Running for Themselves and Others : Marathon: Members of the Team in Training work to conquer both the 26.2-mile distance and leukemia.

It’s too early for visions of sugar plums to be dancing anywhere as yet, but on the eve of the San Diego International Marathon, the dreamscapes of some 6,000 runners will likely include some of the following:

* Leaders looking nervously over their shoulders to see who’s breathing down their necks.

* First-timers looking nervously over their shoulders to make sure someone’s breathing down their necks.

* Then there will be the Barbara Egans, wondering how their toenails are holding up, and the John Flemings, hoping their bodies aren’t tricking them into picking up the pace too early.

* The Betty Murphys will be wondering what part of their body they will call upon to accommodate that extra six miles, and the Alex Sandies will be planning the easiest way to get into and out of their kilts. OK, so only one Alex Sandie will actually be doing that.

* And, as will most everyone, the Dennis Ahlmans will be wanting the whole darn thing to end.

But Ahlman, the director of the Leukemia Society of San Diego, is one of 24 runners representing “Team in Training” and as prepared for this 26.2-mile joy ride--his second attempt to finish a marathon in 10 years--as he’ll ever be.

“I’m a little scared but excited,” said Ahlman, who commissioned the help of Mark Zeisinger, San Diego Athletic Club general manager, and SDAC Fitness Director Thom Hunt in forming the Team in Training six months ago.

Ahlman had worked closely with Zeisinger and Hunt in past Leukemia Society-sponsored Coronado bridge races. And he didn’t hesitate to approach them with his proposal for a unique fund-raiser used in the New York City Marathon by the Westchester/Hudson Valley Leukemia Society of New York.

According to Ahlman, flat sums and per-mile pledges raised by the runners added $300,000 to the coffers of the New York charity in the last marathon. He felt it would work here but wanted to take it a step further by implementing a training program as added incentive.

“I thought it would be a great way to raise money and give something to first-time runners,” Ahlman said. “For the public, the marathon is such a nightmare, and this is a service we can provide.”

While Team in Training runners are dedicated to raising money for the Leukemia Society, the creators are dedicated to preparing members to enjoy the difficult run as much as possible.

“Not to take away from it,” said Hunt, coach and director of Team in Training and the marathon’s official spokesman, “but a marathon is something most people can do. Some just aren’t as sure of it as I am. And I can make it a more enjoyable experience.”

According to Hunt, two-thirds of the members are first-time marathoners who weren’t sure they could face the training alone or complete the race.

“They wanted to do it,” he said, “they just had no idea as to how to get there.”

So Hunt has guided them step by step. In June, eight runners attended the first meeting. They ran three miles.

Since then, they have met twice a month to exchange progress reports, take long-distance runs and get workout and diet information from Hunt.

“Our program is different,” Hunt said. “Some groups are much more specific. The running is tied in with the fact that we’re here to raise money. It’s not as if these people hired a personal coach.”

Maybe not, but members felt Hunt gave them as much coaching and support as if they had.

“Thom’s both a motivator and expert,” said Barbara Egan, a novice who had a zero running base when Hunt gently coaxed her into the group.

“No thing was too small to ask of him,” she said. “I remember calling him late one night telling him my toenail hurt and asking what I should do. He’s a psychologist and trainer at the same time. There’s always something he can help you with.”

Said John Fleming, a loan officer at Home Federal Bank and former recreational runner who has decreased his mile pace by two minutes: “I have a lot of respect for him, for his knowledge in training someone.”

The group peaked with 35 members, but 24 stuck with the commitment of turning in mileage cards and gathering pledges, which in some cases has turned their lives topsy-turvy.

“My husband is very sick of this,” said Egan, a real estate agent for Paydar Properties and a Leukemia Society board member.

Hunt approached Egan because he needed a running partner for beginner Missi Santana. The two have since formed a buddy system. Now, Egan is up at 4 daily to get in her morning run.

“Your personal life changes because everything revolves around the marathon,” she said. “I’m a little late to work these days, I wear flat shoes now, my eating has changed. And I’m always talking about it. It’s a regimented life.”

A former swimmer, she said she had always wanted to do a marathon, but lacked the discipline.

“This was the perfect opportunity,” she said. “I have a running buddy who expects me to be there and a coach who expects me to turn in my mileage.”

In New York, pledges of $5,000 were required, but each Team in Training member is responsible for raising $2,500. So Egan found herself accountable to her financial backers as well, some of whom requested periodic training updates.

“The people who were pledging money were always asking me how training was going,” Egan said. “It’s kept me very honest.”

The group is linked through a two-fold desire to raise money for the Leukemia Society and to eventually finish.

“The common goal is successfully completing the marathon,” Fleming said. “It doesn’t matter how fast. And it’s a good way of raising money for a good cause.”

Last year’s San Diego International Marathon was Alex Sandie’s first. Sandie, of Edinburgh, Scotland, joined Team in Training to help the cause. He will be the guy in a full kilt for the first and last miles.

“My training goals were set,” he said, “I joined mainly to help raise money. But I still benefitted from Thom’s knowledge.”

Hunt said the only criteria for joining Team in Training was the desire to raise money for a cause that has his personal interest.

“My stepfather died of leukemia,” said Hunt, the 1986 Heart of San Diego Marathon winner and four-time NCAA All-American at Arizona. “That made it all the more important.”

So can Betty Murphy, co-owner of Murphy’s Bookkeeping Service.

“I volunteered my services on many other charities, and I always get stuck with the bookkeeping,” she said. “This seemed like the perfect opportunity. I volunteered my services on another level.”

