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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 21 to 31]
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j. D. from Michigan
(10/11/2016)
"Great race" (about: 2016)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Ok so this was an awesome marathon. The only thing that I was unhappy with was the fact the people coming in at the 5 hour mark to 5.5 hour mark were not able to get a massage...plus the signage on marathon day was hard to find. | |
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G. P. from Georgia
(10/10/2016)
"Scenic, well-supported, all-around great race" (about: 2016)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I'm usually skeptical of point-to-point courses, due to the logistical challenges for out-of-town runners. That's not a problem for this race. Fly into MSP airport, take the light rail for free to downtown Minneapolis. You can stay there at the start, or stay in St Paul at the finish - and there is free light rail to St Paul as well. The entire course is beautiful - the first half is around peaceful lakes with winding roads, then the next seven miles runs along both sides of the river, and the last six miles are a bit more challenging as you head to St Paul. The crowd support was fantastic - especially in the first half, the crowds were vocal and enthusiastic. You never felt alone on this course. Appropriate mix of music, powerade/water, and nice finishing line area. Only downside is gels in only one location, and water/gatorade stops are every two miles until mile 19 - would like a couple of extra stops. We got lucky with fantastic weather (38 degrees start, 50 degrees finish, brilliant sunshine, very little wind). This course is perfect to go for a PR if the weather conditions are favorable. As a bonus, there was a Vikings game at noon, and we ran into some early tailgaters at the starting line. We had a group of ten runners come up from Atlanta and we were all happy campers! This is a race that is worth the travel! | |
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C. S. from Orlando, Florida
(2/2/2016)
"Superior race in every aspect." (about: 2015)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I have nothing but great things to say about this event. One of the most impressive shows of support by a community I've ever seen. Spectators on the route from beginning to end. Great course, great weather, a PR, BQ race. Loved the finish in front of the capital building and the cathedral bells ringing along the course. Laying on the capital green post race with beer was special. Having the expo in St Paul for those staying in Minneapolis was a slight drag, but the light rail made the trip fairly painless. One of two races, Chicago being the other, I absolutely want to do again. Highly recommended. | |
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J. S. from Quincy, IL
(10/12/2015)
"Great Overall Race and Organizers" (about: 2015)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was a great race and it turned out to be a great day for running when I raced it in 2015. Course was great overall. After mile 20, the race gets tough with a gradual uphill battle until around mile 26. The Race Organizers are Phenomenal! They dealt with a potential crisis with protestors potentially blocking the finish line very professionally and in a timely manner to keep all involved safe! The spectators were great all throughout the course, especially for the last portion where it was needed most! I recommend this marathon for anyone and to those who are looking for a great race in Minnesota! | |
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C. S. from New York
(10/10/2015)
"Great race with awesome crowd support" (about: 2015)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Twin Cities was my first marathon and I'm so glad I decided on this one. The course was beautiful with substantial crowd support almost the entire way. Aside from the few hills towards the end, it was relatively flat. I can't say enough about the spectators and volunteers along the course. The aid stations were well-run and efficient and the support along the entire 26.2 from the community was great. It was like running a marathon through a giant block party. The race as a whole was well-run and I would definitely run it again. | |
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J. B. from Bloomington, IN
(10/8/2015)
"Wonderful race from expo to finish" (about: 2015)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Twin Cities Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I've run the Twin Cities Marathon twice before, in 1990 and 2011, and the 2015 version was even more smooth and fun to run than ever. I can't think of anything to change about the event - I had a wonderful time. The expo was large and crowded, but I went on Saturday around noon, which is probably the height of the crush. I'd go on Friday if I could. At the start I thought I'd be missing the Metrodome, which was always a great place to gather. But since the weather wasn't bad (it was a breathtaking Minnesota fall weekend, weatherwise), it was fine to assemble outside. There were plenty of porta-potties for everyone, the drop bag system worked just fine, and the wave start helped avoid congestion. As far as the race course goes, Twin Cities is still the most beautiful urban marathon in the country, like they say. There are no stretches of dull urban wasteland like there are in so many other big city racesit seems like it's all neighborhoods, after you get past the urban canyons of downtown by mile 3. You don't pass any factories or sludge piles or whatever. You just go from clean downtown skyscrapers to neighborhoods, and it's neighborhoods practically till the end. Crowd support is the amazing part of Twin Cities: There are people almost every step of the way cheering for you. Along the river, during miles 16 and 17 or so, there were quieter places than others, but there was still amazing crowd support there, too. And along the lakes it's nuts, with people two or three deep yelling and waving signs. I could have done without the signs involving potty humor - what's up with that? - but for the most part the signs were hilarious and fun. The best moment of the race for me was hearing 'Like A Rolling Stone' by Minnesota native Bob Dylan booming out across the race course at mile 18 or so. I felt like I was flying. (Of course I crashed and burned at mile 22, but mile 18 was a wonderful moment!) I hadn't run a marathon since 2012, but now I'm inspired to start running them regularly again. Thank you Twin Cities in Motion and the volunteers and the crowds! What a great event! | |
