Lornah Kiplagat

Say "water workouts" and this is the image that usually comes to mind: members of an aquarobics class, all of them 70-plus, performing mild pec flies, bicep curls and other dumbbell-type movements as they walk leisurely around the pool. But here, at Frog's Fitness in Spring Valley, east of San Diego, the students' hands are enclosed in perforated yellow, red and blue plastic domes.

You don't have to have a great marathon to have a great city. I'm pretty sure Parisians don't lose sleep because theirs isn't as prestigious as London's, Boston's or Tokyo's. I'm absolutely sure they don't give a damn about Rotterdam. I, however, agree with Bill Burke, president of the Los Angeles Marathon. If you have a marathon, it should be a great one.

From the moment Simon Bor pulled away from a longtime friend who was now his biggest threat, his victory in Sunday's running of the Los Angeles Marathon was never in doubt. But even as the lithe 30-year-old Kenyan left the pack behind, the event's drama kept building because this was no ordinary marathon. Organizers said they would redesign the scenic yet torturously hilly 26.2-mile course if the winner failed to finish in less than two hours and 10 minutes, the benchmark of a fast marathon.

Two weeks after Deena Drossin won an individual silver medal at the world cross-country championships and shared a team silver medal, she romped through the Carlsbad 5,000 in 14 minutes 54 seconds, a world record for a road race. Afterward, she described herself as "strong but not fit," even though the evidence indicated otherwise.

Their Michael Jordans are Cosmas Ndeti, Kip Keino and Paul Tergat, countrymen who have been the best in the world at what they do, which is run over hill and dale . . . and over a lot more hills and dales. Running is part of the culture in Kenya, success breeding success in a way that has kept Kenyan men dominating long-distance racing for nearly two generations. That's why organizers knew exactly where to look to improve the field for this year's Los Angeles Marathon. Want a car? Call Detroit.

His memories are as warm as that summer's day, when he ran through the streets of Havana, accompanied by his family on their Chinese bicycles, and entered the stadium where 35,000 voices were yelling, "Cuba, Cuba, Cuba." The man and the country. A population that reveres its baseball players had fallen in love with a second baseman who couldn't field a ground ball. "I was like this," Alberto Cuba said, pantomiming a ball rolling through his legs into center field.

Maurice Greene's sixth-place finish in the 100 meters at Friday's Golden League finale is sure to fuel speculation that the world-record holder is past his prime. Greene slowed near the end and was clocked in 10.20 seconds in the ISTAF meet at Berlin. Winner Dwain Chambers finished in 10.02. It was the fifth time Chambers, the European champion, had beaten Greene this season. Last week, Greene was sixth, at 10.11 seconds, in the Memorial Van Damme meet at Brussels, won by U.S.

Even El Nino cannot douse Southern California's ability to churn out an annual bounty of quirky stories. Here are some distinctly odd memories of 1997. Nuts Redux Richard Aller's return to work in August was welcomed as a great day for peanut lovers, not to mention Dodger fans. Aller is the veteran goober vendor whose sarcastic jibes and yells of "Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!" had echoed through the stadium since the day it opened in 1962.

Last year, for the first time, the Los Angeles Marathon offered in-line skaters the chance to whoosh around the city. There was the guy with a glittery red cape. A woman wearing an Army helmet. Another guy who had hooked himself up to a para-sail. Groups of skaters churning along with ski poles. Still others throwing flowers, making like Tiny Tim on wheels.