BEST FOOT FORWARD : Step by Step, Herazo of Sherman Oaks Gains Ground in Race-Walking Rankings

Victoria Herazo wouldn’t even think of parking in the handicapped space. She would putt out all the gimmes and never take a mulligan. Getting into the Express Lane with 11 items would be out of the question.

It’s not that she would make Abe Lincoln look like Ed Meese, but how else does one explain a race walker who never, ever, thinks about breaking into a jog, much less a flat-out sprint?

Herazo says, and rightly so, that doing so would put the other walkers at a competitive disadvantage. But doesn’t she even consider surreptitiously running a few steps to catch up with the competition?

“No.”

Oscar Wilde said that he could resist anything but temptation. Herazo resists even being tempted.

It is not uncommon for top walkers to be disqualified from races for code violations, but Herazo, 30, a Sherman Oaks resident, has never been ejected from a major competition.

Leo Durocher to the contrary, Herazo has done well by doing good. Slightly less than three years after the mild-mannered Herazo decided to take a walk on the wild side, she has become one of the top U. S. race walkers.

“I’ve coached a lot of people,” Herazo’s coach, Jim Bentley, said. “But this one has done more in the last six months than any person I’ve ever coached.”

A member of the national race-walking team, Herazo has vaulted to sixth in the U. S. rankings at 10 kilometers. She recently earned a bronze medal for the West team in the Olympic Festival 10K last month in Oklahoma City.

The race was held in 100-degree temperatures but Herazo, who frequently trains at Valley College under the noonday sun, was prepared for the heat.

“It was like the Sahara Desert out there,” Herazo said. “It was pretty dangerous. A lot of the girls almost passed out.”

Earlier in July, Herazo walked in cooler climes, competing in Sweden’s Walk Week. It was the first overseas competition for Herazo, whose competitive athletic career had been dormant for years before she began race walking.

Herazo, an animal-health technician with the East Valley Animal Shelter in North Hollywood, earned an Associate of Sciences degree from Pierce. She is working toward a degree in biology at Cal State Northridge but never competed in intercollegiate athletics.

Herazo’s main claim to athletic fame was the shotput record she set at her Ohio high school. Then, in December, 1986, she saw Bentley working with some other race walkers in the Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Park and became interested. She soon found out that the sport was more than just a walk in the park.

“I’ve always been competitive, and I thought, well, I’ll give it a try,” Herazo said. “I never thought I’d be good at it. . . . It was difficult at first. It’s different than running. You’re using totally different muscle groups, and it’s a different gait completely.”

The Soviet women have mastered race walking. They hold seven of the top-10 positions in the world rankings. None of the U. S. women are ranked.

An arcane sport that will become an Olympic event for women at the 1992 Barcelona Games, race walking has two main rules: one foot must always be in contact with the ground and the knee must lock as the leg passes forward under the body. Violations draw warnings, and three warnings from three different judges result in disqualification.

“You have to get into sort of a rhythm,” Herazo said. “Your arms are moving fast, and you keep a certain pace. You count to yourself, one-two-three-four, and it’s almost like music.”

If Herazo’s walking is like music, she has mastered everything from the scales to the opus. This year, she won the Times Indoor Games mile, the national 15K championship and set a U. S. record for the one-hour walk by covering 12,051 meters in 60 minutes.

“It’s not like running, where you just try to go fast,” Herazo said. “With race walking you have to maintain technique. You have to be thinking all the time.”

Walking races often turn into tactical battles, and, during competition, Herazo finds nearly everything running through her mind. Everything, that is, except running.