Carla Gourdin, 51

Salt Lake City

Marathon time: 3:38 (crank-chair division)

When Carla Gourdin decided to pick up hand-cycling two years ago, her friends and family thought the sport would be too hard on her. When she decided to enter Saturday's Salt Lake City Marathon, they thought she had gone mad.

But Gourdin wasn't about to let the naysayers keep her from the starting line. As she drove the entirety of the race course on Friday, she was convinced that she could reach the finish line.

But she also understood her limitations. During the uphill segments, Gourdin estimates she was cycling at just more than 2 miles per hour.

"The uphills were a big challenge," she said. "But I go as fast as I want on the downhills."

After three and a half hours on the course, Gourdin reached the finish line in last place in her division and nearly two hours behind the previous hand-cyclist. In fact, her pace was slower than that of many of those who had completed the race on foot.

But she had finished. That was enough.

"It's something I can do that makes me feel like a kid again," she said. "I proved them wrong. They said I couldn't do it, but I did. I was the slowest of them all, but I did it. Pretty good for age 51, I'd say."