Flagstaff Marathon
Ran the Flagstaff Marathon 10/03/26 at the Arizona Nordic Village. It’s an all trail marathon. It consists of two main loops (south 6 & north 7). You run the loops twice each for a grand total of 26 miles. The race coordinators tell you ahead of time that your GPS might read longer or shorter than 26.2 miles. I used an Apple Watch SE and my Garmin Forerunner 235 to measure. Sure enough, Apple says I ran 26.5 while Garmin says I ran 25.9 and then the Garmin asked me if I was done an hour after the race! (Standard Garmin)
Expect unstable terrain and some modestly steep climbs between miles 1-2, 3-5, 10-12. Then when you repeat the loops, those hills become more difficult somehow. The signs are easy enough to follow, but the waves of other runners gets confusing if you’re following a pack of runners. Full marathoners start at 8am, half marathon at 9am, 10k at 11am. There were two more waves of people that my pack of runners never saw. The other waves blended into the full marathoners, but the course never felt crowded.
The elevation is something you can train for and get acclimated to, but it still remains a factor. I arrived in Flag 4 days before race day. Elevation manifested as cramping & consistent headache for my experience. I used a hydration pack and used aid stations for consistent electrolyte intake. Cramping still happened. The Aid Stations were pretty spread out, but they were clutch when it counted.
It can be a pretty lonely course if you fall behind your pack of people/pacers. My previous marathons were Los Angeles & Honolulu which were packed with spectators and aid stations or just people handing out supplies to runners. No comparison to Flag, but it was a great experience to run without the chaos and noise. The scenery was consistently gorgeous, the air was as crisp/clean as possible, and the temperature never got above 65 degrees according to my NOAA apps.
Run the Flagstaff Marathon if you want a real challenge in your life. If you’re not from Flag, that makes it all the more challenging. You’ll be jumping over fallen trees, hiking up muddy hills, watching your footing through trails covered in pine cones, and navigating the course looking for tiny red/orange flagging. Worth it.