Larry Kuzmanko flashed back 24 years when he stood nearby as Mayor Luke Ravenstahl yesterday announced from his office that the Pittsburgh Marathon will return in 2009 after a six-year hiatus with a new name, Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon. He glanced at a picture on the wall of the late Mayor Dick Caliguiri.

"It's hard to believe it's been that long ... I can still remember it," said Kuzmanko, founder and director of the Pittsburgh Marathon. "I was just 29 back then and thought I knew it all. I've learned how much I didn't know."

Kuzmanko, director of special events for Allegheny County, said he is "race director emeritus" for the new marathon that will be May 3 over a 26.2-mile course similar to the one that attracted approximately 2,500 for the inaugural marathon in 1985. The Pittsburgh Marathon peaked in the late '80s, when the U.S. Olympic women's trials were run in '88 and the men's national championships in '87 and '89. It also was the site of the Olympic trials for Finland and Denmark. At its height, the marathon drew 6,000 from 20 countries and nearly all 50 states.

The marathon was cancelled in 2004, when UPMC pulled out as the primary sponsor and the city was on the verge of bankruptcy.

"It's exciting to see it coming back. We want to regain the reputation of the marathon. It's a work in progress," said Kuzmanko, who recalled the original sponsors of the marathon were U.S. Steel, Pittsburgh National Bank and Thrift. "The first year [back] we just want to put on a great race, and then we'll start making it a world-class event as we go into the second and third years."

Kuzmanko said he anticipates in the neighborhood of 3,000 runners to participate in the marathon that will wind its way through the streets of Downtown, North Side, South Side, Oakland, Shadyside, Point Breeze, Homewood, East Liberty, Bloomfield, Highland Park and the Strip District.

"Our business is sports," said Jeffrey R. Hennion, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Dick's Sporting Goods, "but we want to be more than just a company. We want to make it our business to support the community. We'll raise awareness [of the marathon] through our marketing and make sure runners everywhere know of this event. There's nothing like the neighborhood feel."

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato expressed his feelings that the marathon transcends being just a race.

"It's also for the psyche of the region. It's hard to put a price tag on what it means to the people of this region," he said. "It's great public relations and gives us national exposure, and you can't put a price tag on that."

The organizers of the marathon officially announced the return of the event a year in advance, in part, to give runners time to train.

"You don't just get up tomorrow and say, 'I'm going to run 26.2 miles,' " said Don Norman, co-organizer of the event and a premier marathoner who finished fourth and ninth in the Pittsburgh Marathon in the late '80s. "You have to start getting ready to run a marathon every day. The big thing is not to train too hard and expect to be able to run a marathon right away. It's a long run that takes about six months to prepare for."

Norman said Western Pennsylvania provides a fertile training ground for marathoners.

"The hills make you tough," he said with a knowing smile. "We lack the world-class runners, but we have a lot of runners who are very strong. This is a real good area."