Tobago Marathoner Found After 13-Hour Odyssey in Valley

In the mood for a long, hard run, Michael Alexander, a marathoner from Tobago, made a wrong turn on his way from a Burbank track to Sherman Oaks and got lost. Thirteen hours--and nearly the distance of a marathon--later, after his sister had reported him missing, he flagged down a police car Friday morning, about a mile and a half from her house.

“I’m a little embarrassed, but OK,” said Alexander, who is on his first trip to the United States. “I’ll never forget L.A. after this.”

Among Alexander’s memories will be his jog on the Ventura Freeway and a collect phone call to a relative in Tobago, who passed on Alexander’s predicament to his sister in Sherman Oaks.

“What happens is that he concentrates so deeply when he runs that he forgets everything else,” said his sister, Angela Alexander.

Alexander’s adventure began about 7:30 p.m. Thursday. He usually runs with a partner or scouts the route in advance to get a feel for it. This time he did neither, and soon became disoriented in the San Fernando Valley’s look-alike topography.

Alexander said he did not know it is illegal to run on freeways--which he did for about four miles between Sherman Oaks and Burbank.

“I thought it was just like a normal street,” he said. “Yes, I did hear some cars honking.”

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As the sky continued to darken, Alexander realized he was lost. He said he told some policemen he was disoriented, “but they didn’t seem to care,” and when he asked a store clerk for directions, “he told me to go left when I was supposed to go straight.”

With no money, and unable to remember the address or phone number of his sister’s apartment, Alexander jogged on, searching fruitlessly for familiar landmarks. Finally, he called Tobago collect.

His sister there phoned Angela Alexander to tell her that their brother was safe. Unfortunately, he had no idea where he was, so all Angela could do was tell police about his predicament.

Several hours later, after running, then walking for a while, Alexander came to Moorpark Park, where he waited until daylight.

“I didn’t want to sleep,” the 5-foot, 9-inch, 115-pound runner said. “I didn’t feel it was safe.”

About 9 a.m. Friday, an LAPD patrol car found him and his sister was called to pick him up.

Alexander’s all-night odyssey proved his own philosophy of the marathon.

Quoted in a Trinidad newspaper article earlier this year, he said, “The marathon race is never won by the quickest athlete. . . . The prize comes to those who endureth to the end.”