Marathon pace work on the track at East High School. I drove the Pocatello marathon course yesterday evening. The second half is going to be challenging. The course actually starts on the East side of I-15 then runs south of Pocatello before following the highway north back into town. I had no idea of this by looking at the course map! Here is a quick overview: The start is rural and steep. It will be hard to hold back the pace the first 3 miles. It probably drops a total of 600 feet the first 5K. Also, I believe the road is open to traffic, but you really need to cut the tangents on all the curves up top. There is a slight out and back at mile 7, but not much of a climb. Also, a nice hill around 10.5 that stretches for 0.2 miles followed by a steep, short climb up to Inkom road around 12.25 (0.1 long). Most of the course elevation drop ends at mile 13.5. At this point you follow the freeway north back into Pocatello. From mile 14-20 there is little shade as you have RR-tracks on your left and I-15 highway on your right. Several rolling hills on this section between miles 15/16 and after mile 19. There is a good drop at mile 17.5 to the 18.0 mile marker. At mile 20.5 you go under the freeway and up a long hill (0.4). This will be undoing of most runners. Once you reach the top you are now on 5 lane highway! You won't leave the 5-lane road until mile 25.5 where you turn into the park. There is also a gradual 0.4 hill after mile 23. This will be a very hard section. You can also see the road for a very long ways!
The finish is at Ross Park and is heavily shaded. It looks like a great place to finish, but is flat. I'm excited to run the race next week and hope it will be fun. It seems very comparable to Top of Utah, but it has some very long road stretches on the second half (places where you can see the course for miles).
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