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☰
Twin Cities Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Twin Cities Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.8 
Organization 4.6 
Spectators 4.9
Number of comments: 455 [displaying comments 11 to 21]
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t. y. from iowa
(10/8/2018)
"A diverse course with lots of cheering fans" (about: 2018)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This marathon brags about the beauty of its course and it deserves to. After a downtown Minneapolis start, the path runs past the Minneapolis entertainment district, along multiple lakes through some beautiful neighborhoods, along the Mississippi trail, through one of the most famous neighborhoods in St Paul, and then finally finishes in front of the state capitol. Even though they had 6700 runners, they use the corral system perfectly and things never got overly congested. The water stations are well spaced and adequate, but the best source of calories on this course are the ample supplies of candy, fruit, water bottles, and a few strategically-placed alcoholic beverages handed out by private neighborhood groups. Crowd support is significant and enthusiastic in the Twin Cities and they take pride in showing runners what 'Minnesota Nice' means. My two complaints with the race concerned parking and race-morning logistics. I never did figure out the 'best' place to park for the race, but settled on the Sears parking lot ($20) near the finish line and it worked well (the line for shuttle busses to the start took about 15 minutes, then a 20 minute bus ride). Once you get to the starting area, be properly dressed because there is nowhere indoors to wait for the start of the race (apparently, they used to open the Vikings stadium to wait inside, but no longer do that). | |
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D. B. from Wisconsin
(2/28/2018)
"Awesome venue, fans and support!!! A+++" (about: 2017)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Twin Cities Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I've run this twice now and it was awesome both times!! Great organization and venue!! Great support throughout the race!! They even had a phone charging tent at the end! The spectators were amazing!! The second year, 2017 it was raining and there were just as many spectators!! They just put tents up in yards and used umbrellas lol!! Minneapolis is awesome!! I've run 6 marathons including Chicago and NYC and this is right up there with them in overall experience!! | |
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M. S. from Minneapolis, MN
(10/16/2017)
"AMAZING" (about: 2012)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Love, Love, Love this race! gorgeous course, awesome fans and breathtaking views of lakes, fall color and many historic residences. | |
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Jeff Ernste from Minneapolis, MN
(10/14/2017)
"Great Event - Bad Effort in 2017" (about: 2017)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ Twin Cities Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 As long as I can run 26.2 miles, I'll look forward to the first Sunday in October and the Twin Cities Marathon. I love the course, the fans, the volunteers, and the event. This year, however, I have to point out a few things that were a disappointment which tainted my experience and are simply not becoming of this terrific event. One, 35E (main road to the Expo) had road workers clearing dead flowers and plants and trimming brush all day Saturday. With Shepard Road being closed also, this made for long traffic delays. This work couldn't have been done on a different day? Of course it could have. City of St. Paul - shame on you - how about a little cooperation?! Race Director - maybe you need to let the mayoral staff know that there's a marathon in their city during the first weekend of October. Two, the path to bag pickup following the race was unnecessarily long and cumbersome. This also made finding family nothing short of laborious. Someone designed a solution to a problem that didn't exist. Three, professional photos are apparently provided on facebook for free. The photos are busy with logos and text; yet another disappointment. The Race Committee can do better and I hope they do next year. | |
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D. N. from Franklin, TN
(10/6/2017)
"Best course ever!" (about: 2017)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 15th marathon and I will say this course was hands-down the best one I have ran. I saw a lot of reviews that talked about the hills. When I finished, I thought what hills? There are some, but if you train on any kind of hills, you will be fine. The course is very scenic and takes you around some of the lakes and Minnehaha Park in MPLS, to running along the Mississippi River, to several nice neighborhoods, and ending up in downtown St. Paul. It was a great tour of the city and kept my mind off the race, while I continued to run my best marathon, a PR of over 2 1/2 minutes! Very well organized and tremendous crowd support! There are good crowds throughout, which always helps...thank you Twin Cities! | |
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G. H. from Chicago
(10/5/2017)
"A really great big-city marathon" (about: 2017)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I've run marathons in 13 different states now, and I prefer the smaller races to the big-city crowds. However, this was a really great race overall. I heard this is the 9th biggest race in the US. Based on my experiences, you wouldn't know it. The expo was a breeze. Getting to the start line in Minny from my hotel in St. Paul was a cinch thanks to the light rail system. I was able to walk right into my corral at about 5 minutes prior to start time without any jostling through crowds. It was extremely easy for me to find my family after the race was done. My one critique has to do with the corrals and the course. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who was placed in which corral. I was in the front of corral two, and I had breezed past over 800 runners from corral one within the first 13.1 miles (it was cool that these stats were available within my results). How on earth were there 800 people slower than me in the first corral? I'm not a super fast runner; I ran the race at an 8:29 pace. This was a problem between about miles 8 and 10 when the course really narrowed. I was stuck behind a bunch of slow-pokes. I was annoyed. Nice medal, long-sleeve tee, and socks included. However, the race was definitely overpriced at $200. | |
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Will Stuart from Florida
(10/3/2017)
"First-class event" (about: 2017)
4-5 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I ran the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 1, 2017. In short, it is a first-class event. The organization is great, the course is great, and the spectators are great. I took the bus from the Best Western to the start line, and the logistics could not have been easier. Packet pickup/expo was convenient and easy to navigate. Even though it was projected to be windy and rainy for the race, the weather turned out to be fine as well in my opinion. The race is at a great time of year in the Twin Cities, before it starts getting too cold later in the month of October. I highly recommend running this race, and feel fortunate to have been able to run and complete it during my marathoning career. I beat my goal time by over 3 minutes, so needless to say am pleased from a performance perspective, as well as just the quality of the event overall and in general. | |
