Hello to the 354 of you who registered early for the 6th Annual Grand Canyon Trail Half Marathon and 5k.

We're thrilled to have you on board for this epic trip along the Coconino Plateau near the South Rim. Below you'll find information on the race weekend schedule, the half-marathon and 5k routes, and training tips.

Head over to the RunSignup registration page for a list of participants, deferral protocols, and ongoing updates on local discounts and other race information.

Speaking of discounts, remember that team members receive a $10 discount once 5 or more people sign up for the team (or group), so rally your friends and save some cash for all team members.

Some of you have participated in our events already, but if you're unfamiliar with us, you can check out our www.runtucson.net page, our @runtucson instagram page, and our neglected Run Tucson Facebook page.

Finally, we don't want to overload your inbox, but over the coming months we'll send additional race updates that we hope will enhance your experience at the Grand Canyon.

If you have a question, drop us a note and we'll get it taken care of. Wishing you a wonderful summer -- we'll see you when the temps drop and the leaves change!

Randy and Tia Accetta, from Run Tucson

randy@runtucson.net | tia@runtucson.net | www.runtucson.net

354: Early Registrants

31: States represented

4: Countries represented, including the US, United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand

275: Half Marathoners

79: 5K Registrants, including 7 in the new Free Youth 5k division

134: Repeat registrants, including Anna and Michelle who have signed up for the race 5 times, and 11 others who have signed up for the race 4 times: Angelina, Apolonio, Ellie, Greg, Jim, Jose, Karen, Raymond, Robert, Sarah, Stacie

99: Registrants in the 30-39 age group, 28% of the total field

28: Folks over 65, 8% of the total field

76: Age of oldest participant in the half-marathon, from Amarillo, Texas

1047: dollars donated so far by 61 participants, including a total of $537 to the Grand Canyon Food Pantry and $510 to the Tusayan Fire Department

1: Big Thank You to those who have donated to these local organizations

We may modify this schedule as we get closer to event weekend, but here's the plan as of mid-July:

Friday, November 1, 2024

4:30 pm - 6:00 pm Packet Pickup and Last-Minute Registration at IMAX Theater, 450 AZ-64, Grand Canyon Village, AZ 86023

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm All-you-can-eat pizza and pasta dinner at the IMAX Friday night, pricing and menu TBD

Saturday, November 2, 2024

7:00- 8:15 AM, Packet Pickup and Race Check-in at IMAX Theater

7:30 AM: Half Marathon Citizen Start, for Walkers, Run/Walk, and all who might take between 3-5 hours to finish

8:00 AM: Begin, Tusayan Fire Department Pancake Breakfast

8:30 AM: Half Marathon Prize Money Start -- for all who will run under 3 hours and all who want to be eligible for prize money

8:45 AM: 5k Run/Walk Start

9:00 AM: Begin Local Artisan Craft Fair

11:00 AM: All half marathoners need to be through mile 11*

12:30 PM: Timing at finish line closes

1:00 PM: Breakdown of event site

6:00 PM: Tentative: Post-Race gathering at Squire Resort, details to follow

5k RUN/WALK START:

The 5k start will be a group start for both runners and walkers at 8:45 am.

HALF MARATHON START:

This year, we're planning on two start times: the 7:30 am Citizen Start is for walkers, runners, and those who think they may take more than 3 hours. At 8:30 am is what we call the Prize Money Start, for those who will run the race in under 3 hours. All those who want to be eligible for prize money must start at 8:30 AM.

Age group awards are to the top age-group runners regardless of start time.

If you will take more than 3 hours to complete the half-marathon, please start at the 7:30 Start.

*Course closure times are tentative depending on weather and safety conditions, determined in consultation with the Tusayan Fire Department, Kaibab National Forest, and the Coconino Sherif Department.

Near Mile 12 in the half marathon and Mile 1 and Mile 2 in the 5k, with about a mile of paved and mostly downhill to the finish.

Half-Marathon Route Overview: Race reviews from the past few years indicate that the course is demanding but fun to run.

The race will will start at the IMAX/Tusayan Visitor Center 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.

At about the half-mile mark, you will head south onto the dirt roads of the Kaibab National Forest. The Half-Marathon course is a clockwise loop, designed to put the challenging sections of the race early, when you're more chipper.

The first few miles in the Kaibab Forest are on Forest Service Road #2607, which will be pretty rugged, with a bunch of what we euphemistically call, "rolling uphill."

The footing for much of this stretch may be challenging, so please be careful on this stretch (see the photo above from near Mile 3).

From approximately Mile 4-8 the trail smooths out and drops in a "rolling downhill" manner -- the footing is easier and you can should be able to get into 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 wind your way under them again near Mile 8 -- it's a fun little figure-S of a section. 

(We've been trying to set up a Cheer Train with the Grand Canyon Railway, but so far we haven't been able to put that together!)

Mile 9-11 winds through what is called the Coconino Wash, with pretty smooth footing and some especially nice forested views. This section includes some mild uphill.

Mile 11-12 is mostly on the well-travelled dirt road #328, with some significant hilly stretches, but up and downhill -- you should be able to make good time on the downhill portions 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.

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.



Newer Runners

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 simple workout will take about an hour, but you can modify the workout to make it easier.

As you get in better shape, you might be able to try the workout described below for Experienced Runners.

Experienced Runners

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.

Perhaps something like this ladder: 1 minute on, 1 off; 2 on, 1 off; 3 on, 1 off; 4 on, 1 off; 5 on, 1 off; then descend the ladder, going faster for each repetition: 4 on, 1 off; 3 on, 1 off; 2 on 1 off; 1 on, 1 off. This 25 minutes of faster running is a negative split, where you stress your body and mind in the second half of the workout to simulate the stress of the later stages in the race.

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.

Frequency

If you can do this once a week for 3-4 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.

Modifications

Add hills. Add varied terrain. Increase your speed. Decrease the time of the recovery jog. Add more time to the faster running portion.

Another Benefit: Prep for Altitude

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.

The event is produced by Run Tucson in collaboration with the Town of Tusayan, the Tusayan Fire Department, the Kaibab National Forest, the Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce, and a host of friends and colleagues from both Tucson and Tusayan.

Run Tucson is a full-service running company that produces events, coaches runners in person and online, and provides all manner of running event and coaching consultation.

(The only thing we don't do is timing -- we leave that to our friend, Greg Wenneborg and his timing company, Roadrunner Race Timing. Greg is a three-time Olympic Trials qualifier and former college coach, so he knows his way around the sport.

Run Tucson is a husband-wife team located in Tucson, where we're raising our son and daughter.

Tia was raised in Walla Walla, WA and ran cross country and track at the University of Idaho. She is an RRCA Certified coach with an M.A. in Education. She currently coaches runners from around the country via online coaching, while also heading up The Workout Group, a training group in Tucson originally started back in 1997. Tia has run a couple of 2:48 marathons.

For the past 12 years Randy has been the Director of Coaching Education for the RRCA, heading up their nationally-renowned coaching certification program. Sadly, as a runner, he has slowed down considerably since running a 2:19 marathon a long, long time ago.

Our local mission at Run Tucson is to make Tucson a better place to live through running -- our national mission is to inspire happy lives through running.

Thus, this opportunity to help produce the Grand Canyon Trail Half Marathon fits our passion perfectly -- we can add value to our friends in communities near the South Rim while providing an inspirational event for the national running community!

We'll add you to our emailing list so you can see the events we put on -- we'll give all of you discounts to our home-town races just to give you another reason to travel to Arizona!