TUCSON, Ariz — Runners, take your marks!
Tucson is in the final stretch of preparations for the Garmin Marathon, a project where the planning started much earlier with the help of local runners.
Randy Accetta of Run Tucson was one of those runners. He's organized several races in Tucson from the Meet Me Downtown 5k to the A Mountain Half Marathon.
Accetta said they had to make some hard choices on what parts of town the course should wind through while fitting the course requirements for a Boston Marathon qualifier race.
"We started downtown to get desert scenery," he said, drawing the map of the course in the air with his finger. "You go through historic Sam Hughes, and then we rocket ship down Broadway to get the Sunshine Mile."
To fit Boston Marathon requirements, the course cannot have a net-downhill trend. Accetta says they ruled out Mount Lemmon to fit the bill.
The course starts in the middle of Downtown Tucson just past the intersection of Congress St. and Granada Ave. with runners lining up for the start along Congress.
The course travels through Tucson's Westside barrios and past Tumamoc Hill to the Painted Hills for Southern Arizona's iconic desert views before dashing back east on Speedway and turning into the University of Arizona for the halfway point.
Once the half-marathoners peel off, the course continues through the historic Sam Hughes Neighborhood and around Reid Park. In Accetta's words, runners will then "rocket ship down Broadway" to see the Sunshine Mile.
Finally, they'll roll over past 'A Mountain' to end up right back where they started at Congress St. and Granada Ave. where organizers are setting up a post-race Finish Line Festival with Southern Arizona-based vendors and food trucks.
Tucson's Pueblo Vida Brewing Company is brewing a custom beer for the marathon, and registered runners over 21 years old get a complimentary beer.
Steve Lovell from Garmin told KGUN 9 they looked at 50 different cities before settling on Tucson for one of their marathons.
"When we came to Tucson," he said, "we just fell in love."
The team at Garmin measured the course four times to make sure it hit exactly at 26.2 miles.
“This is the first inner city marathon in Tucson in about 40 years," Accetta said. "This first year my guess is people be like 'what’s going on?' if we can keep rolling with it we’ll see how it grows.”
This year, he's hoping to get people interested in the race to hopefully build momentum for years to come.
For spectators, Accetta recommends watching from near the University of Arizona around Campbell Ave. since runners will head by that area multiple times.
Though the marathon and half-marathon races have course time limits, the 5k and 10k races have a "go at your own pace" mentality.
The marathon, half-marathon and 10k start just before sunrise at 6:30 a.m., while 5k races leave the starting line 20 minutes later at 6:50 a.m..
For those who don't want to join the runners but want to join the race, Garmin is accepting race volunteers.
