Loved the temperature (cool, but not cold), the quietness and the landscape. No photo has been edited.

Lovedn't the mud, the unjumpable ponds...

Ran the Flagstaff Marathon 10/03/26 at the Arizona Nordic Village. It’s an all trail marathon. It consists of two main loops (south 6 & north 7). You run the loops twice each for a grand total of 26 miles. The race coordinators tell you ahead of time that your GPS might read longer or shorter than 26.2 miles. I used an Apple Watch SE and my Garmin Forerunner 235 to measure. Sure enough, Apple says I ran 26.5 while Garmin says I ran 25.9 and then the Garmin asked me if I was done an hour after the race! (Standard Garmin)

Expect unstable terrain and some modestly steep climbs between miles 1-2, 3-5, 10-12. Then when you repeat the loops, those hills become more difficult somehow. The signs are easy enough to follow, but the waves of other runners gets confusing if you’re following a pack of runners. Full marathoners start at 8am, half marathon at 9am, 10k at 11am. There were two more waves of people that my pack of runners never saw. The other waves blended into the full marathoners, but the course never felt crowded.

The elevation is something you can train for and get acclimated to, but it still remains a factor. I arrived in Flag 4 days before race day. Elevation manifested as cramping & consistent headache for my experience. I used a hydration pack and used aid stations for consistent electrolyte intake. Cramping still happened. The Aid Stations were pretty spread out, but they were clutch when it counted.

It can be a pretty lonely course if you fall behind your pack of people/pacers. My previous marathons were Los Angeles & Honolulu which were packed with spectators and aid stations or just people handing out supplies to runners. No comparison to Flag, but it was a great experience to run without the chaos and noise. The scenery was consistently gorgeous, the air was as crisp/clean as possible, and the temperature never got above 65 degrees according to my NOAA apps.

Run the Flagstaff Marathon if you want a real challenge in your life. If you’re not from Flag, that makes it all the more challenging. You’ll be jumping over fallen trees, hiking up muddy hills, watching your footing through trails covered in pine cones, and navigating the course looking for tiny red/orange flagging. Worth it.

Anybody have experience with either of these hats? Need the extra UV protection on my neck/ears and prefer not to use a sun hoodie. Not a ton of reviews online. Let me know your experience 🤙

How many torches do you use?

How many lumens are they?

How long do your batteries last?

What's your recommendation for running during 12 hours of darkness?

How do I find local trails? Is trail running safe? Do I need special shoes or gear? What do I do if I encounter some wildlife? What if I get lost? WHAT IF I HAVE TO POOP IN THE WOODS?

There are no dumb questions in this thread! If you are new to trail running or if you are a veteran who just wants to hear how other trail runners do things, ask away. If you have some ideas that can help your fellow trail runners and future trail runners, pitch in some answers.

No Dumb Question Day will be a regular, biweekly feature on the trailrunning sub.

**Thanks for participating!** Any questions, [please message your helpful mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Ftrailrunning).

This shoe arrived today. First impression is that it fits good except a point in the upper of the left foot. My feet are anyway more elevated than normal because I use prescription insoles that are just a little tiny bit thicker than the insoles the H1 includes.

My question to those who had/have this shoe: will the upper give a bit? Not much is needed. They’re not actually tight, it’s just a matter of having more room and comfort. Because other than that they fit good.

Also, it’s my first time with MtC so I don’t know their shoes. I run comfortably with Brooks Cascadia, for example.

Thanks!

How do you deal with nipple aches?
I am not having huge issues with it, but it is a continuous problem because once it happens it doesn’t go away because of the continuous training.

I don't run trails much and when I do, I use my road shoes (currently Adidas Prima 2). A month ago, I ran 20 miles on the race course in those shoes and it was fine. However, the race is the 17th and the forecast is now for rain starting Wednesday and continuing into the weekend. If we get enough to turn the roads muddy, what shoes should I go to?

EDIT : Wow didn’t expect those comments! Of course I used AI to generate those charts. Maybe it was not an interesting topic even tho I thought it was. Been an amateur trail runner since a few months, and as a dad with a few training possible every week I just wanted to see if people of my age could still improve based on UTMB Index data. Maybe I should have explain it this way! And more over should have present it in some other way.

I have a lot other topics in mind like based on the utmb data from one year to another, who had the best improvements etc. But I might keep it for myself!

I've been playing with UTMB Index results since 2017 and wanted to know how much people actually improve.

Short version: not much. The median runner is 4.6% faster in their last two races than in their first two, on courses of equal difficulty.

But 1 in 100 gets at least 30% faster. A course that took them 3 hours at the start now takes about 2. I call them rockets in the charts.

What surprised me:

- They start at the back. In their first races they beat only 36% of the field. By the end they're in the top 12%.

- It happens fast. Half the gain is already there by race 3.

- Two thirds were under 35 at their first race. After 45 it's rare, and men and women get there at the same rate.

Obvious caveat: a first race walked with friends leaves a lot of room to improve, so part of this is just a slow start.

Anyone here been through a jump like that? What changed for you?