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Running a race knowing what lies ahead.
Runcon wasn't born from a market spreadsheet. It was born from a very simple question I asked myself while preparing for a half marathon: what does this course really look like?
- 2023 My first 10 km races I start taking running seriously.
- 2025 Stepping up to the half I sign up for my first half marathon.
- April 2026 · Madrid The Madrid Half Marathon The question: what is this course going to ask of me?
- 2026 Runcon Course reconnaissance, for every race.
Three years, one race bib after another
I started taking running seriously three years ago, with 10 km races. Then I wanted to go further, and in 2025 I signed up for my first half marathon.
As the distance grows, so does the preparation. Over 10 km, enthusiasm can still carry you through. Over 21 km, the course matters: a hill at the 15th kilometre isn't run the same way as a hill at the 3rd.
Madrid, and a question
In January 2026, while building my training plan for the Madrid Half Marathon, I wanted to see what the course looked like. Did it have any particular features? Where were the climbs, where were the descents? And above all: what did I need to work on to be ready on race day?
I found a line on a map and a total elevation gain figure. Nothing that told me where the race would be won or lost.
What golf taught me
When I was younger, I played golf. Before every important competition (Grand Prix events, French championships, international tournaments), we did a reconnaissance, a practice round: we played the course before the big day, hole by hole. We noted where to aim, where never to go, which way each green breaks. On competition day, nothing came as a surprise. We just executed a plan.
I'm a very visual person. I need to see a course to picture myself on it. That need never left me, and it was still there, as strong as ever, as I faced this half marathon.
“I wanted to run a race where I know what lies ahead.”
A reconnaissance, but virtual
Except that in running, a physical reconnaissance is rarely possible. You don't go and run the Madrid Half Marathon the week before, let alone a 45 km trail race at the other end of the country. So I wanted to make it virtual: start from the race's GPX file and get everything a reconnaissance would have taught me.
That's where the name comes from: Run + recon, short for the reconnaissance of the course.
| In golf | With Runcon |
|---|---|
| The practice round, hole by hole | The course profile, coloured by effort, section by section |
| The annotated yardage book | The pre-race briefing: steep climbs, descents, false flats |
| Where to attack, where to play safe | Where to push, where to save energy |
| The target score for that particular course | The finish time this course allows you |
| On the day, you execute the plan | On the day, you run a race you already know |
Runcon, your reconnaissance partner
I imagined Runcon as the partner who scouts the ground ahead of you, and comes back with what matters.
- I read your course metre by metre. You give me your GPX, I give you back a profile where every slope has the colour of the effort it demands.
- I show you where the race is decided. The hardest section, the climbs that cost you, the ones that last more than 500 m.
- I spot the traps. The false flats you can't see on a map and that blow your pace apart.
- I tell you what your finish time can be on this course, not on some imaginary flat one.
- And I give you a briefing to reread the night before, like a course notebook.
What I believe in
- Knowing takes nothing awayKnowing what lies ahead doesn't take the magic out of a race. It takes out the nasty surprises.
- A course can be prepared forA hill at the 18th km is something you can train for. But first you need to know it's there.
- Seeing rather than readingA good race plan makes sense at a glance. You don't need to be an engineer to read your course.
What's next
Every month, I analyse a race course on the blog. And if you're preparing for a race you'd like to see analysed, write to me at contact@runcon.app or on Instagram, @runcon.app.
Camillefounder of Runcon
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