The Boston Marathon, one of six World Marathon Majors, is the world’s oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the best known road races in the world. In order to qualify for the Boston Marathon you must run a Boston Qualifier (BQ) marathon at a particular (relatively fast) pace based on age and gender. Qualifying marathons must be USATF certified, have three or more competitors, and be promoted prior to race day. Nicole Lane is a road running specialist on the Aravaipa Racing Team who has a long list of running achievements, including qualifying for the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2020. We asked Nicole for her 5 most crucial tips for running a Boston …
McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50K – Race Report
The Desert Runner Trail (DRT) Series consists of 7 total events: Pass Mountain, McDowell Mountain Frenzy and Cave Creek Thriller in the Fall Series and San Tan Scramble, Coldwater Rumble, Elephant Mountain and Mesquite Canyon in the Spring Series. Pass Mountain, the first race in the DRT series, was my first attempt at the 50K distance and it hadn’t gone exactly as I had hoped. I went out too hot and blew up in spectacular fashion. Here’s a link to that race report if you’re interested! McDowell was my second attempt at a 50K, and I was going into it with the specific goal of running the race at my own pace. After going out too fast …
Half Marathon Training: 5 Best Long Run Workouts
Many runners all around the world attend the church of the long run every weekend. Routinely incorporating long runs into your training regimen is critical. However, always doing easy, conversational long runs is not the best way to improve your race performance. Incorporating a variety of long run workouts into your half marathon training can help improve certain physiological traits (such as lactate threshold), as well as breaking up the monotony of long runs. Benefits of Long Runs Performing routine long runs in your running training has many benefits. One of the biggest physiological benefits of long runs is increasing the number of mitochondria in your cells. These are the “energy factories” of the cell that power cell respiration and human movement. Another …
Pass Mountain 50K Race Report
The 2021 Pass Mountain 50K was the first official ultramarathon that I finished. It wasn’t pretty, but I got it done… A little back story about my running career before I jump into the race: In 2019 I hiked the Arizona Trail with my good friend, Dylan Harris. After returning from the 34-day long hike, I felt like I had built up the endurance to easily run a marathon distance or more. Fast forward 1 year later I found myself driving to Austin, Texas to run the Austin Rattler Race 66K with Dylan and Joe Holway. I ended up DNFing around mile 35 and was in rough shape. A few months after swearing off ultramarathons …
Tucson’s Must-See Destinations
While the Tucson Marathon is certainly the main reason to travel to Tucson 😉, we highly recommend that you take some time, either before or after the race to enjoy some of the other attractions Tucson has to offer. With average temperatures between 67 and 37 degrees in Tucson in December, it’s a great opportunity to explore some of Tucson’s world class trails or check out one of many museums in the city. Here is our list of top 10 attractions to check out while you’re in town: Biosphere 2 – Along the Tucson Marathon Course you’ll pass the Biosphere 2 Research Center. If you have the time, either before or after the race to stop by (probably not during..) …
Peaks Week!
“Peaks Week” is our way of celebrating the Golden Trail World Series coming to Flagstaff Sky Peaks. Kicking off on Monday, September 19th we’ll be starting the week with a Social Sharing Contest, so keep an eye on @FlagstaffSkyPeaks on Instagram. Participants are encouraged to share a photo of their favorite peak for their chance to win prizes. Winners will be selected at random. Next, we’ll be hosting a Virtual Trivia Night the following day on Tuesday, the 20th so you can join in the fun from anywhere! On Wednesday the 21st we’ll be hosting our first group run of the week with Will for for Beer at 5:30 PM, starting from the Posse Ramada …
Benefits of Trail Running for Marathon Training
Trail Running can have significant positive benefits for your marathon training and here’s why: Benefit 1: Soft Surface = Less Impact Running on the roads day after day can eventually leave you feeling pretty beat up. Maybe your shins, or your knees start to ache? Thankfully there are trails! Trails are typically a much softer surface than roads and sidewalks. Thus, one of the many beauties of trail running is that there is less impact on your body. The surface itself will absorb more of the impact when running so that your body doesn’t have to. Even if you are training for a road race, consider incorporating some trail running into your training routine. Taking …
Five Marathon Training Tips
December will be here before you know it!Our goal is to make your experience at the Tucson Marathon as enjoyable as possible and the training you put in now will have a direct impact on you overall experience come race day. Here are some tips from our very own Matt Feldhake which will help point you in the right direction when it comes to approaching your race training plan. Training Tips: (1) Develop Your Why Arguably the most critical initial step to take when deciding to train for a marathon is to find a “why”.What is the deep, underlying reason for wanting to train for this marathon? Finding the answer to this question will give you a …
Tucson Marathon’s Most Accomplished Athlete: Bassirima Soro
I first learned of Bassirima Soro while searching through some of the history of the Tucson Marathon. Soro’s name came up frequently regarding his 6 wins from 1999 to 2004. I figured Soro was an elite runner, but what I would come to realize is that he is a man of many talents. Bassirima Soro is also a Licensed Practical Nurse and Afro-Pop/Reggae vocalist and song writer under the stage name K-Bass residing in Tucson, Arizona. Soro was brought up by a loving but poverty-stricken family of musicians on the Ivory Coast of West Africa. In a “true example of the strength of the human spirit, [Soro] overcame severe economic hardships, obtained a hard won …
If It Comes Easily, It’s Worthless
A profile of ultrarunner, Keith Munch We often meet people at our races or group runs who inspire us, and whenever possible, we aim to share their stories with you. Meet Keith Munch, a member of the Aravaipa running community. A recent transplant from Arizona to Colorado, he recently finished the inaugural Royal Gorge Groove 60K (finishing with a grotesquely broken pinky finger thanks to misplaced footing on the technical trail early on in the race). He is preparing to toe the line at Ring the Springs 100 Mile in June, sandwiched by two more 100 Mile races in May and July. Without further ado, meet Keith. 1. Tell us about yourself! I was born …