Marathon Has Been All Over Map : Running: Event appears to have found a place to call home in Carlsbad.

As troubled youths go, this one has been particularly unsettling.

For more than 30 years, the San Diego Marathon’s growth has been stunted, in part, by a City Hall that turned a deaf ear to its cries and refused to lend much civic support. The marathon did what any desperate child would do--it ran away from home.

Since its birth in 1954, the San Diego Marathon has changed its name and moved enough times to confuse the Thomas Brothers. Mission Bay. Mission Valley. Coronado. Carlsbad.

Finally, it found a home it hopes will be permanent. Carlsbad saw promise in the event in 1990, and the city struck a five-year agreement with race organizers. For the first time, Sunday’s 26.2-mile race will be run entirely within the city limits. With the backing of city officials and local businesses, Carlsbad seems committed to helping make the marathon a world-class one.

“We want to become one of the top 10 marathons in the country,” Race Director Lynn Flanagan said. “But the city of Carlsbad is even more ambitious than we are. They want to be in the top five.”

That will take considerable time. The last year the marathon attracted a top-flight field was in 1986, when Maureen Custy and Don Janicki won. Custy, now Custy-Roben, took more than a year off to have a child and is making a comeback here.

Among the marathons’ lesser problems, critics say, are a slow course, an unimaginative start-finish, a bad time of year and confusion in the name--the San Diego Marathon in Carlsbad?

But the biggest reason the elitist of runners stay away is simple: a laughable purse.

“It all comes down to money,” said Luis Felipe Posso, an agent whose clients include Mexico’s Salvador Garcia, recent winner of the New York Marathon. “It’s sad to say, but that’s the way it is.”

Marathons are so physically demanding, most elite runners can race only once or twice a year. So limited is the earning power of those who make their living running these things, they must choose their races carefully.

“It’s not like being a 5K or 10K runner where you can race almost every weekend,” said Tampa-based Posso. “(Marathoners) only get a few chances a year.”

Prize money, bonuses and appearance fees vary, but Posso said its not unheard of for top runners to earn up to $100,000 a race.

San Diego’s total purse this year is $16,000, up from an all-time low of $3,000 in 1988, but down from a record high $30,000 in 1987. Sunday’s winners each receive $2,000 and a new Honda Civic.

“Why would you want to go to San Diego?” Posso said. “From time to time, I’ll have runners who want to run in low-key marathons. Salvador’s run the Long Beach Marathon the last two years because we knew it was an easy race.”

Garcia’s payday at Long Beach was $25,000 per victory. His times there, two hours, 15 minutes in 1990 and 2:16 this year, were about six and seven minutes slower than his winning 2:09.30 in New York this year.

“That’s an easy $50,000,” said Posso.”

Not that San Diego isn’t a good place for talented runners to start. Maurilio Castillo, third-place finisher here in 1989, won the Twin Cities Marathon in 1990 and picked up $25,000.

“After you go to San Diego once, you usually don’t go back,” Posso said.

The marathon’s economic woes reflect widespread tough times, but more importantly reflect Flanagan’s inflexibility when it comes to the integrity of the race.

Potential sponsors usually have an agenda and before Flanagan signs them up, she wants to be sure it won’t infringe or have an adverse effect on the runners.

“Some (sponsors) want in because they want the fast names, some want exposure, some just want to entertain their clients,” Flanagan said. “We have to find out what those things are and see if it coincides with what we stand for.”

Television might not like to have the ambulances on site to clutter the scenery behind the cameras, but that’s tough, Flanagan said.

“Sometimes it may not be in line with the integrity of the race,” she said. “Some people don’t want the race to start as early as it does. Well, that’s not good for the runners.”

And that means any runner, hot shot to novice. Flanagan believes that caring for the needs of all entrants, not catering to the whims of the seeded few, will give San Diego a solid base on which to grow.

“There has to be control,” Flanagan said. “We want to grow and we have. But when you add something, you have to do it in a quality way. We take note of little details.”

Costa Mesa’s Kathy Smith, the defending women’s champion, has encouraged several friends to run in San Diego because of its individual attention.

“Instead of taking care of one, they’re taking care of 15,” she said. “It’s more important for a group to walk away happy.”

Smith did last year and she’s returned to try and duplicate her feat.

“The first (victory’s) always special,” Smith said. “It’s a beautiful course and Lynn does a lot for the runners. It’s a very supportive environment.”

One race management official criticized the marathon’s start-finish, located in the Plaza Camino Real shopping center, as a strange choice.

“Classic runs don’t start and finish in a shopping center,” he said. “That would be like the Tour de France starting in El Camino Plaza.”

Flanagan said comfort is more important than tradition or aesthetics.

“There’s a huge grass area where people can sit,” she said in defense. “One year it ended at Sea World and there was gravel all over.”

Said Smith: “A lot of races don’t have distinguishing points. It’s more what’s put into a race than where it starts. The people, the banners, the noise. That’s what’s going to make an impression for a lot of runners, especially first-timers. If it’s positive, they’ll come back, if not, they won’t. And that’s how you build a marathon.”

Conflicts with the Hawaii and California International marathons, which are this weekend, and the New York Marathon (November) traditionally affected the elite field in San Diego. This year, the Olympic Marathon Trials, especially the women’s, factor into who’s here and who’s not. The men’s trials aren’t until April 11 in Columbus, Ohio, but the women’s are Jan. 26 in Houston.

“The time of year hurts them,” said agent Rich Castro, whose clients include Poland’s Wanda Panfill, one of the world’s top-ranked women. “It would be better in the spring, to give the athletes time to train.”

Flanagan said less competitive runners still can run both here and New York. Besides, a spring marathon would conflict with the Long Beach Marathon.

“I’d rather compete with an East Coast race than another West Coast race,” she said.

Unless the marathon is set on a faster course, Castro said, she won’t have to worry, because the best runners won’t race in San Diego.

“You have to go where you think you’ll get fast times,” he said. “San Diego hasn’t traditionally yielded fast times. The course isn’t easy. If you’re not going to get fast times, in case you’re trying to qualify for another race, or a lot of money, you look elsewhere.”

Flanagan said an ugly hill was taken out of the course which should help for faster times, but there are no plans for radical changes.

“This is an untested course,” she said. “We eliminated as many hills as possible. Can we have world-record times here? Probably not, but they won’t be particularly slow either. I think you’ll see some fast times, but the runners will have to work for them.”

SAN DIEGO MARATHON AT-A-GLANCE

TIME MARATHON 26.2 MILES 7:30 A.M. HALF MARATHON 13.1 MILES 7:00 A.M.

HEALTH AND FITNESS EXPO DECEMBER 7 TODAY 10 A.M. TO 8 P.M. DECEMBER 8 SUNDAY 8 A.M. TO 1 P.M.

WHERE ALL EVENTS START AND FINISH AT PLAZA CAMINO REAL SHOPPING CENTER. ENTRIES MORE THAN 7,000 RUNNERS ARE EXPECTED REPRESENTING 40 STATES AND 12 FOREIGN COUNTRIES. PURSE $16,000 IN PRIZE MONEY, WITH FASTEST MAN AND WOMAN WINNING $12,000 AND A HONDA CIVIC. CHARITIES TWENTY SIX OFFICIAL CHARITIES WILL SERVE AS THE BENEFICIARIES.