua Sewell was one of the first people to come to Yim's aid. When he got no response and found no pulse, Sewell yelled for someone to call an ambulance and recruited an LAPD bicycle officer to help administer CPR. Together, they performed chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Wesley Korir loved it when a spectator shouted his name in Beverly Hills. He got a kick out of running through the historic Veterans Administration grounds in West Los Angeles. Of course, none of the sights or sounds of the revamped Los Angeles Marathon could rival what the Kenyan experienced at the finish line in Santa Monica. Korir received a hug and a kiss from his new wife after defending his title in the event Sunday morning, winning in 2 hours 9 minutes 19 seconds to become the first repeat champion here since Stephen Ndungu in 2001 and 2002.