The Sedona Marathon is not far away, and that means people are preparing themselves for races.

The eighth annual Sedona Marathon, which includes full and half marathons, 10K and 5K runs, is Saturday, Feb. 2, starting at 9 a.m. at Navoti Drive near the Verde Valley Medical Center Sedona Campus. Running the Sedona Marathon or even the half-marathon is challenging, but also fun with the right training and focus.

Locals and out-of-towners are gearing up for the races with their own regimen, but no matter how different they might be, all of them have the basics.

Sedona residents are lucky as they can train in the high altitude and on numerous trail runs.

“I’m not very traditional when training for a marathon,” said Lindsay Scheiwiller, an ultramarathon runner who has run the Sedona half-marathon once but plans on running the full marathon this year. “I trail-run, and because of that I won’t run over 15 miles, but it takes twice as long as road running.”

Trail-running is running on much rougher terrain and trains runners on steeper hills.

Scheiwiller runs six days a week with one day dedicated more to a hike than a run. She makes sure she has one full day off each week.

Jesse Martin plans on running the full marathon this year for the first time. He has participated in the 5K run for the last two years. He said he tries to run every chance he gets and puts in 30 to 35 miles a week. He supplements his running with mountain biking.

“This has helped when my legs are sore and with long distances,” Martin said.

It is recommended that a person must be able to run 30 minutes without stopping before he or she starts training for a marathon.

For the full story, please see the Friday, Dec. 28, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.