Forest of the Nicene Marks - Santa Cruz - Triathlon Week

Smee · 03-12-2003, 01:45 PM

Anyone done this marathon?
just curious about your experiences, thoughts, comments about the course, difficulty etc.

any all info greatly appreciated!!!!

bene grazie!

ikantcoach · 06-18-2003, 11:47 AM

Hi There,

I have run the Nisene Marks course in Aptos several times. It is a FANTASTIC course!! You can do two versions of it....the loop (which i dont do) and the out and back. To do the out and back, you basically keep to your right, cross the toll booth and head on straight. The course is COMPLETELY canopied by tall trees save for a half-mile or so 'open' bit when the sun hits you. As regards the difficulty, isnt that a relative thing?:)

OK. Betweem mile 4 and mile 5.5 (not marked), there is a steady climb of approximately 1500 feet elevation gain ( i may be wrong..but i found it a challenge every time:), then it flattens out with relatively gentle ups and downs up until mile 8. I usually do a 16 mile run there.

A word of caution. If you are attempting a marathon and are using the Nisene Marks course for your training run, you may want to run elsewhere too where the sun is on you for long periods. You should not get used to running at Nisene Marks too much as most marathons take you on roads and pavements on city streets with little or no shade.

I plan to run Nisene Marks a few times in July. Let me know if you want to hook up.

Cheers,
Raghu