Long Beach Marathon F75-79: Houda Goes the Distance

• Miyoko Houda (Laguna Hills) won the F75-79 race in 3:56:19 — a 9:01/mi average across 26.2 miles.
• Tina Kim (Los Angeles) completed the marathon in 4:51:04 — a 11:06/mi average — finishing 54:45 behind Houda.
• Both athletes are 76 years old, making this one of the more remarkable head-to-heads on the Long Beach course.

There were just two finishers in the F75-79 race on Sunday, and both of them ran the full 26.2 miles through Long Beach's warm, humid October morning — 72°F with 73% humidity is no small ask at any age, let alone at 76. Miyoko Houda set the pace from the start, and she never relinquished it.

Houda's 9:01/mi average held steady enough to bring her home in 3:56:19, a sub-four-hour effort that speaks for itself. The tracking data shows her moving through the women's field across the race — from 784th among women at the early checkpoint to 848th by the finish — a natural settling of positions as the miles accumulated, not a fade. She posted the 828th-fastest women's split on the 5.5-to-13.1-mile stretch, holding her own in a women's field that numbered well into the thousands.

Tina Kim, also of Los Angeles and also 76, ran a measured 11:06/mi to finish in 4:51:04. Her strongest relative segment came late — between miles 13.1 and 20, her gender place actually ticked up slightly from 1,215th to 1,210th, a small but real gain on the field when many runners are beginning to feel the wall. She crossed the line 54 minutes and 45 seconds after Houda, rounding out a two-person F75-79 field that, frankly, most runners half their age would envy for simply showing up.

Two 76-year-olds. Two finishes. One warm Sunday in Long Beach.