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Press Release - Los Angeles Marathon - 3/20/10

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
     Legacy runners reflect on 25 years of marathon experiences
 Field of 25,000 brings at least that many stories to Sunday's race

LOS ANGELES – March 20, 2010 – Sunday's race will be the 25th edition of 
what is now called the Honda LA Marathon presented by K-Swiss. It started 
out with a record number of 10,787 entrants in 1986, the most ever for a 
first-time marathon race.

On Sunday, there will be 233 men and women at the starting line who will 
be running their 25th Los Angeles Marathon, a little more than 2% of the 
original field, who brought their experiences to a news conference at 
Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

Flavio Bisignano, who at 83 years of age is the second-oldest legacy 
runner, told reporters that "I'm doing this to stay healthy and well. I 
think in life we have to work hard, play hard and give back. In '69 and 
'70 I was a war correspondent in Vietnam, so with all the tramping around 
I thought I better get in shape. I've run about 120 marathons. 

"I broke my femur with the help of my dog eight months ago. I need to be 
cautious but I'm going to hobble along tomorrow and it's going to take me 
a long time, but I'm going to finish. I enjoy the companionship of other 
runners."

The youngest legacy runner, Aimee Wyatt, was just 16 at the inaugural race 
and remembered, "I started this with my sister. I was visiting Los Angeles 
at Christmastime and saw it being advertised on television. We thought it 
would be fun. We'd run about seven miles in the Bay-to-Breakers and 
thought we could make at least part of the marathon.

"We started running, went along and looked at each other at the halfway 
point, and said this is still fun, so we kept going and finished five 
hours and 40 minutes later. It was a long run. In the ensuing months we 
forgot about the recovery time and thought it would be fun again."

One of the visual trademarks of the Los Angeles Marathon is the giant 
letters spelling out "LA" and the race number at the start. That's another 
tradition the legacy runners have carried forward. "For the first 
marathon, the family of Elaine Herfert made a great big sign and put it up 
in the air so her husband could see where they were in the massive crowd 
in the starting line," remembered Lou Briones, known as "Legacy Lou" for 
his work in helping to coordinate the legacy entries. Briones said that 
Herfert's husband "was ill and couldn't come to the race.

"The following year the Herferts came back and made a sign, "LA II." It 
became a tradition. Elaine was a Legacy Runner until 2006 when she had hip 
surgery, and didn't finish. In 2007 there was no sign. In 2008 the Legacy 
Runners decided we should carry on the tradition. In 2009 we went to 
numeric numbers instead of Roman numbers and changed the logo with the new 
ownership." Briones, co-coordinator Denny Smith and others will carry the 
giant "LA 25" signs in bright orange on Sunday morning.

Briones also commended the marathon organizers for the new Stadium to the 
Sea course, starting at Dodger Stadium and finishing at Ocean Avenue and 
Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica.

"The new organizers consulted with a lot of the running community and 
asked us what we'd like to have on the route and what would be a good 
experience," he explained. "This course is a result of those discussions. 
The course is hilly. The hills are going to be in the first 10K so it will 
be nice to get them out of the way early. The last 3.2 miles is downhill, 
not a severe downhill and everyone will love it."

Two non-legacy runners with interesting experiences also spoke to 
reporters, one of whom – Ravi Rajan from Los Angeles – will run two 
marathons on Sunday! "My plan is to start tomorrow morning at 1 a.m. from 
the finish line in Santa Monica and run to the start line at Dodger 
Stadium," he said. "I plan to get there, if I follow my directions 
correctly, by 6 a.m. and then start with everybody at 7:24 and get back to 
the finish line.

"I look sane, but I'm a little insane. I came up with this idea to do a 
double marathon through my dad. My dad is legally blind and attends a 
school that teaches him how to use the computer by feel. I thought if I 
run the marathon and ask my friends for a $1 a mile that would be great, 
but if I double the distance than I double the money. I have some crazy 
friends who have volunteered to crew for me while I run who will hand out 
food and water in the first marathon. The second marathon I'll be on my 
own, but that won't be a problem."

A special guest at this year's Marathon is Lt. Jeremy Arnett of the 56th 
Stryker Brigade from the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was the organizer 
of a "shadow marathon" at Camp Taji, Iraq last year, which was 
logistically supported by LA MARATHON LLC and run on the same day, a 
continent away. "The support was phenomenal," he said. "It was 
overwhelming the amount of support they provided us. We were expecting 
about 200 runners, but we ended with 467 runners. We only four heat 
casualties. We had one general who made it within three-tenths of a mile 
of the finish line and he went down. He needed four IVs. After he finished 
his four IVs. he went back to where he went down and finished the race … 
ran across the finish line. It was something they will always remember."

How Arnett came to Sunday's race was equally dramatic. "The 56th Stryker 
Brigade was deployed home in September 2009 and I kept in contact with 
Ginger [Williams, the race's community relations director]. I was doing 
the Marine Corps Marathon and the L.A. Marathon surprised me with a visit 
by Ginger, who invited all of us who ran at the Camp Taji marathon to run.

"I'm looking forward to the course. It's going to be a vast improvement 
over last year (at Camp Taji). I'm taking my camera on it and I'm taking 
my time."

Arnett is being supported by 2010 Honda LA Marathon sponsors K-Swiss, who 
provided him with a set of racing gear and especially by Don Francisco's 
Coffee, which will make a donation in honor of Arnett to the Special 
Operations Warrior Foundation. Arnett chose the charity, which he 
explained "creates scholarships for children of the fallen to be able to 
continue their education and go to college."

Legacy co-coordinator Smith annually creates a poem to help motivate the 
legacy runners to keep their streaks alive and summed up the sentiments of 
many of Sunday's runners this way:

It's now Stadium to the Sea . . . 
A course designed so brill-i-ant-ly ...
For greater L.A. and the world.

Eyes will be poppin'
Jaws they'll be droppin'
But when we run down Rodeo . . .
There'll be no time for shoppin'.   

                            ###

 

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