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Tony Loyd from Minnesota
(10/5/2015)
"A winning run from beginning to end" (about: 2015)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Twin Cities Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The Twin Cities in Motion team have the race logistics down to a science. The series of emails and the web site were helpful to make even the most nervous runner feel supported and secure. I knew far ahead of time what to do, when to do it and how to do it. The expo is well attended. I went on Friday and there were good crowds. I could have spent an entire afternoon there, but chose not to. The volunteers are amazing. I know that's a bit cliché, but honestly, to a person, they all seemed exceptional and helpful. I chatted up a few of them and found many of them to be fellow runners who were giving back to the running community. There were several other volunteers who are simply civic-minded and wanted to be part of the race. I live in the Twin Cities so on race morning I went to the parking at Sears near the capital and caught the bus to the start. I could see that there were several bus lines, all on different radio frequencies, and yet, the race organizers / bus drivers were over communicating with one another to make sure they were well supported. The driver I had was friendly and curious. He asked a couple sitting behind him, What in the world would make you want to do this? As they explained, he simply smiled and shook his head. I certainly missed being inside of the dome this year, but the weather cooperated. The race organizers had lots of port-a-johns (biffy, satellite, whatever you want to call them) to go around. Is it odd if I praise the volunteers and the UPS drivers at the bag drop area? Here's a quick story. I packed all of my gear into the drop bag, dropped the bag at the appropriate UPS truck and went to the start line. When I arrived at the start line, I realized that I had left my prescription sunglasses in my drop bag. That might not seem like a big deal, but I ALWAYS run in my sunglasses. Seriously. If it's not too dark out, I always wear my sunglasses. When I put them on, I think I'm ready to run. I had run all of my practice runs in my sunglasses. I could not imagine running the race without them. I quickly dashed back to the UPS truck and asked a volunteer if she could possibly retrieve my drop bag. I could see that there were hundreds of bags that had been loaded in the truck since I had dropped off my bag. The volunteer responded cheerfully as if what I had asked her was no big deal. She took the time to search for my bag. She retrieved my bag and totally saved the day. The wave start of the race is so very helpful. I was in Wave 1 (yeah), so the crowd was manageable as I started the race. There is one pinch point along the route on the north side of Lake Harriett. Because of the wave start, I was able to move through that point with very little resistance. This was my third TC Marathon, and if I'm not mistaken, the crowd of spectators was larger and more vocal. It could have been that the weather was nice. It could be that, with the #blacklivesmatter folks threatening to disrupt the race, the supporters were more inspired to support the race. I don't know the reason, but there just seemed to be more, enthusiastic spectators along the race route. My race was spectacular. My goal was 3:40:00, a BQ. That requires a steady pace of 8:24/mile. The Twin Cities in Motion team put together a pace chart, based specifically on the course. They allowed for a slower pace in the first five miles, picked up the pace in miles five through twenty-one and then allowed for slower times in the hills through the finish. I printed and modified the .pdf that they provided and made a wrist band out of it. For every mile, I consulted the pace chart, and adjusted my pace accordingly. The two biggest challenges to this strategy were that I had to slow down more in the first five miles and I had to suffer through the pace at the end. With the cooler weather, it all worked perfectly. My actual finish was 3:35:16, my best performance in a marathon in years. Yeah! | |
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J. H. from Sioux Falls, SD
(10/5/2015)
"Excellent" (about: 2015)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The Twin Cities Marathon is exactly as billed. Awesome course, tons and tons of spectators, and excellent organization. I would recommend it to anyone. | |
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Jeni Enjaian from South Carolina
(5/31/2015)
"If I Could Rate This Higher Than 5 Stars I Would" (about: 2014)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Twin Cities Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was one of the best race experience I've ever had. Before I get to the rave part of the review, I have just one critique and it has to do with the website. The design could have been much more user friendly, specifically by listing the options for transportation to the start under race day and not at the bottom of the travel page under all the hotels. All the information was available but navigation was a bit tricky. Now to the good stuff: The Expo: After two poorly designed expos (MCM and SF) TCM's expo had it all. There was a discernible flow down each row that took attendees past all available vendors without too much crowding. The volunteers at the bib pick-up and athlete tracking tables were both competent and friendly. (That won't be the last positive statement about the volunteers that you'll see in this review.) Everything appeared to run smoothly. Additionally, the