TMC Get Moving Tucson Event: A-Mountain Half-Marathon, Tucson Lifestyle 5k & Cox Charities 1-Mile
Sunday, October 20, 2013 / Half-Marathon and 5k walk and run
Description
Registration is now open for Tucson largest half-marathon event, the 2013 TMC Get Moving Tucson A-Mountain Half-Marathon, Tucson Lifestyle 5k, & Cox Charities 1-Mile!
Three races: which one is right for you?
The TMC A-Mountain Half-Marathon, now starting at 7:00 AM: There’s only one hill on the course—can you do it? Perfect training for fall and winter marathons! We expect the course to be certified.
Tucson Lifestyle 5k Run/Walk, now starting at 7:00 AM: Not in the mood to do 13.1 miles? Don’t worry, just do the 3.1 part instead—flat and fun under the Sixth Avenue bridge and along University-area streets.
Cox Charities One Mile, starting at 8:00 AM: Just like the 2012 TMC Meet Me Downtown One Mile, this fun run is the perfect way to spend time with the family. Walk, run, and have fun! Post-race activities include jumping castles, face-painting, climbing walls, photo booths, and more.
Please note: we’re having a hard time with the SAR photo pages, so please click here for the write-up of the 2012 race, with race photos and details on the day. You can also click here for the SAR facebook albums of the 2013 TMC Get MOving Tucson weekend.
Click Here for Souvenir Photos: Thanks to PRPhotos from Houston, Texas and local photographer Paul Konecny you can find about 4,000 souvenir photos at pr.photos.com. The photos in the race report are samples of their great work. Search by bib number or by race, or simply look through all the great photos—find the ones you want and create a lifetime memory of your TMC Get Moving Tucson weekend.
Date and Time
TMC A-Mountain Half-Marathon starts at 7:00 am, with an early start for walkers. The Tucson Lifestyle 5k will also start at 7:00 am, while the Cox Charities Free Mile will begin at 8:00 am.
Race Distances and Courses
As you can see on the map to the left, we’re all doing the first 3.1 miles together. We will start the 5k and the half-marathon at the same time. After the 5k through the UA neighborhoods and Downtown, the half-marathoners will head over to A-Mountain and do that portion of the route. The Half-Marathon route will include A-Mountain, the Santa Cruz Riverpath, and streets of Downtown Tucson. The 3.1 mile and One Mile will have out and back courses that let you share the fun. Special thanks to the Arizona Department of Transportation for allowing us access to the the St. Mary’s Underpass at I-10 and to the City of Tucson for all their help with the route planning.
Location
110 North Church Street in historic Downtown Tucson, at the Jacome Plaza by the library and the Old Court House.
Race Fees
TMC A-Mountain Half-Marathon
$45 By April 30
$50 By July 31
$65 By September 30
$75 Through race day
Tucson Lifestyle 5k Walk/Run
$15 By April 30
$20 By July 31
$25 By September 30
$30 Through race day
Cox Charities One Mile Family Walk/Run
FREE (no shirt)
Registration
- Print Registration Form and mail it in. Registration by mail must be postmarked by Wednesday, October 10, 2012.
- Register online with a credit card at active.com.
- 2013 information to be announced soon.
- 2013 information to be announced soon.
Training Advice
UPDATED: How to Run the Half, a mile-by-mile description of the race course
Miles 1-3 The 5k and Half-Marathon runners will all start together. The starting line is in front of the historic Pioneer Building on Stone Avenue. To ensure an accurate and certified course for each race, the course will include a lap of the Downtown library at the very beginning, followed by a straight shot east along Pennington Avenue to Sixth Avenue.
Runners will head to the east side of Sixth Avenue and drop under the rail tracks via the Sixth Avenue Underpass, before heading north on Sixth Avenue all the way up to Second Street. Turn right on Second Street and head towards the University of Arizona for a half-mile or so, then turn left on First Avenue and left again on First Street.
This section should be fun – plenty of folks to run with, an easy uphill through the first mile, then mostly flat for a mile, then a very nice downhill all the way through the Sixth Avenue Underpass.
