Fisher’s legacy runs on

Marshall Fisher has a legacy going.

For 20 straight years, he has bettered the odds while pushing

himself to the limit.

For two decades, he has sweated out every mile, churning his legs

and persevering. And once a year since 1985, Fisher has held fast to

his goal of running the Los Angeles Marathon, a 26.2-mile winding

course.

Fisher, of Newport Coast, is a Legacy Runner, having competed in

the race every year since its inception nearly 21 years ago.

But it’s not just the L.A. Marathon where Fisher’s legacy lives.

The 64-year-old radiologist has run in 88 marathons since first

lacing up his jogging shoes nearly 30 years ago.

He has even run in a few ultra-marathons -- 30 miles minimum,

sometimes more. But the ultra races are in his past, his last about

10 years ago, he said.

Fisher, however, isn’t competing against the scores of other

runners in each race. He’s in it to do battle with himself.

“The personal challenge,” Fisher said when asked what he likes so

much about each race. “Being able to do something that’s hard. All

marathons are a significant endurance event.”

Fisher has run as many as five marathons in a single year. He has

spanned the nation in his races, running in events in Boston and

Honolulu.

He has endured elevation races, competing in Pike’s Peak Marathon

in Colorado, with an elevation gain from about 7,000 feet to 14,000

feet.

But in March, he will rejoin a group of almost 300 Legacy Runners

and hit the streets of L.A. for another go-around.

“When I got to [my 10th LA Marathon], they gave me a special

T-shirt,” Fisher said. “But it’s the idea that you’ve done them all.

Once you get into that mind-set, you can’t quit. Now my goal is to

make it to 25, if my health stays good.”

It was the health issue that got Fisher into running in the first

place. There has always been a poor family cardiac history, he said.

His sister, Roz Friedman, died of a heart attack at 62, and his

brother, Bernard Fisher, died at 52, also of a heart attack.

Marshall Fisher picked up running when he was 30 after reading a

book about aerobics, and has not looked back ever since.

He ran his first marathon in 1977 in Irvine, and he most recently

competed in the Disney World Marathon in January.

He is slated to run the Orange County half marathon Jan. 8,

followed by the L.A. Marathon on March 16.

He usually finishes in the upper third at each race, he said.

“I think it’s fairly remarkable,” Fisher said about being able to

compete with a large portion of the other runners. “But if you looked

at last year’s statistics, there were guys in their 70s that beat me.

That’s kind of discouraging.”

Fisher hopes to be one of those guys eventually, however. After

all, it’s not where he finishes, because he is only competing against

himself.

Fisher said he has stayed relatively injury free during his

running days, minus the minor setbacks a lot of runners face.

And he plans to continue running as long as he possibly can.

“Personally, I would like to run till the day I die,” he said. “I

mean, why not?”