Runners Enjoy a Winning Relationship : Marathon: Linda Somers, a late entry, and her boyfriend, Brad Hawthorne, each score victories at Long Beach.

Linda Somers was supposed to be supporting her boyfriend, Brad Hawthorne, not running alongside him. At least that was Somers’ plan until Saturday, when she got caught up in the excitement of helping Hawthorne prepare for the Long Beach Marathon.

It was then that Somers decided to enter Sunday’s 12th annual race, hoping to erase the memory of a Houston marathon she dropped out of last month.

She did more than that, winning the Long Beach Marathon in a time of 2 hours 38 minutes 42 seconds on a cool, gray day that was perfect for running. Somers was met at the finish line by Hawthorne, who won the men’s division in 2:18:34.

Although neither Oakland runner expected to win the race, Somers said she believed she had a better chance.

“I thought that if anybody won, it would be me,” she said. “I thought Brad had more competition.”

Somers had more at the end of the race, just hanging on after leading the entire race.

In the women’s race, Jenny Dowie of Australia was second in 2:39:12 and Yvonne Danson of Singapore was third in 2:39:47.

Sam Rotich of Kenya was second in the men’s race, in 2:22:53, and Paul Allison was third in 2:24:54.

Deanna Sodoma of Carlsbad set a course record in the women’s wheelchair division. Sodoma’s time of 1:57:10 bettered the record of 1:57:44 set by Candace Cable in 1991. Scott Parson of Santa Barbara, in his first marathon, won the men’s division in 1:42:19.

Hawthorne, who won the San Diego Marathon only two weeks ago, ran in a tight pack for several miles, then pulled away at the halfway mark.

“The pace was too slow at the start of the race, I didn’t feel so good,” he said. “But after about 11 miles, I felt I could pull away and no one would come after me.”

No one did.

For Sodoma, Sunday’s victory was sweet revenge after her debacle in last year’s race. In that race, Sodoma arrived 40 minutes late for the start, raced anyway and clocked an unofficial course record. That indicated to Sodoma that she was ready for a record on her second try. Racing with men’s wheelchair racers the entire course, Sodoma battled strong head winds and thirst--she ran out of water at 23 miles--to set an official record this time.

“I was embarrassed by what happened last year,” she said. “It sounds so stupid for an elite athlete to not know the starting time. But, you only do that once. Today, I was early.”