Schallert Plans on More Fancy Footwork in Marathon

After being chased down Ventura Boulevard by nearly 1,400 runners in the Valley’s half-marathon Sunday, Chris Schallert isn’t cooling his heels for the upcoming Los Angeles Marathon.

Schallert, who won the Boulevard Run in a personal-best 1:05.15, has registered for three 10Ks between now and the March 1 marathon. He and an estimated 20,000 other runners will take part in Sunday’s Super Bowl run in Redondo Beach. The Canoga Park resident will follow that a week later with the Chinatown Firecracker and then the Heart Run on Feb. 15 in Woodland Hills.

“I felt so much better in the Boulevard Run than I have for a while,” said Schallert, who was the metropolitan area’s top finisher in last year’s L.A. Marathon, finishing eighth in 2:19.42. “I improved my best time by a minute and a half, and I was kind of leery that the course may have been short, but it was supposed to be accurate.”

Schallert, 27, went out at a five-minute-mile pace in the Boulevard Run but wouldn’t think of duplicating that for a full marathon. “I’ve done that before and blown up at 15 miles and had to walk,” he said. “I can only handle 15 to 17 miles at that pace.”

Schallert thinks that 2:11.30 will win the L.A. Marathon but doesn’t feel he has a chance. “I’ll probably go out faster than I have in the past,” he said. “I feel real confident in what I can do, but I’ll be lucky to finish in the top 10 again.”

Schallert hopes to run the marathon under 2:20 to qualify for next year’s Olympic Trials.

For winning the Boulevard Run, Schallert received two round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the United States. The athlete runs more than he travels, however. He has yet to use the airline tickets he won in last year’s L.A. Marathon.