Miles 3-4 Half-Marathoners will go right past the finish line on Church at the Old Court House. From Court House/Jacome Plaza , north to Sixth and along Sixth to I-10 is all a gentle downhill down towards the Santa Cruz. Take advantage of this slight drop. From Sixth/St. Mary’s you’ll turn south on Bonita and have the whole street to yourselves until you hit Congress. Heading west on Congress to the A-Mountain road at Cuesta is a gradual rise - not very noticeable, but still, a bit uphill. You’ll be on the north side of Congress all the way to Cuesta. Again, be patient on this stretch.
Once you turn south on Cuesta, you will begin to notice a bit of an uphill. OK, a bit more than a bit. Almost the same distance as the famed Saguaro hill, the climb up to the “A” on A-Mountain can be broken into a few sections. Stay to the right side of the road on this whole stretch. The first piece through the neighborhoods is gradual, so try to get in a steady rhythm without working too hard.
As you hit the parking lot on the right about a half-mile up the hill, you’ll notice a flattening for a couple of hundreds of yards. This is a good time to re-assess your pace and shake out your arms a bit. Then you have a quarter mile of steepness to the split at the top of the mountain where we’re planning a water stop to be staffed by the great kids from Sahuaro High School.
The race route will take you to the right, counter-clockwise, with a gorgeous view of the Starr Pass area to the west and the Santa Rita Mountains to the south. You can see the sparkling observatories of Kitt Peak and the mountains surrounding Baboquivari Peak. The hill softens a bit as you make the half-mile push for the red-white-and-blue “A.” There are a couple of false summits as you approach the top, so maintain a steady pace and a smile on the way up. According to mapmyrun.com, the whole climb is about 1.5 miles with a 509 foot elevation gain. Not that bad, right? Once you hit the low brick wall marking the parking areas on the east side, you’re almost to the top. Another hundred yards or so, and you level out for a few steps before plunging downhill.
Miles 7-8 The downhill is probably the hardest part of the course. Enjoy the pull of gravity, but you’ll want to be careful of running too fast - don’t brake yourself, but don’t overstride too much, either. Like with the Tucson Marathon, too much too fast will blow out your quads, so be smart on the downhill section.
Miles 9-10 Once you’re off the hill, the half-mile stretch heading east on Congress is pretty easy. Please stay inside the cones on the south lane of Congress. You’ll turn south on Grande and stay on the right side of the road all the way down to the bike path entrance just north of 22nd/Starr Pass Blvd. You may be tempted to pick up the pace on this stretch, but it’s probably better to be patient here. We’ll have a water station, a medical tent, and an ambulance at the dirt lot when you enter the bike path on Grande. At this point you should be in a nice rhythm.
Mile 11-12 Once on the bike path, you will stay on the right hand side of the bike path and head south for exactly 660 yards then do a U-turn and head back north still staying on the right side of the lane as you pass runners for another 660 yards until the path opens up. (As you can probably tell, we needed this turn-around on the bike path to ensure that the course is exactly 13.1 miles.) You’ll head north on the bike path all the way until St. Mary’s again. You should be feeling good, so this is a nice place to step up the pace a bit. There are some shady stretches and you’re getting closer to home on this primarily flat stretch.
Mile 12-13.1 Exiting the bike path onto St. Mary’s is a bit tricky. As you come up the hill off the bike path approaching St. Mary’s, you can either hug the pathway to the right and stay on the narrow sidewalk heading east across the Santa Cruz or you can jump down from the curb to the main roadway. If I were racing it, I would probably hop the curb, but it’s a bit high, perhaps as many as 10”, so be careful here. As you head under the I-10, you’re about 2/3 of mile from the finish line, so it’s time to put the pedal to the metal!!
A note on training for A-Mountain: weekly free informal training runs will take place in September and October at the Meet Me at Maynard’s event. Be ready to run (or walk) at 5:45 pm—meet at the Hotel Congress staging area. The route is almost exactly 6.2 miles—go straight west on Congress, then up and down A-Mountain, and back along Congress to the finish at Hotel Congress. You can go farther or shorter as you wish . . .
