Brentwood Resident Runs LA Marathon

The 2012 Los Angeles Marathon started Sunday morning with no rain falling from cloudy Los Angeles skies; but can runners outrun the coming thunderstorms that forecasters are predicting?

Last year's marathon saw heavy rain and several cases of hypothermia.

Brentwood resident and L.A. Marathon Legacy Runner Arlene Fichman was one of those afflicted. Legacy Runners are those who have competed in every L.A. Marathon since its beginnings in 1986. This is Fichman's 27th consecutive run in this marathon and last year's was by far the wettest and coldest, she said.

"At the finish line, I was hypothermic," said Fichman. "It was freezing."

Last year, like this year, runners have to walk from the finish line near the California Incline to the top of the Santa Monica Pier—almost a mile—to pick up their personal belongings after the race.

"It was really disorganized last year because they had nobody there to help you," said Fichman. "It was a nightmare. I had to walk over to the Holiday Inn to thaw out for about 45 minutes so I could walk back to my car.

Fichman was shivering for about an hour, she said. 

"But most people were in the same situation, it was pretty bad," Fichman said. "It was sad because usually the post-event; the activities are always fun. They have booths set up and you can enjoy your victory and talk to other people, but everybody was in a state of shock walking back to their cars or trying to stay warm. Everybody sort of finished and headed for cover."

Though her post-race experience was terrible, Fichman said she felt pretty good during the race.

"My time was a little slow, I did four hours and 13 minutes."

Fichman's husband and son will make the half-mile walk from their home to San Vicente Boulevard to cheer her on. Because she'll be running right by her home street again this year, Fichman joked that the urge to "just quit and go home" will be strong.

"A lot of my friends that I run with in Brentwood will be out on the course cheering me on," said Fichman. "I have one girlfriend that may join me probably around mile 20 and maybe run a few miles toward the end of the race."

Fichman has always been interested in physical education, she said. Fichman was a phys-ed major in college.

"If I'd go out for a bike ride, I'd go out for like three hours," she said. 

In 1983 Fichman entered her first marathon, an all-women's competition in Boston.

"I felt great," said Fichman. "I had such a great time and that's where I got hooked. Since then I've been running marathons."
  
In September, after spending 30 years as a  cardiac rehab nurse at Cedars Sinai Hospital, Fichman was pink-slipped. The department was downsized and Fichman was laid off.

"But it's worked out alright," she said.

As a nurse, Fichman was constantly preaching to her patients about the importance of regular exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. 

"I'd be a role model for them," she said. "They'd see that I'd go out and run everyday and eat healthy."