Race-day guide
How to Track and Watch the 2026 California International Marathon: Start Buses, Cheer Zones, the Finish and Race Weekend
A race-weekend guide to CIM on Sunday, December 6: the Folsom start and its bus rules, staging areas and pace groups, cheer zones mile by mile, the Capitol Mall finish, the USATF championship, tracking, and what's on at the expo and Saturday's runs.
CIM is a one-way trip. The race starts on Folsom-Auburn Road near Folsom Dam at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 6, and finishes 26.2 miles later at the State Capitol in downtown Sacramento. That shapes everything for a spectator: nobody is allowed at the start, so your day begins somewhere along Fair Oaks Boulevard or at the finish on Capitol Mall.
The race also doubles as the USATF Marathon Championships for a second straight year, the Sacramento Running Association announced, so the front of the field is the national title race. All times below are Pacific.
Tracking
The race's FAQ says runner tracking will be available and the details go up on the home page of runcim.org during race week; its spectator page names the RTRT.me app. The spectator page also lists last year's broadcast plan: the championship on USATF.tv from 6:55 a.m. and YouTube streams of the mass finish from about 10:00 a.m. Check it in race week for this year's links.
Start and staging
Runners can't drive themselves to the start or be dropped off near it, and there's no gear check there, per the start line page. Everyone rides a free bus, and your bib is your ticket. From the transportation page:
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| Bus location | Where | Last bus |
|---|---|---|
| A, downtown | Behind the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, K and 13th | 4:30 a.m. |
| B, Point West | 1780 Tribute Road, in front of the Fairfield Inn | 5:00 a.m. |
| C and D, Folsom | Century Theater lot, 261 Iron Point Road; Sam's Club lot, 2475 Iron Point Road | 5:00 to 5:30 a.m., continuous |
| E, Granite Bay | Raley's plaza, 6845 Douglas Boulevard | 5:15 to 6:00 a.m., continuous |
New this year, buses no longer park at the start. They drop runners outside the start area and runners walk in, so the race asks them to arrive 10 to 15 minutes earlier than they would have. Gear check is at the expo or at Location A on race morning, and last year bags came back at 9th Street and Capitol Mall.
Staging is self-seeded by expected finish time, and each area has its own entrance and closing time:
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| Expected finish | Staging area | Entrance closes |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2:50 | 1 | 6:55 a.m. |
| 2:50 to 3:05 | 2 | 6:55 a.m. |
| 3:05 to 3:15 | 3 | 7:00 a.m. |
| 3:16 to 3:40 | 4 | 7:02 a.m. |
| 3:40 to 4:00 | 5 | 7:05 a.m. |
| 4:01 to 4:30 | 6 | 7:08 a.m. |
| 4:30 and over | 7 | Stays open |
The pace team is built around Boston qualifying standards, with extra groups at 3:10, 3:40, 3:55, 4:30 and 5:50. Leaders hold up red signs with their goal time 20 minutes before the start.
The course allows six hours. Sweep runners cross the start at 7:30 a.m. at a 13:44-per-mile pace, and the finish closes at 1:30 p.m. sharp. Runners who fall behind can take a bus to the finish.
Where to watch
The spectator page lists 19 cheer zones. These are some of the easiest to plan around, with the race's sponsor zones among them. Treat the list as a guide; zones can shift before race day.
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| Mile | Cheer zone | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Casa Roble HS | Casa Roble Fundamental High School |
| 10.1 | Asics | Fair Oaks Boulevard and California Avenue, Old Town Fair Oaks |
| 13.1 | Red Bull and In-Shape Fitness | Fair Oaks Boulevard and Delaware Avenue, the halfway point |
| 13.4 | Relay exchange | Fair Oaks Boulevard and Manzanita Avenue |
| 17 | CIM Breakthrough Zone | Fair Oaks Boulevard and Arden Way |
| 19.4 | Precision Fuel & Hydration | Watt Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard |
| 21.5 | BURN Running | H Street Bridge |
| 23.5 | Mercy General | J and 41st |
| 25 | Fleet Feet | 23rd and L |
| 25.4 | Unofficial Run Club | 19th and L |
Old Town Fair Oaks at mile 10.1 has a cheer zone and an aid station, and the halfway point is three miles further down the same road. From mile 22 the course runs on J and then L Street into downtown. Mile 25 at 23rd and L is about a mile from the finish gates on N Street, so you can watch there and walk to Capitol Mall.
For timing, simple arithmetic works from the 7:00 start. A 4:00 marathoner averages about 9:10 a mile: mile 10 around 8:32 a.m., halfway around 9:00, mile 20 around 10:03 and the finish around 11:00. A 3:30 runner averages about 8:01 a mile: mile 10 around 8:20, mile 20 around 9:40, finish around 10:30. Runners in later staging areas cross the line a few minutes after the gun, so add that.
Road closures start at 2:00 a.m. around the start and roll down the course through the morning. Fair Oaks Boulevard between Eastern and Watt Avenues stays closed until 1:00 p.m., and L Street from 15th to 7th until 3:00 p.m., according to the road closure table on the spectator page, which may still show last year's times and is subject to change on race day. Crossing the course by car is hard, so pick one or two spots on the same side of the route.
The finish
The mass finish is at 7th Street and Capitol Mall. Spectators enter only from the south side, through the gates at 9th and N or 10th and N, where bags are checked. There's no access from L Street, and the only places to cross between the north and south sides are 5th and 15th Streets, per the finish page. That page still shows last year's layout and says 2026 details are coming, so check it again in race week.
Last year's setup gives the shape of it: bleachers near 7th and Capitol Mall, a Runner Reunion Zone with A to Z signs on the Capitol Mall median between 8th and 9th Streets, and a post-race party on the north side of 10th Street with food trucks, coffee and, for runners, a free burrito and a Firestone Walker beer. Pick a letter with your runner before Sunday.
Last year the USATF championship had its own finish at 9th Street and Capitol Mall for men under 2:20 and women under 2:40, closing at 9:20 a.m. for men and 9:40 for women. The spectator page suggests the grass median near 9th and Capitol Mall for watching the leaders come in.
For a car, the race points to metered street parking and garages downtown, and rideshare drop-off at Roosevelt Park, 1615 9th Street. Return buses to the partner hotels in Point West and Folsom run from 10:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.; last year they loaded on N Street between 9th and 10th.
Race weekend
- Expo and packet pickup, SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, Hall D (enter from the J Street north lobby): Friday, December 4, 1:00 to 7:00 p.m., and Saturday, December 5, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There's no race-day packet pickup, and runners need photo ID and their QR code. Pace team leaders are at the expo, so it's the place to meet your group, per the expo page.
- CIM official shakeout run, Saturday, December 5. The expo page lists the date; time and meeting point weren't posted as of November 11.
- maraFUNrun 5K, Saturday, December 5, William Land Park (Freeport and Sutterville): a 1/4-mile kids' dash at 8:30 a.m. and the 5K at 9:00, alongside about 3,000 young runners from Runnin' for Rhett's after-school program. It calls itself "the perfect shake-out" before Sunday. Registration is open, with race-morning sign-up from 7:30 a.m., per the race's page.
Brand shakeouts and pop-ups hadn't been announced as of November 11.
Weather and the course
The FAQ puts the average temperature in the mid-50s. The course drops a net 366 feet from Folsom to the Capitol, which the race says is within the Boston Marathon's limits, so qualifying times count without an adjustment. It has 17 aid stations with water and Precision Hydration, and three with Precision Fuel gels and fruit, per the course page.
Results
Last year results ran in the RTRT app on race day. We'll post the official results link and the championship winners on our CIM results page as soon as they go up.