Big Cottonwood Marathon

This was my first marathon and the worst bits were the training (in Austin TX in a lot of heat and humidity) and the early start in race day. I thought the organisation of the event was impeccable and have no idea how they can do and give so much for so little money. The shirt/cup/medal/photos alone seem just about worth the entry fee and everything went incredibly smoothly. I got REALLY lucky in that I picked up my bib as Coach Paul was starting his talk about how to run the races. He was about my age and a really good communicator. He's run a gazillion marathons and is the Coach for this and other Revel races. I strongly recommend using him, particularly if you train in TX or other hot places. Anyway, I don't think I would have come close to running the time I did without the excellent prep that he enabled for us, just in a one hour session. It meant the course held no surprises for me and I was able to keep spirits up the whole way (well at least until torrential rain made my shirt and shoes/socks weight 5lb more!). He did say to run at a 7/10 effort and unfortunately I only committed to 5/10 for most of the course, but knew exactly when to hit 7 on a couple of uphills. He showed us how much variation there was in his times (a minute and half delta between the fast and slow miles) and that helped me tremendously. I didn't love the early start or darkness and cold in the staging area, but once we began, time really flew. I didn't spend as much time enjoying the scenery as id assumed I would, but there were some special moments. The "out and back" wasn't half as bad as Paul had prepped us for and probably the steeper downhill sections challenged me more than the very few uphills. I finished WAY too fresh (as a result of just not trying hard enough) but as I write this on day 3, I feel 80% recovered (massage yesterday helped). Quads are less sore than they would be after a days water skiing (or after a PT session if I haven't been for a while). I can't think of no reason not to run the BCC and lots of reasons to run it. Yes, I guess the time flatters me as I'm sure I wouldn't do that on the flat, but it was a really nice ease-in to running. I'd never run more than 6 miles pre-Covid and intend to stop when/if it receded, but I'm really glad I did this marathon and would encourage you to consider it - and maybe make a weekend of it by staying in Park City.

I loved the canyon for the scenery but not so much for the running. I felt like the downhill was a little to steep. By mile 16 my legs were really starting to hurt when usually that happens much later in the race. I actually found the out-and-back section with rolling hills to be helpful in saving my legs from going completely out on me. The downhill sections in the last few miles just hurt when usually I would find them helpful. It took my legs forever to recover. I can see why many love this race but I don't think I would run it again out of love for my body. The weather was perfect though!

My experience at the Big Cottonwood Marathon echoes many other reviews here. The pros: really well organized  top notch on all accounts. The cons  'fast' course not all it's cracked up to be. The first 18 miles are beautiful and screaming downhill. Once I hit 19, the wheels fell off. Part of this was my training was inconsistent over the summer, but that change to rollers/uphill was brutal. Moreover, the out and back is not a pleasant, scenic run, and the last three miles (running into town) put us running down the middle turn lane, with traffic moving on either side. Demoralizing is the best word for it. I know a lot of people PR/BQ here, but a lot more seem to fall apart. I have run Top of Utah, Ogden, and Utah Valley twice each. I have BQ'd in the latter two. For my money, Utah Valley has the most run-able net downhill course. I wouldn't run this one again.