In the middle of the Maine winter, when only the hardiest of runners is outdoors getting in their miles, Beryl and Jason Wolfe sit down to start work on the sporting event that has come to be associated with midsummer in southern Maine.

For six years, the couple’s firm, Wolfe Public Relations, has handled PR for the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K: writing news releases, organizing press conferences, credentialing media, suggesting story ideas, arranging interviews and generally coordinating coverage for one of the top road races of its kind in the world.

“It’s not our biggest account,” says Beryl, “but it’s our biggest event.”

Dave Weatherbie, president of the Beach to Beacon, says that the Wolfes have been “a huge asset” to the race.

“One of the key considerations in using them as our PR firm for the past several years is that they take the time to find out what the race is about – ” says Weatherbie, “who the elite athletes are, the importance of the Maine-only category, understanding the beneficiaries and understanding the whole race from A to Z.”

Beryl, who began doing public relations work for the race in 2000, its third year, points out that her grasp of the finer points of such an event was initially lacking. The first time she was asked about “elite” runners, she had no idea what the term meant.

“I had to quickly educate myself and look at all the background and read all the materials,” she says. “We developed our own program versus just imitating what the other PR firm did.”

“We put in 300 to 350 staff hours,” says Jason. “We have a real program that we set up. We try to make it easier for the media to cover the race. That’s our goal and I think it’s working.”

The Wolfes have lived in Scarborough since 1992, but – with the 2005 Beach to Beacon now wrapped up – they’re moving this week to Tucson, Ariz. They will, however, continue to work on the race.

“We’re going to run our firm virtually,” Beryl says. “Except for the race, we do everything by email, phone and fax, so most of our clients are going along with us, and we’ll pick up a few new clients out there.”

Each year, in the midst of the scorching Arizona summer, the couple will come back to southern Maine and rent a place so they can be here to work personally on the race as it draws near. The Wolfes have also aligned themselves with Portland’s Fletcher-Media for occasions during the rest of the year when they need to be represented in the area.

Beryl, 52, has lived in Arizona before, going to college there and working for a daily paper in a small town after graduating. It was the first of several newspaper jobs she’s had, including one stint covering the Venezuelan White House for a paper in that country.

“Mentally it was extremely hard,” says Beryl of her job in the Spanish-speaking nation. “I would interview the president, and I’d go back to the newsroom and have to transcribe, translate and then write the story. It took the whole day.”

Jason, 40, grew up in Minnesota and has been an award-winning reporter for the Lewiston Sun Journal and the Portland Press Herald. He began working full-time with Beryl in 1999, six years after she started the firm.

“I had this fine career going, and then I just decided to join my wife and work for her,” he says jokingly, with a deadpan delivery that elicits a chuckle from Beryl, typical of the back-and-forth between the two.

The job switch allowed Jason to spend more time with his family – the couple has an 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, and Beryl has two older sons, Max and Joel, from a previous marriage – but getting the venture established required long hours and few days off for the first decade.

“I definitely work harder as a PR person than as a reporter,” Beryl says. “People think that when you go into PR you put your feet up and have long lunches. That’s not true at all, especially if you own your own firm. I’ve never worked so hard.”

Now the Wolfes work on not bringing their jobs home, which can be difficult, especially for Beryl, who describes herself as “hyper-vigilant.”

“I’m very detail oriented, so nothing falls through the cracks,” she says. “I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Did you call John back?!’ or ‘Did you email so-and-so?!’ (Jason) is so laid back it drives me crazy.”

The couple’s hard work and newspaper experience have allowed them to deal successfully with the media and to impress their clients, which, besides the Beach to Beacon, include a bank, a law firm and a health-care group.

“What helps us,” Jason says, “is when we call reporters or send a news release, those that know us know that we have a background and that what they are getting from us is not baloney.”

“We don’t take a promotional approach,” adds Beryl. “We take a journalistic approach.”

The Wolfes leave Scarborough with many fond memories as they head off to begin a new chapter in their lives.

“We’ll miss the people,” says Beryl, “but not the swamp.”

“The marsh is beautiful,” Jason says, correcting his wife, who rolls her eyes as she laughs, “but we won’t miss the mosquitoes.”

Olivia will start sixth grade in Tucson, while Joel begins his studies at Middlebury College and Max enters his senior year at Brown.

“I’ve had 40 years of cold winters and snow, and this will be a nice change. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just leave and come back to Maine,” Jason says, turning to Beryl. “Oh, have I told you that?”