It's marathon time!

Judging by the steady crowd of runners to the Marathon Expo at Lynx Exhibits this morning, this year's Michelob Ultra El Paso Marathon and Half Marathon will be the biggest in the event's brief three years of existence.

Everything is lining up nicely for Sunday's races. The weather has cooled off from the 80-degree days we had earlier in the week, and it looks like the wind we're seeing today should die down a bit.

The forecast is calling for 38 degrees at the 7 a.m. start, warming up to 62 by noon. Not bad running weather -- if it weren't for the 7-10 mph winds, it would be perfect. But it's still not bad.

What can newcomers and visitors expect? A fun race, some spirited spectators (especially in the first 5-6 miles), some shad in the residential Upper Valley areas, some lonely stretches along the border (on Paisano), and in general a pleasant experience.

All races start in front of Lynx Exhibits at 300 San Antonio Street, next to the Convention Center. The first mile for the marathon and half marathon is Downtown. Then the course jaunts uphill toward UTEP and Kern Place.

You'll be tempted to push the hills from Downtown to Mesa Street and Executive Center hard. Be careful, because in both races you still have many miles to go. On the other hand, since that part accounts for 4 miles of running, you don't want to take it too easy, either.

From there, the course heads down Executive Center Drive to Paisano, and up Doniphan into the Upper Valley. At this point, the half-marathoners turn back, and take the long straight-away of Paisano downhill to the finish.

The marathoners still have a lot of running to do in the Upper Valley, as the course stays on Doniphan to Frontera, twists along various residential streets until the Sunland Park Casino area, where it crosses the Rio Grande into New Mexico.

This part has been the toughest for me. I'm not sure why, but maybe because it's a long, flat part of the run at the time when I'm the most tired. Once you get back on Paisano, you still have 5-6 miles to go. But keep pacing, because it is relatively downhill.

At this point the wind could be a factor, as it channels along Paisano and the river. It looks like the winds will be coming out of the southeast, so the runners will hit a headwind. Perhaps it will stay calm.

I bumped into several people excited about the race, with their normal reserve of pre-marathon jitters. Many first-timers were there. That's good -- this race has a good level support but does not have the tens of thousands of participants at the mega-marathons such as the Rock N Roll series in Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio and other cities.

The El Paso Marathon is small enough to make it feel homey, but big enough to give you what you need to enjoy it.

Come to think of it, that's true for El Paso as a city as well.