How to:CIM
Preparing You to…
Pick your goal. Everything here comes from nine CIM finishes — three Boston qualifiers and one sub-3.
Folsom
Start here
Three things decide your CIM
CIM has a reputation as a fast course, and it is — for runners who respect it. Most bad days here come from the same few mistakes: getting pulled out too fast by the downhill start, underestimating the rollers, and botching a cold, early, point-to-point race morning.
The course
Mile-by-mile: where the rollers are, where to be patient, and where CIM gives you time back.
Course breakdown →Race week
Packet pickup, the early start-line shuttle, cold-morning layers and a race-morning checklist.
Race-week plan →Your race plan
Section-by-section target paces for your goal time, built to negative split CIM.
Pace planner →Why CIM
"Net downhill" is true. "Easy" isn't.
The course runs from Folsom Dam to the State Capitol and has been essentially unchanged for over four decades. It drops roughly 366 feet start to finish — but you'll still climb a few hundred feet along the way, most of it in the rollers of miles 3–10. That's why CIM rewards patience early and a negative split late.
It's also one of the most popular Boston qualifiers in the country, and its net drop is well inside the B.A.A.'s limits, so a CIM time counts at face value.
See the course