Although she has been running 15 years, Murphy’s longest races have been half-marathons.

“I was so dead after the half, I thought I could never go another 13,” Murphy said. Then after a Team in Training 20-mile training run, “I told Thom that I had absolutely no idea how I’d find another six miles in this body.”

Hunt’s sure she will. After all, he said, the key to finishing a marathon isn’t speed.

“Training the body to keep moving for three to five hours,” he said. “That’s the biggest physical challenge. You need to adapt training so it’s not too much come race day.”

For most, the goal isn’t a time but a finish that leaves them feeling like they’ll someday try it again.

“I just want to complete the distance and feel good,” Egan said.

Said Fleming: “To finish the race pain free is a goal. I’m trying for a eight-minute pace for the first 15 miles. If I’m doing good, toward 20 miles, I may pick it up.”

Fleming is, according to group members, one of the bigger success stories of Team in Training.

“John is one of our stars,” Ahlman said. “He’s lost lots of weight and raised lots of money for us.”

Fleming, 6-feet, 164 pounds, dropped 16 pounds during the intense training regimen. Eighteen months ago, Fleming ran with Hunt’s elite group and got a lesson.

“It was awful,” he said. “Now, most of the time I can keep up with them.”

Hunt said the runners’ worries include apprehension about proper preparation and what they’ll eat and drink on the course.

“ ‘Can I do it? Am I really ready? What will it be like?,’ ” he said. “Those are the kinds of questions they have.”

One of Fleming’s concerns was the time constraints that training would create.

“I was worried about how time consuming it would be,” he said. “Also, that I’d have to be disciplined and run when I didn’t want to.”

Egan said she feared failure.

“I wasn’t sure I had the mental strength,” she said, “But Thom is great at getting fears away. He’s so knowledgeable about the mind and running. He’s good at convincing you that you do feel good.”

Good enough to join Team in Training again next year, which Ahlman said he hopes to see.

“This is going to be an annual event,” he said. “We would like to see it really take off. We think it will be a major thrust for us.”

Sign Murphy up. “I would recommend this to anyone,” she said. “If they have it next year, I’ll do it for sure. I could have never done it on my own.”

SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL MARATHON FACTS WHERE: Starts and finishes near Hilton Beach & Tennis Resort on East Mission Bay Drive.

WHEN: Sunday, 8 a.m. start for wheelchairs, 8:05 for runners. Half-marathon begins at 7:30 a.m.

COURSE: The new 26.2-mile loop winds through parts of Old Town, the Gaslamp Quarter, downtown and along the boardwalk and beach. Last year’s course began in Balboa Park and ended downtown; it was changed after a survey showed that runners wanted to see more traditional areas of the city.

PARKING: Restricted parking near start-finish line. Free shuttles available to and from San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium all day, beginning at 5 a.m.

PRIZE MONEY: $22,000 total purse, $5,000 each to top man and woman.

TV: San Diego’s Thom Hunt, New Zealand Olympian Rod Dixon and Larry Rawson will broadcast for KTTY (Ch. 69) from 8 to 11 a.m.

ENTRIES: A record-breaking field of more than 6,000 runners is expected for both races, about 3,000 per race. Entries kill be accepted at the San Diego Hilton Beach & Tennis Resort until 8 p.m. tonight.

OUTLOOK: Defending champions Carlos Rivas of Mexico and Chantal Best of Detroit aren’t entered in the marathon. Best will run the half.

With Escondido’s Mindy Ireland, Glendale’s Marie Rollins and Great Britain’s Gillian Horovitz, the women’s race is shaping as the best. Ireland, 38, has a lifetime best 2:37:43 run in the Heart of San Diego Marathon in 1986. Rollins, a member of the 1988 Irish Olympic team, ran 2:37:55 last year in Las Vegas. Horovitz’s best of 2:37:10 was five years ago at the British Marathon championships. Earlier this year at the City of Los Angeles Marathon, Horovitz (2:49.53) and Ireland (2:51.22) finished 12th and 13th.

The men’s race features South African Mark Plaatjes, 28, now of Lake Forest, Ill. In 1985, he ran a 2:08.58 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He should be challenged by San Diego’s Steve McCormack, who finished fifth in the Heart of San Diego Marathon in 1986 in 2:16.54. Canadian national champion Gordon Christie, now of Santa Barbara, is also entered.

STREET CLOSINGS: East Mission Bay Drive (Clairemont Drive to the San Diego Hilton Beach & Tennis Resort), 6 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sea World Drive (no turn onto East Mission Bay Drive), 7:45-8:30 a.m.; Fiesta Island, 8 to 9 a.m.; Washington Street (at India Avenue), 8:30-9:15 a.m.; Sassafrass Street (at India Avenue), 8:30-9:30 a.m.; Evergreen Street (between Hugo Street and Nimitz Boulevard), 9-11 a.m.; South Mission Bay Drive (entrance to parking lot at Bayside Walk), 9:30 a.m.-noon.

STREET DELAYS: Laurel Street at Pacific Highway, 8:40-9:40 a.m.; Grape and Ash streets at Pacific Highway, 8:45-9:45 a.m.; Rosecrans Street at Hugo Street, 9:15-11 a.m.; West Point Loma Boulevard at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, 9:15-11:30 a.m.; Quivera Way east to Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, 9:20-11:30 a.m.; Grand Avenue, right turn not allowed at Mission Boulevard, Ingraham or Lamont streets, 9:55-11:45 a.m.