Phoenix Marathon Course Preview and a Race Entry GIVEAWAY!!!

This past weekend I ventured out to the start of the Phoenix Marathon course to get a “feel” for the first part of the race.

As you can see, the beginning part of it is a nice downhill followed by a not-so-nice uphill, lol. I have no “real” goal for this race, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t hope to PR. I’m hoping with my NYC Marathon fitness, the downhillish course, and home court advantage will help me lower my sub 4 marathon time. 😀

Okay, fine #realtalk Whenever I think of Phoenix Marathon, I don’t remember my very first ever marathon. Instead, I remember that cold February morning back in 2015 dropping out a little past mile 12 😦 My DNF that year is not how I want to remember this race. So that’s the biggest reason I want to do well. REVENGE.

I was able to have a running buddy venture out to the start with me (the race is a point to point that begins far out in Mesa in the middle of the beautiful desert, lol) and he joined me for the first 6 miles of the course. My plan was to do the downhill part and the hill–loop around a circle doing the hill a few times for 16 miles total (my first Hanson’s 20 of this cycle).

Unfortunately, I took an early turn and ended up doing a lot of little loops and the Phoenix hill a few more times than planned, jaja!!! I chalked it up to more training for the course, lol!

I should've kept on going to Eaglecrest instead of turning left....oh wells..

I should’ve kept on going to Eaglecrest instead of turning left….oh wells..

Doooown, and then up, and then down, and then up and then down

Doooown, and then up, and then down, and then up and then down

Anyway, it was a good, hard run that left me confident about next month’s race. I’m actually excited. I think because I have a sub 4 already, I don’t have the major pressure of that goal hovering over me. Also, I have a nice, long break awaiting after this race that I’m very much looking forward to 😀

And because I’m a Phoenix Marathon Ambassador, I get “rewarded” with extra entries the more times people use my code (Helly10 for $10 off the half or full). Because everyone is awesome and using it, I’ve managed to snag an entry to giveaway for any distance the race offers–10k, 1/2, or full!! YAY!!

This giveaway is on my Instagram so make sure you check out the deets there to enter. Doesn’t a spontaneous trip to warmer weather sound amazing??? 😀 ❤

–Have you ever won a race entry?

–Do you ever practice/train on the course you will race? (this was actually the first time I’ve done that)