Med-City Marathon

My checked bag which contained my race shirt and a few other things was missing after the race. The bag was likely given to the wrong person. The RD agreed to mail me a race shirt for replacement. After getting home, I have tried to follow up with him via email. Sadly, after over a month of trying I still have not received the shirt. We also had a temporary race interruption due to the thunderstorms this year.

The course starts from the airport and creates a large loop around the main city. The first six miles are Midwest country running past flat farm fields and then you start a steady downhill slope into bike trails through parks and along rivers. It is pretty, peaceful, and would be lonely, except for the fact that you run with the half marathoners for the first 13 miles. When they break off, you begin running through neighborhoods, on more pretty bike trails, and retrace the final two miles until the finish downtown. The only tough hill is a short one at mile 20. Overall, the organization is quite strong (great bus service from downtown out to the start), water stops are frequent, and this is a well done, inexpensive race in a pretty Minnesota city. Crowd support is soft because much of the route is on bike trails, but you never run more than a few minutes without having someone clap for you. Overall, a good late season marathon that is easy to recommend to others.

The 2018 full length marathon was cancelled on very short notice by race organizers due to heat. Instead of offering refunds to those that had trained for the full, race organizers simply opened up the half marathon to all registered runners. There are many issues with this, the most obvious being the price difference between the races. Per usual, the full marathon was pricier than the half. Those that signed up for the full ended up paying that price to run a half, since no refunds were given at all. It's disappointing enough to train all winter for a marathon - the lack of any sort of refund was the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, there's my little gripe about the organization. I strongly recommend not signing up for this event, given that it was cancelled so easily. The course itself was alright, but I can only speak to the first 13.1 miles. Early rolling hills gave way to flat pavement after about 6 miles. It's also a straight course, which makes it easier to focus on running - no worrying about lots of turns. There were water stops every one or two miles, and the volunteers were good. Most of the race lacks large crowds, but that's to be expected in a small town. One negative was the stench. It seemed as though the farms we were running by had just mulched or something, and runners often received whiffs of animal dung. We were also facing the sun for most of the race, which was just annoying for someone that didn't think to wear sun glasses. Overall, the course itself is unspectacular, and doesn't make up for the risk of race cancellations.