Fast Running Blog

I had the pleasure of taking my wife and kids to visit my parents who live about 40 minutes south of Minneapolis. Since I'm planning to run the Twin Cities Marathon in October, I thought it would be a good idea to preview the course. I was particularly interested in checking out the final couple of miles which appear on the course map to be fairly significant inclines.

Link to course map: http://www.mtcmarathon.org/PDFs/MarathonCourseMap08.pdf

The Start
The race starts right outside the Metrodome. If you haven't been to Minneapolis then you are missing out. It's a beautiful city. The first few miles take you through the core downtown area which is pancake flat. The skyline is small enough that I don't think the winds that are often exagerated when among tall buildings will be an issue.

Miles 3-8
At the three-mile mark, you turn south out of the downtown area and enter an amazingly beautiful 5-mile stretch that takes you through some of the most beautiful if not luxurious neighborhoods of any metro area I've ever scene. When you're finished looking at the homes on your right, you look to your left and realize you are running along side three of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. The best part is the much of this section is heavily shaded with big trees protecting runners from much of the direct sunlight. This stretch is also dead flat.

Miles 9-11
This stretch is also quite protected from the direct sunlight giving runners a breather from temperatures that can be quite warm even in October. This stretch struck me as particularly narrow but by Mile 11, things will have thinned out sufficiently such that it shouldn't be a congestion problem.

Miles 12-13
Due to some road construction, we actually had to skip this part that goes around Lake Nokomis. According to the map it is also flat. I don't know what the shading is like.

Miles 14-16
We rejoined the course at Mile 14 which rejoins this narrow street called Minehaha Parkway. It again is pretty well shaded.

Miles 17-21
We were running low on time so we skipped this part that follow the Mississippi River back up to St. Paul. According to the map it is flat.

Miles 21-23
The elevation maps would have you believe this is a pretty substantial slope but if I hadn't looked at the map ahead of time, I'm not sure I would have noticed any uphill at all. Over the two-mile stretch, it rises just 120 feet. I know by this time in a marathon the slightest incline feels like Heartbreak Hill, but seriously, this stretch is no problem at all. You lose all of the shade on this stretch as the street widens dramatically and you enter some of the most upscale and gorgeous neighborhoods of St. Paul. The worst part about this stretch will be a lack of protection from sun and wind if either are present on race day.

The Homestretch
The last three miles are an almost unoticeable downhill slope to the capital building in St. Paul. I'm really looking forward to this stretch of the race because if there is anything left in the tank, it will be a perfect stretch to run. The finish area looks awesome.

I can't say enough about how great this course looks. The biggest x factor, as last year proved, will be the weather. It could be 40 and breezy or 85 and humid. Of then 10 days I just spent in Minneapolis, 8 of them were very pleasant with low humidity. But the day we left (Sunday) was miserable. It was 85 degrees with 70% humidity. If it's like that on race day in October, I won't bother running. But if the weather coooperates, I think this will be a very fun and memorable race.

My husband lived in St. Paul when I lived in Provo finishing up my last year of running at BYU.  We would visit each other on weekends so I ran quite a bit around downtown St. Paul.  There are some gorgeous neighborhoods near downtown. 
I would think the hot/humid weather in October would be an aberration, but when it is humid it truly would be a waste of time to travel there to race it. 

Thanks for the course review.  It brought back some fond memories.

Although it is point to point, it is OTQ eligible, correct?  Otherwise I doubt whether you and Logan and who else is going would choose that marathon.  I am just concerned with gas and airline ticket prices rising, that I should target OTQ races which are closer to home.

Michelle, TCM 2008 is the only men's OTQ marathon in the US this year (not sure if women's, too).  The only.  Of course, there will be a lot more in 2009-2011, though I'm not sure which OTQ eligible ones are closer to SLC. 

Speaking of which, I have never seen the "approved marathon" list for 2012.  Does anyone know where to find it?

That's the bummer about where we live: there's no where really close that is both eligible and near sea level. In the past, we have compensated the altitude with downhill courses, and been able to qualify locally. Where do we go now that is:

A) in driving distance
B) eligible
C) flat
D) near sea level
E) has good weather

Probably PF Chang (Phoenix) in January meets these criteria the best.

For those that only run Saturday, choices are even more limited. I literally have no idea.

Of course, flying somewhere is a great option too, especially if you can get the race to subsidize your travel! Best of luck to those doing Twin Cities. I wish I could be there too.

Sean, thanks for the course preview.  I have looked at the race pace predictors on the website and am still thinking I will be shooting for a 2:35, so the shaded areas will help.

I am running this race as I met the standard for the Master's Championships, got decent airline ticket prices and hotel (Logan and I are bunking together) and thought I should take a shot at a race such as this since I have the chance.   

TCM meets the record-qualifying criteria set out by the newest OTQ regs. The start and the finish are within the 7.9 miles of each other (barely) and the finish is actually slightly higher in elevation than the start. There's no way the USATF would hold the National Marathon Championships on an ineligible course. As was said, this is the only race in 2008 that is an OTQ qualifier. Traditionally, the National Championship races are even this far ahead of the Trials. I don't believe the USATF has released it's qualifying window for the 2012 Trials, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if TCM is the only qualifier next year too since it is once again hosting the USATF Marathon Championships in 2009. I say that based on the qualifying window for the Trials this time around was October 2, 2005 (which was the marathon championships that year) or January 1, 2006 - October 7, 2007. So if they use the same window length for the 2011/12 Trials, then the main window would be January 1, 2010-October 7th 2011. What this also means is that they are bringing even more importance to the National Championships this year (which Paul correctly stated that they need to do) because it's an extra qualifying race compared to last time.

As for flat marathons at sea level close to Utah, you are kind of hosed. You are going to have to fly somewhere or drive for a while. We're in a somewhat similar situation here in Seattle. The closest flat marathons are in Oregon (Eugene and Newport) both of which I would strongly recommend for OTQers. Another is Vancouver BC. All are about a 4-6 hour drive from Seattle. Only Newport is a Saturday marathon. The others are Sunday marathons. All are within a few weeks of one another (May) so you would have to pick one and you wouldn't have a "fallback" in the Fall. You are almost guaranteed great marathon weather in all three spots.

So travel you must and since you have to travel, consider the spring ones I just mentioned. Chicago and TCM are the best candidates for the Fall but are always prone to less than desirable weather. Houston is a fast one in the winter.

I'd like to say that I love Minneapolis (my home town).  The course does appear to be quite beautiful for the fact that it is inner city and good luck to any that are going! I wish I could go.

My thoughts...the last 10K of this course was HARDER than it appears on the elevation chart and even during the course tour.  Much of that could have been due to the weather, but that was not a fun hill!  The uphill went from 20M to 25.5M! 

This is a beautiful course and a well run marahton, but the course is fair if not challenging with the last 10K hills.

All last 10ks are much harder than they appear. :-)