Tag Archives: Twin Cities Marathon

Twin Cities Marathon Pictoral Preview

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The Twin Cities Marathon course has been quite busy this summer, just like every summer (actually year round).  This is because the course takes in some of the coolest recreation spots in the metro – or at least Minneapolis.  Beginning in downtown Minneapolis the 26.2 mile course  makes a big circle before ending up in downtown St Paul.  Leaving the sports capital of Minnesota (the Metrodome) runners take in some amazing views before arriving at the state capital of Minnesota.  What a course.   Here’s last year’s course preview.

Below are 26 pictures from the course itself (though they don’t come from all 26 miles of the course).

A picture of the map…
The Hurbert H Humphrey Metrodome – aka staging area and starting line.
A random wall downtown along Hennepin Ave.  I know some of the symbols are Adrinka symbols of West Africa, but I don’t know their history here.
The Basillica of St Mary is on Hennepin as well. Don’t let the old architecture fool you, they are on Twitter.
This is WAC, the Walker Art Center.  On the right is the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.  I’ve heard tell that some people use it as a quick potty stop. (I don’t recommend it) Watch this hill.  If we ran on the sidewalks we’d actually get to run under the Walker.
TCM isn’t called “The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in American” for nothing.  This is Lake of the Isles, the first among several lakes we’ll travel around.  We won’t run by the most expensive house in Minneapolis, but it is located on the Isles.
Here’s another shot of the Isles.
Dean Parkway going underneath the Midtown Greenway.
Lake #2 Lake Calhoun.  On the south end there will be a cool view of the downtown skyline with the lake in the foreground.
The third lake is Lake Harriet which has a cool band shell and yacht club.
Running under the Niollet Ave bridge (I think).   A local marching band stands under one of these bridges and plays.
The 7ft bronze rabbit at the intersection of Portland and Minnehaha Parkway.  I can’t figure out where it came from.
We run a long ways on this parkway. Here is wikipedia’s take on who Minnehaha was…
The Grand Rounds is a great way to see the major sites in the city. A road, trail system, and scenic destination itself, much of the marathon is actually run along the Grand Rounds.
West River Parkway has been under construction all summer, but it won’t affect the race.  This is where I started to fall apart during the 2008 marathon.
The Mississippi River is a national park.  This is crossing the Franklin Ave bridge.
A bad shot of the river!
This is now on East River Road getting ready to go under a rail bridge which will one day connect to the Greenway.
University of St Thomas sits atop a nice hill and is around the 21 mile mark!
A nice long look up Summit Ave. A nice long uphill. And is the longest remaining stretch of residential Victorian architecture in the United States.
Bridge crossing Ayd Mill Rd.
A cool church on the corner of Lexington Parkway and Summit Ave.
One of many cool houses. If you aren’t in complete agony, be sure to check them out! They are on both sides.
This is a great sign!! You are atop the hill and getting ready to turn left into the final stretch.  I always felt a little let down that we turn here instead of just going down the hill!
The Cathedral of St Paul. When you see the steeple it is almost over!
The Minnesota State Capital building and the finish line!!!  Congratulations you’ve finished.

[tags] Twin Cities Marathon, TCM, Marathon, Twin Cities [/tags]

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Free Group Training Runs – Lifetime Fitness

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I get to run every Tuesday and Saturday morning with a training group from the MDRA.  However, if you don’t belong to a training group but are training for a fall marathon you might be interested in the below information from Lifetime Fitness. I received an e-mail from Lifetime Fitness Endurance, I’m guessing that TCM sold my e-mail address to them.

Dear Twin Cities Marathoners,

We hope you are running strong and building your fitness towards the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 4, 2009! It’s time for those longer endurance building runs and we’d like to invite you to join members of the Life Time Fitness Run Club for some upcoming long runs in the month of August! This if absolutely FREE!Aug 22 – Eagan LTF, 7 am Start (16 miler, Run Lead is John Schueller. RSVP: jschueller@lifetimefitness.com) *Open to ALL Twin Cities Marathon Runners!

