His Desire to Lose Wins a Marathon

By WENDY WITHERSPOON

Jan. 27, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

HUNTINGTON BEACH — About two years ago, Dennis Arnds was 20 pounds overweight and looking for a way to lose his college beer gut.

There was no trace of that gut Sunday at the Huntington Beach Pier, when Arnds, 28, won the Pacific Shoreline marathon in 2 hours 35 minutes 59 seconds. Teri Spiker, 39, of Ventura was the top female finisher in 3:03:37.

It was the first year for the marathon category in the 3-year-old Pacific Shoreline event. It also was the first marathon that Arnds, who attended Edison High and Cal State Long Beach, has run.

He discovered he was the leader at about Mile 13, when the pack of half-marathon entrants made their turn.

“I went out with the half-marathon leaders. They all broke off and I didn’t know until 13 miles where I was and then I was all alone,” he said.

Arnds finished almost 10 minutes in front of the second-place finisher, Rob McNair of Huntington Beach (2:45:57).

“When you’re by yourself it’s grinding,” said Arnds, whose time qualifies him for the Boston Marathon.

Arnds may have more company next year when word spreads about the beauty of the course, which looped around Pacific Coast Highway.

“It was excellent. [Going] out and back, out and back, you can see where you are,” Arnds said.

Arnds was one of a contingent of about 50 from the Fountain Valley-based Snail’s Pace running club.

“I got out of college and I was a little overweight, so I decided to start running,” he said. “People I train with thought I could win but I didn’t.”

Previously, Arnds’ longest race was a half marathon and his longest training run was 18 miles. He worried about the longer distance.

“At mile 18 I knew I would be fine,” he said. “I never hit a wall. . . . My thighs were tired, that was it.”

Spiker was greeted at the finish line by her 8-year-old daughter, Emily, who quickly informed her that she didn’t meet her goal of three hours.

“I know,” Spiker said good-naturedly.

Spiker began racing about a year ago and won a marathon in Lompoc in June. Spiker said she entered the Pacific Shoreline marathon because of the time of year during which it’s held.

“It’s a pretty fast course. The weather was wonderful,” she said.

After raining all day Saturday, skies cleared at about 6:30 a.m. Sunday, creating virtually perfect racing conditions and revealing a stunning course.

Racers in four events, including a 5K and 10K, said they enjoyed the spectacular scenery along the ocean front and the fast, flat course.

Some racers in the half marathon, however, got to see a bit more of the course than they would have liked. About the first third of the half-marathon runners missed a turn because there was no volunteer to guide them. They ended up running about an extra three miles. The remainder of the runners in the half-marathon event ran the correct distance, 13 miles.

“It happened and I’m sick about it,” said Herb Massinger, president of Race Pace Promotions, which ran the event.

Because it was impossible to sort out which runners ran which distances in the half marathon, overall places were difficult to ascertain. Massinger said he would personally talk to individual runners to try to piece together the places in the age and city categories, but that could take days.

Robert Leonardo, 33, of Van Nuys, was the first male finisher in 1:07:01 and Theresa Uhrig, 29, of Los Angeles, was the first female finisher in 1:31:50.

Dave Parsel, 41, of Costa Mesa, won the 10K in 32:59 and Sarah MacDougall, 22, of Fullerton, was the first female finisher in 36:39.

Parsel is a former football player and track athlete at Estancia High and Orange Coast College. He currently is a volunteer assistant with the Orange Coast cross-country and track teams.

MacDougall is a junior on the Cal State Fullerton track and cross-country teams. She had the fastest time in the Big West Conference in the 5,000 meters last spring, 17:12, and placed second in the conference meet in the event.

The Pacific Shoreline event was MacDougall’s first 10K, but she wasn’t worried.

“After I saw the 5K, I thought I had a chance to win the 10K, because it didn’t look like there were too many quality runners,” she said.

MacDougall’s Fullerton teammate, Stuart Gonzalez, won the 5K in 14:34 and Yayoi Liu, 39, of Irvine, was the top female finisher in 17:45.

Gonzalez, who placed fifth in the 10,000 meters at the 1995 conference meet, shaved 45 seconds off his personal best in a 10K road race. He was worried the course might be short but also said conditions were the best he’s ever seen for racing.

“It seems like the people down here are really pumped about the runners,” he said. “When I came through and everyone was clapping, I thought, ‘This is great.’ ”

There were no elite runners this year in any of the Pacific Shoreline events. Massinger hopes to garner enough sponsors over the next few years to establish prize money and draw top runners.

About 2,400 runners participated in the event, including nearly 400 in the marathon. The crowd of spectators was somewhat meager with only a few hundred gathered around the finish line, but local businesses and the sponsors seemed pleased.

“I think considering the weather,” said Michelle DeMott, a field promotions manager for Power Bar, “it was a pretty good turnout.”