RUNNERS GET ON PACE TO BEAT LEUKEMIA : AREA MARATHONERS RAISE FUNDS FOR PATIENTS AS THEY PREPARE FOR MAY RACE.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

Eighteen times, they sweated up Chalk Hill on Ventura Boulevard and through the home stretch on Victory Boulevard on weekly seven-mile practice runs.

They've begged co-workers for loose change and held bake sales and garage sales.

And when Judy Fierro's last runner crosses the finish line at the Vancouver Marathon on May 4, not only will all 11 have checked off a major goal on almost any runner's life list - running a marathon - they also will have raised more than $20,000 for a worthy cause.

``I'm running for a Camarillo girl who was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 5,'' said Fierro, who will run the marathon with a group she has coached for the past four months. ``She's 7 now, and she's currently in remission.''

Fierro and 11 others - including Fierro's husband, Bob - will compete in the marathon to raise money for the Leukemia Society of America. The society sponsors three marathons each year, with individual runners collecting a required minimum of about $2,600 in pledges.

Fierro learned of the young girl, Rachel Baker, while she was working in a Thousand Oaks doctor's office with the girl's grandmother. She decided to coach the runner's group - made up of runners from the San Fernando Valley and western Ventura County - in November.

``I thought, what better way to combine my love of running with helping others?'' said Fierro of Camarillo, who at 39 has run 15 marathons in the past four years. ``Between Bob and I, we've run all the distances, and I have the discipline. I coach them through a schedule and keep them realistic.''

With the exception of her husband, all the runners in Fierro's group are novices, who often underestimate the time required to train, she said.

``When you start running 17, 18 or 20 miles - plus the time it takes to raise the money - it's a big commitment,'' she said, adding that only one person had dropped out of the training.

``We like to say that everybody wins,'' Fierro said. ``Runners get to train in a small group with individualized attention, and we raise money for the Leukemia Society.''

Fierro sets up runners' training schedules, analyzes their strides and brings in guest speakers on running subjects ranging from injuries to nutrition.

On May 4, the local runners will join about 3,000 others - 500 of whom are running for the Leukemia Society. All told, runners like those in Fierro's group raise about $250,000 per marathon for leukemia research.

A small portion of the donations pays for runners' travel and accommodations, but because the society sponsors the event and attracts hundreds of runners, these costs are low.

Like Fierro, each athlete will run in the name of a person stricken with the disease.

Runners collect their pledges during the five- to six-months-long training period prior to the race date, and group coaches like Fierro volunteer their services.

Fierro said Monday that many in her group were close to the $2,600 per runner goal, but a few were lagging.

``So we're having a Camarillo fund-raiser with Round Table Pizza, because we want to make sure that everybody goes,'' she said. ``Every pizza you buy (today) or Tuesday, April 8, 20 percent goes to the Leukemia Society.''

Fierro hopes that today's fund-raiser will put the group in the black and ready for race day May 4.

And after a short break, Fierro will begin training with a new Ventura County group for the Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 14. That group will begin training runs in July, and runners must raise $2,900 each.

For more information about the Ventura County training group for the Leukemia Society of America, call Fierro at [phone].

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Photo

Photo: (Color only in Conejo edition) Pictured are a group of runners from Los Angeles and Ventura counties who are training to compete in the Vancouver Marathon in a Leukemia Society of America benefit on May 4.

Leukemia Society of America