Aug 29 – St. Louis Park LTF,  7 am Start (20 miler, Run Lead is Rebekah Mayer. RSVP: rmayer@lifetimefitness.com) *Open to ALL TCM Runners!

Please visit www.lifetimefitness.com for directions to the run start location. Email your Run Lead with any questions and to RSVP so that we know how many people to expect to run that day.  Please arrive between 6:30-6:45 am as the runs will begin at 7 am sharp.  Each workout will be supported with fluids and food, but we recommend that you come with your own water bottles. After the workout, join fellow runners for 25% off smoothies in the Life Cafe! We hope you can join us and everyone is invited!

On behalf of every endurance athlete and coach on staff at Life Time Fitness, I’d like to wish you the very best of luck with your training and on race day.  And don’t forget to visit our new and improved running website by clicking HERE or visiting http://lifetimefitness.mylt.com/community/running/
Train smart and train safe,
Coach Troy Jacobson
National Director – Endurance Training

LIFE TIME FITNESS, INC.
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Guest Post: Tune-up Races

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Coach Mike Nawrocki with MDRA’s 2009 Fall Marathon Training Class had some good words to say about tune-up racing for the marathon.

You may be asking, what is a tune-up race?  It is a race you run between now and Labor Day weekend to simulate the race day environment of a marathon.  I recommend some of the bigger races with fast fields, because that will be closest to what you will experience when the marathon comes around.

Why do a tune-up race?
a. Fourteen weeks is a long time to train without racing.  A tune-up race helps break your training up into smaller pieces, so this training process won’t feel like such a grind.

b. Practice race day logistics.  Take it from a savvy veteran like me, who famously (infamously?) ran the first mile and a half of the 2006 TC10 with a safety pin in my sock: race day logistics matter.  I lost over a minute fishing that **&%$# safety pin out of my sock and am still bitter every time I see a safety pin (unfortunate, because they are used at every race, making me one bitter guy).  A tune-up race allows you to practice your eating, bathroom, drinking, and gear preparation routine.
c. Practice pacing and running your own race.  Savvy veterans and eager rookies alike need to practice race-day pacing.  Running a tune-up race is a low-stakes way to find out if you are prone to being unwittingly sucked out to a faster start than you intend.  Better to find this out now than at mile two of the Twin Cities Marathon.
d. Help determine your marathon pace vs. Practice your marathon pace.  Don’t know what your marathon pace should be?  Race a ten miler, 15k, or half-marathon.  Consult me or Marty afterwards and we can put the race in the context of your training to help you come up with a goal pace for October 4.  Already know your goal pace?  Go run a half-marathon at that pace.  See if you can hold it without getting sucked into the dynamic of racing harder.

Buyer Beware
a. Tune-up races may not be for everyone.  If you are recovering from, nursing, or managing an injury, a race could very well be too risky in terms of aggravating this injury.  Remember everyone’s second goal for this class: get to the starting line healthy.

b. Racing is essentially a hard workout.  You should contact me or Marty for guidance on how to train the week before and after any tune-up race.

c. No races after Labor Day.  It breaks my heart to not recommend the MDRA City of Lakes 25k to everyone, because I serve on the MDRA board and have MDRA pride.  But it’s just a tad too close to the marathon.  Talk to Marty or me if you are interested in the City of Lakes race and we can decide together if it is a good idea.  If your competitive streak is such that you are prone to racing hard no matter what, City of Lakes or any post-Labor Day race is just too close to the target marathon, as you may put wear and tear on your legs without enough time to fully recover.

Thanks Mike!

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Twin Cities Marathon Weekend

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It is still 3 months away but it is never to early to plan for race weekend.  For 11,000 runners the Twin Cities Marathon will be the culmination of many miles of pavement (and dirt) pounded throughout the summer.

