Escalante Canyons Marathon

As a 50-Stater, I try to go for beauty or uniqueness in my marathons and Escalante Canyons did not disappoint! I know St Georges is a popular one but Escalante is a really cool destination run in and of itself. The course is beautiful & well supported, the organization was seamless, the town has so much to offer for any family/friends that may come to support you (or make a long weekend of it & get in some trails & NPs!), the folks are engaging & friendly and the weather could not have been better. Absolutely perfect! Oh, and the massages at the end were AMAZING! Thank you SO MUCH for having those!! I put a 4/5 for organization because I felt there could have been maybe one more e-mail close to race day (just a personal preference - all needed info was communicated in previous e-mails ) and a 4/5 for fans only bc there were not many - but those that were there were fantastic!! Great pick for a UT marathon!!! Highly recommend!

I highly recommend this race! In general, I'll just refer you to Scott Campbell's review below - he has totally captured everything I experienced in the race. If I have to emphasize anything in particular, it's an affirmation that the race organizers do an absolutely fantastic job with the event. They are really passionate about it and obviously know what runners need/want in a race. Even though there were only about 50 people running the full in 2018, they didn't take any shortcuts and treated us incredibly well. I honestly don't think I ever ran for more than 10 minutes without a support vehicle (ATV) driving by to check that I was OK. The aid stations were staffed with the friendliest folks! Take some time to talk to the race organizer, Mary. She is awesome! And be sure to save some time to spend in the surrounding area. We especially liked Lower Calf Creek Falls and Willis Creek Slot Canyon.

I will organize my remarks using the same criteria MG (marathon guide) uses. Course Quality - excellent! Yes, you share the road with cars, but 95% of the cars are very runner-friendly, and the organizers do a good job of putting up cones and a really cool sign at the start to alert cars that runners are on the road. In fact, I was more worried about two 1/2 marathoners I was trying to that were running side by side not yielding much room as a big motor home was passing us too. The road has recently been paved, so no surprises (pot holes, etc.). Okay, the real question, the hills. Yes, this is a very hilly course, and don't let the fact that its a net drop of about 600 feet fool you. By the time I hit the flat part towards the end it felt like up hill (and the head wind didn't help at all). If I have one bit of advice, train as much as you can on hills. However, with that said, you can't train enough so respect them and don't plan to run up the entire time or I'm sure it'll catch up with you. Prior to the race someone suggested that I don't run too hard down hill either as it'll catch up on the uphills. I'm not sure this helped much, but it seemed like sage advice. My tip, don't push it too hard either way, especially if your a new marathoner and don't know your limitations. I saw one runner - her first marathon - start really strong only to fall apart late in the race. Oh, and I can't forget about the view. AMAAAAAZING!!! You'd be hard pressed to find a more scenic course......but I've always been partial to Utah. Oh, the altitude. This may have been more of an issue for me than the hills. I'm a flatlander (San Diego) with limited access to higher altitudes. If you live at low elevation but can reasonably train at higher alts, I highly (pun intended) recommended it. I can't honestly say the altitude slowed me down any, but it certainly made the grueling parts much more grueling. I was sucking wind big time! P. S. I forgot to mention that my family was with me and able to drive the length of course to cheer me on (more on cheering below) and pulled over several times to get some great photos of me with Escalante Canyon in the background. So I'll have many pics on the course...and it's free!! :0 Organization As great as the course is, and that's a lot of the reason why we pick our races, the organization and overall vibe of this race was my best in 13 previous marathons (and I've run large races like San Diego RnR and Boston). Mary, the director, was amazing. So warm and accommodating. She let me switch my shirt from med to small without hassle and answered all my emails in a very friendly manner. The other organizers/volunteers were amazing too. The folks at the carb load dinner (I highly recommend by the way) and in particular the people manning the aid stations, were equally as engaging. Given the small pool of runners, I got the feeling that each aid station was only for me. Support I don't need a pep rally the entire time, so the great support albeit very small - at each aid station, and the great support (quality not quantity) at the finish line was, well.....great! Another neat thing about a small race to me is that the finish line is more memorable. All eyes were on me and the announcer called my name out. It was really cool! If I could give a higher rating I would. This is such a gem of a race. I wish there were more races and organizers like this one.