A Year-Long Run to Stage a Marathon : Flanagan, Staff Help Make It Possible for 4,000 People to Travel 26.2 Miles in City

If cleanliness is next to godliness, Lynn Flanagan’s desk full of organized clutter certainly has fallen from grace.

It’s 4 days before the starting gun for Sunday’s San Diego International Marathon. Flanagan, the race director, and her In Motion, Inc., staff of nine--five full-time, four part-time--are knee-keep in paper work and putting the finishing touches on a race they’ve been planning since the last runner crossed the finish line last year.

While the expected 4,000 runners from seven foreign countries and 33 states--40% of the runners live outside California--need only to arrive and run the 26.2-mile course in anywhere from about 2 hours and 10 minutes on, Flanagan and company have put in thousands of hours to pull off an event they hope will etch fond memories in the minds of racers, sponsors, volunteers and spectators.

“No one can begin to imagine the kinds of things that go into running an event of this magnitude,” Flanagan said from her office in Pacific Beach a week before the marathon. This will be the fourth running of the event, previously known as the Heart of San Diego Marathon.

“I have to honestly say this is the first year I’m actually looking forward to next year’s event,” Flanagan said, “everything’s going so smoothly.”

Last year, Flanagan’s staff did everything but pitch a tent in the office to make sure all details were complete before race day. She views the current 12-hour days as a luxury.

“Usually at this time, you always wish you had 6 more weeks,” Flanagan said, “but this year we seem to have real good communication.”

Flanagan’s sports marketing firm was responsible for 3-4 races a year until the Heart Assn. approached her 4 years ago to take over the marathon. It now makes up 60% of her company’s business.

Having spent a month designing the course and 3-4 weeks to mark it, Flanagan knows every nook and cranny. It is similar to last year’s course, but construction and traffic changes mandated changes.

“You have the problem of beach access, the airport, the trolley, it all becomes very complicated,” Flanagan said. And it still must be scenic.

“We get 6 to 8 letters a day from runners telling us how important it is that they want a pretty course,” Flanagan said. “We try and utilize the beach, the harbor, everything that is special to San Diego.”

Pulling this race together takes manpower that includes a race committee of 25, a minimum of 1,200 volunteers and cooperation and flexibility from the police department and numerous government and private sectors.

It’s hard to simulate the event, but Flanagan and her staff try. Already, they have combed every inch the course to conjure up worst-case scenarios of anything that could happen between the runner’s first step and his last.

“Flexibility is everything,” Flanagan said. “If your registration tables don’t arrive, you sit on the ground.”

Flanagan’s worst nightmare materialized at the 10K that was run in conjunction with the marathon 3 years ago. Now she can laugh at the famous trolley episode.

The race crossed trolley lines, and the leaders were stopped for 30 seconds while the streetcars rolled by.

“To this day, I’ll never know if the runners ran 30 seconds faster or if the trolley came 30 seconds later,” Flanagan said. “I thought my career was over. I thought I’d be run out of town.”

Luckily, the runners finished in the same order they were in when they were detained.

The tremendous scope of race-day work involves volunteers manning water stations, acting as course guides, T-shirt and refreshment distribution, security, transportation, parking, equipment, cleanup, timing, registration and start- and finish-line tactics. Before the race, they distribute entry forms, mark the course and help at the 3-day exhibition at the San Diego Marriott and Marina.

The police provide many of the 1,500 traffic cones, 900 barricades and 600 no-parking signs, and there are 140 traffic posts where officers must be stationed during the race.

The marathon has never been sued--it has $100 million in liability insurance coverage--in part because Flanagan has left no stone unturned.

“Two years ago there was a fatality in the 5K course,” Flanagan said. “but CPR was administered within seconds.” There is full radio communication throughout the course, 13 water and 3 medical stations, and Mercy Hospital has a complete medical tent at the finish.

In Motion prepares its volunteers for potential pratfalls by hosting seminars.

“Like in the New York City Marathon,” Flanagan said. “Did you see Joan Benoit fall? A water boy tripped her. We try and train our personnel to keep anything like that from happening.”

The marathon can’t have any negative impact on the community. For instance, Flanagan described a stretch of 3 blocks on the course where the runners will be running both ways, leaving residents trapped for hours. So In Motion is having a block party for them.

Keeping on friendly terms with the community requires an all-out effort by Flanagan’s staff. She knows the city won’t come to a standstill to accommodate them.

“We distribute thousands of flyers a week before the race, to residents, to businesses, to let them know how they will be affected by the race,” Flanagan said.

Interruptions range from bus schedules to church parking. “We have to give these people alternatives,” Flanagan said.

As a former marathoner, Flanagan takes considerable interest in the needs of the runners.

“I’m more sensitive to them, I know what they need in the last few miles,” Flanagan said.

One way is to cater to the needs of all marathoners, not just the elite. The event will include something called a 4-hour-plus club this year, in which volunteers run the last few miles with people, especially first-time marathoners, who will need more than 4 hours to finish.

Also, for the first time, there will be a 15 homeless children running the last 2 miles of the 10K race run in conjunction with the marathon.

“There are 100 homeless children living in St. Vincent’s de Paul’s. There’s a running group that works out with some kids there. They’ll have the excitement of crossing that finish line for the first time.”

For the future, Flanagan would like to have vacation packages and more prize money offered, making the race even more lucrative.

So don’t expect Flanagan to get her desk cleared off right away.