Here is a five-week plan for getting comfortable running the 1.5 mile incline of A-Mountain. It will work for all levels of abilities.
Week One: Run an easy conversation pace straight down Congress Avenue and up the A-Mountain then back to the Meet Me at Maynard’s crowd. Run conversation pace—perhaps a 5 or 6 on a scale of 10.
NOTE: This conversation pace should be comfortable and relaxed—you may get a bit fatigued on the hill, but don’t push it. If you need to walk, by all means, walk up the hill.
NOTE: If you want to do the A-Mountain loop a couple of times before advancing to Week Two, by all means, get comfortable going up the mountain first . . .
Week Two: Start at Maynard’s and run the 1.5 mile warm up. Do this at a conversational pace—perhaps a 5 or 6 on an a 10-point effort scale Then run strong on the uphill to the gate—perhaps a 7-8 on the effort scale. Rest at the parking area for 2 minutes, then run strong to the A at the top of the mountain, again at a 7- 8 on the effort scale. Then jog downhill and run conversation pace back to Maynard’s. Total distance: 6.2 miles, total effort: 1.5 miles
Week Three: Start at Maynard’s and run the 1.5 mile warm up at an easy, comfortable pace. Then run strong on the uphill to the gate. Rest at the parking area for 2 minutes, then run strong to the A at the top of the mountain. Then jog downhill to the point where the A-Mountain Road divides. Run strong up the south side of the mountain back to the A. Then relax and run conversation pace back to Maynard’s. Total distance: 6.7 miles, total effort: 2 miles.
Week Four: Start at Maynard’s and run the 1.5 mile warm up. Then run strong on the uphill to the gate. Rest at the parking area for 2 minutes, then run strong to the A at the top of the mountain. Then jog downhill to the gate near the parking lot. Run strong all the way to the A. Then relax and run conversation pace back to Maynard’s. Total distance: 7 miles, total effort: 2.2 miles.
Week Five: Start at Maynard’s and run the 1.5 mile warm up. Then run strong on the uphill to the gate. Rest at the parking area for 2 minutes, then run strong to the A at the top of the mountain. Then jog downhill and run conversation pace back to the very bottom of the hill. Turn around and run fast to the A. Total distance: 9 miles, total effort: 3 miles. This is a capstone workout.
Awards
2013 Half-Marathon Prize Money for overall top three finishers in the men’s and women’s divisions: $300, $200, $100, with an additional $100 for beating the current course records.
Men’s Course record: Scott Smith, 1:06:23 (2012).
Women’s Course Record: Alicia Shay, 1:24:37 (2-13)
Prize Money for top master’s male and female: $50
Half Marathon Age Groups (28 age groups)
1st place: $40 gift cert
2nd place: $25 gift cert
3rd place: $15 gift cert
5K: Overall winner in the male and female division receives a free entry into next year’s Half-Marathon
5K Age Groups
1st place: $20
2nd place: $10
3rd place: TBD
Beneficiaries
Proceeds from the event will fund local charities, including Cox Charities and Big Brothers, Big Sisters Tucson, as well as Child and Family Resources
Community Partners
We want to thank a host of community partners for help with this event, including our title sponsor, Tucson Medical Center. Without TMC’s support, we could not produce such a large event. We urge all runners and walkers to patronize our sponsors and partners:
- Caliente and the Arizona Daily Star
- Cox Communications
- Tucson Lifestyle Magazine
- Providence Service Corporation
- Snell & Wilmer Law Firm
- Body Basics
- The City of Tucson Mayor’s Office, the Downtown Tucson Partnership
- The Running Shop
- Sahuaro High School
Interested in being a sponsor? Contact Race Director .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). It’s expensive to put on a race Downtown, and we’re looking for course sponsors, t-shirt sponsors, and post-event sponsors. Join the healthiest community in Arizona!
Race Weather
Race conditions are typically 63 degrees at race start, and clear skies. Check out Tucson’s current conditions and forecast so you’ll be prepared!
Results
2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 |Contact
- Contact the Southern Arizona Roadrunners Hotline at (520) 326-9383 for more information.
- Race Director Randy Accetta: Call 520-991-0733 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