The 26.2 mile race begins at 8am on Sunday, October 4th.  Earlier that morning at 7:05am 6,500 runners will take the “shortcut to the capitol” by running the TC 10 Mile.   Registration for this “shortcut” is via a lottery system that is currently open.  Registration for the 10 Mile lottery goes from Monday, July 6 to Wednesday July 15 at 10pm.  1,000 lucky runners of May’s TC 1 Mile event (including me) won a guarenteed entry into the 10 Mile.  I obviously chose not to use it. This is the 11th annual 10 mile race and is again the USA 10 Mile Championship event.

New this year to race weekend is a 10k event.  Held on Saturday, October 3 at 7:30am this will be an out and back along the last 3 miles of the marathon course (starting and finishing at the marathon finish area).  It appears that there is no limit to the number of 10k participants and offers race day entry.  This also is the first event of the 2009 race weekend.

The TC 5k is on Saturday as well  starting at 9am.  It is an out and back course along the last 1.5 miles of the marathon course, finishing at the marathon finish.  It too appears to have no limit to race entries and offers race morning entry.  Both the 10k and 5k events will be run on USATF certified courses and are chip timed.

Other family friendly events are scheduled throughout the day on Saturday.  All events offer pre- and race day registration. They include:
  • Diana Pierce Family Mile which starts at 10m and is an out and back course finishing on the marathon finish line.
  • Half Mile which starts at 10:30 am and is an out and back course finishing at the marathon finish line.
  • Diaper Dash starts at 11am. Participants crawl from an inner circle to an outer circle, it seems obvious this is for the littlest of “runners” in the family. It doesn’t sound like this one finishes on the marathon finish line but does take place in the same area.
  • Harry & Shelly’s Mascot Invitational starts at 11:15am and is a race amongst your favorite mascots.  I’m not sure which ones will be there, but I’m sure Brutus the Buckeye won’t be.   Harry and Shelly are the TCM mascots (in case you were wondering).
  • Toddler Trot starts at 11:30 and is a 50 yard dash on the capital lawn.

Race fees start at $7 for the Toddler Trot and Diaper Dash and go up to $100 for the now closed marathon.

Last year I was quite happy to visit the Expo, pickup my number and chip, walk quickly through, purchase a shirt, and head home – less time on the feet the better! Some of my non-runner friends have taken their kids to the family events and had a blast.

If you’ll be here for marathon weekend, what event are you doing?  Me – I’ll be knocking out the 26.2.

[tags] Twin Cities, Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, 10 Mile, TC 10 Mile [/tags]

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TC 10 or 26.2

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A few weeks ago I ran the TC 1 Mile race in Minneapolis which is hosted by the Twin Cities Marathon as part of their annual series of events.  Part of the deal is that every 1 mile runner is put into a drawing for a guaranteed TC 10 mile entry.

You see the 10 mile race takes place on the same morning of the marathon, but has a lottery entry system which caps at around 6,000 entrants.  To encourage runners to compete in  the 1 mile and the 10 mile they offer 1,000 guaranteed entries to the 10 mile race drawn at random from the 1 mile finishers.  This year only about 2,300 runners finished the 1 mile race which means almost 50% of the field received entry into the 10 mile.  Including me.

This was the e-mail I received on May 12:

Congratulations on being one of the 1,000 randomly drawn finishers to receive a guaranteed entry to the Medtronic TC 10 Mile! We’d like to offer a special ‘thank you’ for joining us on a beautiful May 7th evening for a great downtown race, and hope the excitement of two national championship races and a sub-four minute mile is still high.

Sadly, all TC Marathon, Inc entries are non-transferable, including this guarenteed entry.  Don’t worry, even with this entry you still get to pay the full $60 plus processing fees to race.

Even with this “great prize” I decided to get an e-mail that said this:

Congratulations! You are officially registered for the 28th annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on October 4, 2009.

So I have officially registered for the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon, which is currently just over 75% full (pdf).

[tags] Twin Cities, Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, 1 Mile, 10 Mile [/tags]

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