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Tucson Marathon report

amandamurdaugh
amandamurdaugh Posts: 138 Member
in Social Groups
I'll try to be as concise as David, but I'm sure I'll fall short. This race actually starts in a little city called Oracle west of Tucson on the backside of Mt. Lemmon. It's touted as a downhill Boston qualifier. And while you lose close to 2000 feet of elevation, there are many uphill sections that I was not prepared for. You are running in the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountain range. The course is absolutely beautiful. I would say the only true straight away, downhill sections are those ran on highway 77. Miles 6-10 and 14-21. There was an out and back section on Biosphere 2 road that was quite hilly. Anything running north was hilly and brutal on my legs. They had announced this summer that the course would be rerouted at mile 21 as there was construction on Highway 77. This sucked bigtime because again, it ran north into the foothills. I was hoping to run this marathon in sub 3:40 to qualify for Boston, but it didn't happen. My time is 3:42:43. I feel like I gave my all & I'm happy with my effort. It just wasn't my day or race for a BQ. I love a challenge and I'm someone that needs goals, so I'll keep trying. This was my 5th marathon and one of the most physically challenging. The weather was also quite nasty. I live close to Phoenix in AZ so I'm not used to running in 30 degree weather with wind gusts. For those of you now training for your first marathon, my only advice is to remember to smile or even laugh when you don't really feel like it. It's imperative not to let negative emotions take over near the end or when things aren't going the way you envisioned them.

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