Course Overview:
The Half-Marathon course is a clockwise loop, designed to put the demanding sections of the race early, when you're more chipper. The race will will start at the IMAX parking lot, and head south on the sidewalk on the west side of Highway 64 before crossing onto the bike path of Long Jim Loop for another couple of hundred yards, before you head south onto the dirt roads of the Kaibab National Forest.
The next 3-4 miles are on Forest Service Road #2607, which will be pretty rugged, with a bunch of "rolling uphill" and some challenging footing (see the photo from near Mile 3), so it'll be a bit slow.
From approximately Mile 4-8 the trail smooths out and drops in a "rolling downhill" manner -- the footing is easier and you can probably get in a nice little rhythm, especially once you get onto Forest Service Road 2604. Near Mile 7.5 you'll go under the historic railroad tracks, then go under them again near Mile 8-- it's a fun little figure-S of a section. Mile 9-11 winds through what is called the Coconino Wash, with pretty smooth footing and some especially nice forested views.
Mile 11-12 is mostly on the well-travelled dirt road #328, with some significant downhill -- you should be able to make good time at this portion of the course.
From approximately Mile 12 to the finish you will be on a paved multi-use path, part of which is the famed Arizona Trail. You can run on the pavement, but there is also dirt alongside if you favor the softer surface. This largely downhill section should give you a pretty quick finish to the finish line with nice shade and the chance to push pace a bit.
The Half-Marathon course is almost exactly 13.1 miles (but may be long by as much as .1 or .2 -- hard to tell with the different measuring devices). The maps we've included come from MayMyRun, which says this:
This is a 13.19 mi route in . The route has a total ascent of 555.58 ft and has a maximum elevation of 6,729.3 ft.
The 5k Route:
the 5k will be an out and back on this multi-use path. Our goal is to make this family-friendly, so it is perfect for running with a jogging-stroller and for children and others.
Water and Aid Stations:
We want you to be self-sufficient on the race course, but our plan is to have plenty of people on the course to support you. We'll have water and Gatorade at at least four spots (probably near Mile 4, 7, 10, and 12. We'll have plenty of food and water at the finish line, with support from the Tusayan Fire Department, Coconino County Sheriff, and others as needed. We'll give more details on this over the coming weeks.
Training Implications:
As you can tell from this course description, you'll have some chances to run pretty fast, but you'll also have plenty of trail sections where the footing is a bit tricky.
It sounds like many of you are experienced runners, so you already know how to prepare for a trail half at altitude. But if you're new to this sort of stuff, you might consider some fartlek workouts at variable paces -- perhaps consider a workout like this:
Jog 15 minutes, and take some time to stretch and activate your running muscles
Do a basic 30 minute total effort: 1 minute at a quick and speedy pace followed by 1 minute at a slow jog pace. Do this for a total of 15 fast repetitions, or 30 minutes total.
Jog another 15 minutes or so. This basic workout will take about an hour and can be squeezed into a mid-week run.
If you're in good shape and experienced, you'll be able to extend the speed bouts and do the workout on a trail to simulate race conditions -- and maybe extend variations on your weekend long run.
The goal is to teach your body to shift gears, playing with speed so that you can vary between running faster than comfortable and settling back into at a comfortable recovery pace.
If you can do this once a week for a few weeks in a row, you'll be able to shift gears on the race course. The terrain on the course lends itself to variable pace running, so this workout will prepare you to take advantage of what the course gives you.
Another Benefit:
This type of peppy workout that puts you in cardiorespiratory stress has the advantage of teaching your body to adapt to anaerobic stress-- which may help you with the altitude on race day.
OK -- that's more than enough. We'll send more info as we get closer to race day!
Randy
