REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon: Pacing & Race-Day Strategy
An aggressive net-downhill plunge off the Spring Mountains into the Las Vegas valley. Fast times come at the cost of brutal quads.
- Where:
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- When:
- Saturday, April 3, 2027
- Course:
- Steep net downhill · point-to-point
- Best run as:
- Even pace
Course & elevation
REVEL Mt Charleston drops roughly 5,200 feet net from a start near 7,600 feet in Kyle Canyon down to about 2,500 feet on the valley floor. The descent is steady, close to a 4% grade for the first 20 miles, before the course flattens through the Centennial Hills neighborhoods to the finish. The relentless downhill produces fast times but demands trained quads.
- Start → Finish
- 7,600 → 2,502 ft
- Net
- −5,098 ft
- Total gain
- ≈ 186 ft
Key moments
- Mile 1–20Sustained ~4% descent down Kyle Canyon. Float along instead of braking or pounding.
- Mile 20The grade eases as you reach the valley floor; legs are already heavily loaded.
- Mile 21–26.2Flatter run-in through Centennial Hills to the finish, where untrained quads quit.
Pacing strategy
This is a downhill specialist’s course, so do weeks of downhill-specific training first. Run a light, quick cadence and let gravity do the work without overstriding or braking. The flatter final 5 miles punish anyone who trashed their legs on the descent.
Pacing by goal time
Checkpoint splits for four common goals at REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon. These are effort-even rather than pace-even: the paces shift with the course profile, so climbs are slower and descents faster by the amount the grade actually costs. For any other goal time, use the planner below.
| Checkpoint | Sub-3:00 | Sub-3:30 | Sub-4:00 | Sub-4:30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mile 3.1 | 19:326:31/mi | 22:477:36/mi | 26:028:41/mi | 29:189:46/mi |
| Mile 6.2 | 39:036:31/mi | 45:347:36/mi | 52:058:41/mi | 58:359:46/mi |
| Mile 9.3 | 58:356:31/mi | 1:08:217:36/mi | 1:18:078:41/mi | 1:27:539:46/mi |
| Mile 12.4 | 1:18:076:31/mi | 1:31:087:36/mi | 1:44:098:41/mi | 1:57:109:46/mi |
| Mile 15.5 | 1:37:566:48/mi | 1:54:167:56/mi | 2:10:359:04/mi | 2:26:5510:12/mi |
| Mile 18.6 | 1:58:296:51/mi | 2:18:137:59/mi | 2:37:589:08/mi | 2:57:4310:16/mi |
| Mile 21.7 | 2:19:407:10/mi | 2:42:578:22/mi | 3:06:139:34/mi | 3:29:3010:46/mi |
| Mile 24.9 | 2:41:587:35/mi | 3:08:578:51/mi | 3:35:5710:07/mi | 4:02:5711:22/mi |
| Finish | 2:58:138:11/mi | 3:27:559:33/mi | 3:57:3710:55/mi | 4:27:1912:17/mi |
Grade adjustment is a model, not a promise. It assumes even effort and ignores wind, heat, and how well your legs handle sustained descent — which on a steep course is often the deciding factor.
Plan your mile splits
Enter your goal time to get a mile-by-mile pacing band for REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon. The even pace option is pre-selected to suit this course.
| Mile | Pace | Elapsed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9:09/mi | 9:09 |
| 2 | 9:09/mi | 18:18 |
| 3 | 9:09/mi | 27:28 |
| 4 | 9:09/mi | 36:37 |
| 5 | 9:09/mi | 45:46 |
| 6 | 9:09/mi | 54:55 |
| 7 | 9:09/mi | 1:04:05 |
| 8 | 9:09/mi | 1:13:14 |
| 9 | 9:09/mi | 1:22:23 |
| 10 | 9:09/mi | 1:31:32 |
| 11 | 9:09/mi | 1:40:41 |
| 12 | 9:09/mi | 1:49:51 |
| 13 | 9:09/mi | 1:59:00 |
| 14 | 9:09/mi | 2:08:09 |
| 15 | 9:09/mi | 2:17:18 |
| 16 | 9:09/mi | 2:26:28 |
| 17 | 9:09/mi | 2:35:37 |
| 18 | 9:09/mi | 2:44:46 |
| 19 | 9:09/mi | 2:53:55 |
| 20 | 9:09/mi | 3:03:05 |
| 21 | 9:09/mi | 3:12:14 |
| 22 | 9:09/mi | 3:21:23 |
| 23 | 9:09/mi | 3:30:32 |
| 24 | 9:09/mi | 3:39:41 |
| 25 | 9:09/mi | 3:48:51 |
| 26 | 9:09/mi | 3:58:00 |
| 26.22 | 9:09/mi | 4:00:00 |
Fueling & hydration
Aid stations roughly every 1.5–2 miles with water and sports drink. The cool, dry mountain start hides early fluid loss, and the descent makes it easy to forget to eat, so keep a fixed gel schedule from the first few miles.
Weather
Late-March/early-April brings a big temperature swing: a cold, sometimes freezing high-elevation start (occasionally snow) warming sharply toward a mild-to-warm valley finish. Pack throwaway layers for the start line.
Is REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon a good Boston qualifier?
It can be, but with an asterisk. The course drops 5,098 ft net, which puts it in the band where the B.A.A. adds 10:00 to your submitted time for 2027. That does not disqualify the race — it means you need to run 10 minutes faster here than the standard alone suggests.
A drop this size is fast and punishing at once. Sustained descent loads the quads eccentrically, and runners who have not trained for it tend to lose more in the last 10K than the profile gave them in the first. If you target this race, train downhill specifically.
This drop is our estimate rather than a figure from the course's certificate. If it sits near a threshold, confirm with the organizer.
Dial in your pacing & fueling
New to how training builds toward a race like this? Start with Anatomy of a Running Plan, find your zones with the pace calculator, and plan race-day nutrition with the fueling calculator.
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