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C. K. from New Jersey
(10/19/2016)
"A perfect race." (about: 2016)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 There are no cons to Twin Cities. From the ease of getting around Minneapolis/St. Paul, the organization, the BEAUTIFUL course, enthusiastic and amazing spectators, and that finish, there is no downside. I loved hearing the church bells from St. Paul's Cathedral as we approached the finish line. The finish was organized, and light rail made it easy to get back to Minneapolis afterwards. Loved it. Run Twin Cities. It was a 26.2 mile block party. It also helped we had perfect weather this year. | |
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C. W. from Lynden, WA
(10/18/2016)
"Fantastic event in all respects." (about: 2016)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 It's been said many times but now that I've run the TCM I can add my agreement: this is a fantastic run. My fifth marathon and by far the most organized and satisfying (this despite the fact that my finish time now is almost an hour off what it once was). From the get-go, it's clear that the event organizers have this down to a science. Received all the appropriate info in a timely fashion and had no unanswered questions going in, which is particularly reassuring when doing a destination marathon. We opted to stay in Saint Paul, and the expo was just a few blocks from our hotel. I'm not typically very interested in marathon expos ~ mostly just want to pick up my bib number. We did end up spending a couple of hours here, though, because the vendors & atmosphere were great. Nice size and location. Race morning we took a convenient shuttle bus from the hotel over to MSP, easy as could be. Weather was absolutely ideal: cold at the start but the kind of crisp fall day you'd like to special order for every marathon. Start line at the new US Bank Stadium is a lot of fun ~ all the more so because the Vikings were having a home game that day. Very simple to drop off sweats, etc. Things were so well organized we actually could have arrived last minute and had no issues. The course itself is fantastic, with easily visible mile markers and water/electrolyte stations every two miles as advertised. From downtown MSP and the tolling bells of a basilica, through one lovely neighborhood after another; alongside scenic lakes and parks; next to and over the Mississippi River; into Saint Paul and the historic Summit neighborhood; past the majestic Cathedral of Saint Paul and then one sees the Capitol grounds, just beyond a huge American flag. Absolutely picture perfect finish. I am not a lover of hills when running, and can attest that this is primarily a flat course. A few very gentle hills after mile 20 or so, but nothing challenging. (Granted, by this point, I walk a fair amount, so take my two cents with a grain of salt.) Excellent finish line logistics with plenty of food immediately available. Easy to find the sweats pick-up and changing tent, as well as the all-important beer garden. Many women found that the shirts ran small. I typically wear a size small in all brands including Brooks, and had to trade up to a medium. Easily done. Lovely finisher's medal, if that's important to you, and within a couple of hours, emails were sent with finish times and stats. Aside from the excellent organization and attractive course, the biggest shout-out by far goes to the community overall. I was absolutely stunned by the amount of support out there. One reviewer here last year described it as akin to running through a big block party, and I have to agree. There simply wasn't a mile, or a half mile for that matter, without 'Minnesota nice' fans lining the course. I'd say the weather was a big reason why, but a couple of locals I spoke with while running said even in less-pleasant conditions, people turn out like this. Amazing! I seriously wanted to go hug these people and thank them for encouraging me the entire 26.2 miles. I absolutely would recommend this event to anyone, and would consider doing it again myself. | |
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D. Z. from Chicago
(10/11/2016)
"A perfect fall race, exactly as advertised" (about: 2016)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 10th marathon; I live in Chicago and train for each race in a different state and choose the Twin Cities as my Minnesota marathon. I'm very glad that I did. As previous commenters have pointed out, the race is extremely well-organized, beautiful and had a ton of course support. I had received all the information that I needed via email prior to the event so I felt prepared in that aspect. The expo was very nice with plenty to look at without seeming overwhelming or crowded. On race day, everything was very well run and I was able to make it to my corral with no issues. The course begins in downtown Minneapolis around the skyscrapers before taking you around the lakes and residential areas. There were certain points within the first few miles where the road narrowed and it was a little congested but nothing too problematic. There were no areas within the course where the views became dull or there was lack of crowd support. The volunteers and spectators were AWESOME! From the cheering to the entertaining signs and even costumes that some wore, it made the race all the more enjoyable. With the exception of a few hills after mile 20, the course is pretty flat. At mile 26, I was taken aback by a large American flag hung above the mile marker with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background. It was incredibly beautiful. The post race runner's area had a decent amount of food and drinks, including chocolate milk, fruit cocktail cups, muffins, bananas and chicken/veggie broth (which was okay). The finisher's area itself was pretty crowded and hard to move around in certain parts, but with a race this large it's to be expected. My father and stepmother who came to see the event pointed out that it would have been nice if the course had some overlaps so they wouldn't need to move each time they wanted to see me; they mentioned that it was incredibly difficult to commute and see me at different points but this is a larger race that expects up to 300,000 spectators a year so I would think that the course is designed this way so that the volunteers and spectators are more spread out. My only real complaint is that the website for this event mentioned that post-race complimentary massages are offered to runners. I was REALLY looking forward to this after I ran. However, I was unable to find the area that offered the free massages and was given conflicting information by the volunteers when I asked them where the tent for this was. I spent a decent amount of time limping around the area trying to find this but eventually gave up. It was really disappointing. Overall though, this is a fantastic marathon and it is clear that the people in Minneapolis/St. Paul are very passionate about it. If you're looking for the perfect fall race and/or want to cross Minnesota off your bucket list, look no further! |
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