'Dying' race has bounce in its step

For a race rumored to be on its last leg three years ago, the Deseret Morning News Marathon certainly seems to have found its second wind.

The latest shot in the arm comes from Fodor's, the travel guide company, in a new guidebook called "The Traveling Marathoner." Written by a Hollywood screenwriter-turned-runner named Elise Allen, the book provides a month-by-month guide to what Allen calls America's "most outstanding race for that particular month."

Salt Lake City's Deseret Morning News Marathon is July's marathon-of-the-month.

I was in the office the other day when Bob Wood, the DMN race director, got his copy of "The Traveling Marathoner" in the mail.

It was not Bob's worst day.

He didn't hold the 374-page book in his hands; caressed would be a better description. This kind of publicity, you can't buy. Of all the thousands of crazy 26.2-milers in this crazy country, Fodor's chose his.

Among others that made the list were Chicago (October), New York City (November), Honolulu (December), Los Angeles (March) and that little one they hold every April in Boston.

Bob said he remembers when Elise Allen showed up for the 2004 race in Salt Lake and asked for information "for this guide she was doing."

"I knew who Fodor's was," said Bob. "I knew it wasn't Mad Magazine's Traveling Marathoner. I got that part. But I didn't realize we'd be in the same league as Boston, Chicago and New York.

Allen, an avid marathoner since she started running six years ago, praises Wood as much as the race he directs. "Not so long ago," she writes, "the Deseret Morning News Marathon was considered a lost cause; organization was poor, participation was down and its prospects were grim. Then came new race director Bob Wood, a titan in the running world. He has been a runner, a coach, a race organizer, and an agent to many of the world's top racers; he was also the head official for the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials and the Olympic Games. This is a man who knows the sport cold, and he had a vision of what this sleeping giant of a race could become."

Then she goes on to talk about the mountain Bob moved.

That would be the trek up Big Mountain, the race's traditional — and grueling — start that Bob eliminated when he took over the race's direction in 2004.

Instead, he changed the start to going down Big Mountain.