Route 77 near Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth is fairly quiet most days, and the blue and white paint that marks the road is fading.

There’s still more than 15 weeks to go until crowds will gather to cheer the 5,000 runners who will amass behind a freshly painted starting line for the ninth TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race.

Still, local athletes who plan to join the field are generally well into their training routines, looking forward to what many of them consider the high point of their running season.

“It really puts Maine in a good light,” says Gorham’s Dick Graves.

“It’s just a great race,” Cape resident Judy Barressi says.

“It’s a great way of testing your fitness,” says Joel Croteau of Biddeford. “I’ve never missed one.”

Graves hits the road every day at lunchtime and then goes for a long run on Sundays.

“I use (the Beach to Beacon) as an incentive to keep training through the winter,” says the 50-year-old, who has also run marathons in Portland and Boston.

Until his recent move from Portland to Gorham, Graves had a gym membership, but now he’s turned to loading and unloading bales of hay as part of his strength conditioning. Though he finds the activity quite beneficial, other factors have conspired to slow him a bit.

“My best days are behind me,” he says, “primarily because of time constraints.”

Barressi, 38, worked out during the winter, but “not nearly as much” as she wanted. She put in 10 to 20 miles a week, and that total will rise to around 40 as spring moves into summer. She also uses free weights at home and does some recreational biking.

“The race is just a great spectator sport,” says Barressi, who has run in every Beach to Beacon save one.

Croteau can do that one better: He hasn’t ever missed the event. In last year’s race the 61-year old, in his 26th year of running, finished second in his age division.

His usual routine is to take off December and January. After that he starts running again in February and picks up the pace through the spring, putting in his miles deep into autumn.

“As you get older, the body invariably slows down,” Croteau says. “You try to hold it off. There’s a decrease in time, but no decrease in effort.”

After running cross country at Holy Cross last fall, Westbrook’s Christie Kapothanasis also took the winter off. Now she’s starting her training with some light mileage.

“Nothing too intense,” says the 19-year-old.

Some of Kapothanasis’ motivation is provided by money she raises for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America in connection with the event.

For Michael Harleystead, the Beach to Beacon is not only an opportunity to run with friends and co-workers, but it is another day of training for a triathlon he’ll compete in later in the year. The 41-year-old from South Portland works out 10 to 13 hours a week, including running, cycling, swimming and weight training.

Despite having a pair of preschool-aged children, Nicole Mizner of Raymond still makes the time to run five miles every other day. She’s training for a longer race as well, hoping to complete the Maine Marathon in October.

Like most of the thousands of runners who will run along the Cape Elizabeth coast come Aug. 5, Mizner says that she is out to better her previous time and to “have fun.”

Online registration for the Beach to Beacon recently closed, but there are still some spots available. For details on how to register with a paper application, go to www.beach2beacon.org.