Folsom to the State Capitol: 336 feet net downhill, 530 feet of climbing, and rolling hills through the first half. Here is the course mile by mile, and how I’d run each stretch.
A typical race morning: 43°F with a 40°F dew point at the 7am start, a combined score of 83. Every race morning since 2000, the forecast six days out and your goal pace adjusted for it are on the California International Marathon weather page. For any other forecast, my heat pace calculator does the same math.
Over these 5.8 miles the course climbs 136 feet and drops 292, 155 feet net down.
CIM drops about 160 feet in the first six miles, and the start is packed and quick. This is the classic place to lose the race: the downhill makes goal pace feel easy, and your quads pay for it in the last 10K. The short climbs on Oak Avenue Parkway and Oak Avenue are a couple of hundred meters at most. I’d run the first 10K a touch slower than goal and let the course hand you the free seconds rather than taking them.
Over these 7.7 miles the course climbs 270 feet and drops 340, 73 feet net down. The climb: New York Avenue from mile 11.1 (+44 feet over 0.3 mi, 2.5%).
This is the hilly half of CIM, and it’s a string of rollers rather than real hills: a rise past Greenback Lane, a short, sharp drop into Old Fair Oaks Village and the climb back out, then the steepest uphill of the day past New York Avenue at mile 11 and the rollers to the dogleg at Manzanita Avenue. None of them lasts long. Run every one by effort, give back a few seconds on the way up, and don’t race the downhills to win them back.
Over these 8.1 miles the course climbs 104 feet and drops 182, 79 feet net down.
The second half is where CIM gets fast. Fair Oaks Boulevard runs gently downhill for about eight miles, straight and wide, with very little to break your rhythm. Goal pace should feel controlled here. If it already feels like work at mile 16, ease off a few seconds a mile now, because the last 10K rewards whoever still has legs.
Over these 4.6 miles the course climbs 21 feet and drops 51, 30 feet net down.
The H Street Bridge over the American River is the last up and down of the race, a short hump just past mile 21. After that it’s flat through East Sacramento and midtown on J Street, Alhambra Boulevard and L Street to the Capitol. If you ran the first half patiently, this is the stretch to spend it, one block at a time.
This course runs one way, toward the west-southwest, so the wind is either in your face or at your back for most of it. At the Sacramento Executive station at 7am on 24 race mornings since 2000, it was a headwind on 1, a tailwind on 1 and a crosswind on 11, and calm or shifting on 11. The strongest headwind was 2003: SSW at 9 mph. Into a headwind, tuck in behind other runners and give the goal pace some room; with a tailwind, bank nothing early anyway, because the hills still come at the same mile.
| Mile | Elevation at the marker | Climb | Drop | Street |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mile 1 | 295 | +18 | −74 | Folsom-Auburn Road |
| Mile 2 | 295 | +46 | −52 | Oak Avenue Parkway |
| Mile 3 | 242 | +12 | −64 | Oak Avenue |
| Mile 4 | 219 | +19 | −42 | Oak Avenue |
| Mile 5 | 217 | +28 | −29 | Oak Avenue |
| Mile 6 | 193 | +14 | −39 | Oak Avenue |
| Mile 7 | 186 | +36 | −44 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 8 | 195 | +45 | −35 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 9 | 222 | +38 | −12 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 10 | 184 | +12 | −50 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 11 | 127 | +42 | −102 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 12 | 128 | +53 | −50 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 13 | 126 | +29 | −31 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 14 | 111 | +13 | −28 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 15 | 134 | +26 | −3 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 16 | 114 | +14 | −34 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 17 | 79 | +1 | −35 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 18 | 79 | +27 | −28 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 19 | 57 | +10 | −32 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 20 | 45 | +4 | −15 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 21 | 39 | +6 | −13 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 22 | 38 | +16 | −17 | Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| Mile 23 | 36 | +10 | −13 | J Street |
| Mile 24 | 24 | +5 | −17 | J Street |
| Mile 25 | 21 | +3 | −6 | L Street |
| Mile 26 | 21 | +2 | −1 | L Street |
| To the finish | 20 | +0 | −1 | 8th Street |
Race week, start to finish: how I’d run the three-week taper, what to take in during the race, how much to slow down in heat and humidity, and what the four weeks after should look like.
A course map tells you where the hills are. It doesn't know your training, how you handle a long climb, or what your legs look like at mile 20. I write every plan by hand and set race-day pacing with each athlete. It starts with a free 20-minute call.
Book a free intro callRace-day weather and heat-adjusted pace: Twin Cities Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Columbus Marathon, Detroit Marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, NYC Marathon, Philadelphia Marathon, Honolulu Marathon, Houston Marathon, LA Marathon, Boston Marathon, Grandma's Marathon. All race-day weather pages.
RunFitCoach is not affiliated with the California International Marathon or its organizers. Course line © OpenStreetMap contributors. Elevation from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (1 m bare earth), sampled every 50 m and smoothed over 250 m. Bare-earth elevation leaves bridges out, so bridge decks are rebuilt from their ends. Distances are scaled to the certified 42.195 km, so mile marks can sit a little off the course markers. The line is routed street by street through the course’s turns and mile markers rather than surveyed, so here that can be up to a quarter mile.
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