river front location was spectacular. You can't beat a well-run expo in a gorgeous locale. Transportation TCM provided plenty of options for runners to get to and from the start and finish in this point to point race. Additionally, the new Green Line light rail provides almost direct, cheap transportation to the start and finish lines for spectators. Pre-Race I don't know where the announcer was set up but the sound system worked like a charm. Even away from the actual start area I could hear the announcer clearly. He gave prompt updates on time and instructions on entering the corrals. The Course I loved it. The "Most Beautiful Urban Marathon" moniker is not hype. A huge reason that I wanted to have a positive finish was so that I could soak in all the beauty. From the very urban streets of Minneapolis to the suburban neighborhoods surrounding the lakes, everything gave off an appealing charm I've never seen anywhere else. Technically, this course offers plenty of PR opportunities. There are some hills but nothing significant, including Summit Drive which is more of a really long (mildly soul-crushing) incline than a hill. Spectators These people deserve a separate shout out. I saw more spectators per mile than any other race I've ever run. Keep in mind, it was in the high 30s and low 40s that morning. People voluntarily came out to the course to cheer and support all the runners. The only portion that didn't have spectators was part of the massive bridge heading into St. Paul. I'd be hard pressed to find friendlier people on the planet. Seriously. Volunteers Two words: Best. Ever. From the volunteers at the expo to those handing out finishers' shirts, they all had sincere smiles on their faces. They manned the water stops with such skill you'd think they'd been doing this for years. (Maybe they have!) It's amazing how far a smile goes. Post Race Unfortunately, I had to return my rental car and get to the airport so I was unable to fully enjoy all that they offered. From what I saw, the "27th mile" moved runners efficiently through to get the medal, water, space blanket, chocolate milk and finishers' shirt and out to meet family and friends. | |
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Runner Guy from Missouri
(11/13/2014)
"Awesome marathon" (about: 2014)
2 previous marathons
| 2 Twin Cities Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 I ran TCM in 2013 & 2014, loved it, & will be back again. My only issue to date is that the corral assignment (pre-marathon) in 2014 was a total cluster. Many including me were mis-assigned, causing a large and justified freakout. Although I was eventually put in the right corral, I had to beg by phone, email, & facebook and then pray for an email with resolution. It came about a week later, but the process wasnt handled in a clear or reassuring manner. That is stressful and unacceptable after you put in 6 months of training and have selected this event as your goal race for a BQ. Heres how it went down. When you register, TCM asks you to enter your estimated finish time, prior marathon count (if any), and they let you put a half or full marathon time, event, and link down on the form. Youd think that this would be used for corral placement or that they would check their own database from the year before. Unfortunately, they seem to have ignored it and used athlinks.com for times. (***TIP: if registering for this race, setup your athlinks account (free) ASAP to avoid trouble!***) Of course, many people are not in athlinks and were matched to the wrong times. When you get an email in July showing your matched athlinks time and preliminary corral seeding, you have 1 week to respond to an online form to correct it. I was properly matched and projected to finish at 3:15 (exactly what I ran) and initially seeded in Corral 1all good. Then in August some kind of database merging error must have occurred, because in early September, I get an email saying my FINAL corral placement is now Corral 3 (slowest) and no changes can be made. I was devastated. I noticed on social media that dozens of people were reporting problems, both fast runners in Corral 3 and slow runners in Corral 1. You can always move back without problems, but they threaten DQ and police ticketing (seriously) if caught in a higher corral than your seed. The TCM office must have been deluged because I could not get through by phone for one week. Eventually I gave up and left a voicemail, email, and FB message. The following week they emailed everyone saying that some errors were made and that some placements were being reviewed. But uncertainty lingered: it said, if and only if TCM made a mistake, will you receive a new email with your updated corral placement. That was it, so if no email, tough luck. My email finally showed up about 2-3 weeks before the race, so I was happy, but I wonder how many were not? I am struck by how this COULD have been handled MUCH better with an improved registration system. Many marathons use the honor system for corralsstate your time and report there. I accept that TCM does not want to do this. But, others like Chicago, have clear, explicit rules on what counts as appropriate documentation and what does not. They also have systems that allow you to upload this information, log into check it, to see the status on the organizer end (so you can tell if someone has looked at and approved or not your request). TCM has none of this, its email us and well see what we can do, and well get back to you if so. But if you hear nothing, you have no idea why, and you are stuck. It also appears that TCM only accepts Athlinks but no where did they ever say this. They appeared to be ignoring even their own actual finish data from the previous year! Honestly, if I had not been placed back in the correct Corral 1, I would have such a bad taste about this that I would not return. I love the course and spectators and everything else about the race, so Im going to give it another shot in 2015 and hopefully for many years to come. TCM, PLEASE improve your registration system and add transparency around corral seeding. |
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