The back story:
This road trip was a long time in the making but worth every moment.
It was a few years ago when I spotted that two of my bucket list USA races
were fairly close together (date and location wise), normally a week apart.
If you're going all that way, might as well do two! Would have gone last
year but alas, for a change, they were on the same day in 2018.
Instead, October last year I was running the Firenze marathon with one eye
on the clock, Chicago qualifier in the bag, time to put the plan into
action.
Fairly simple road trip planned - we fly into Minneapolis on Wed 2nd, see
the Twin Cities, wife's special birthday on Friday, complete the Ultra Loony
Challenge (5k, 10k, marathon), Mon 7th hire a car and drive along the
Mississippi, various stops, overnight at La Crosse, on to Milwaukee for a
night (return car), Wed 9th evening train to Chicago, see the city and catch
a show, Chicago 5k and marathon, home on Monday 14th. Simples.
Twin City 5k/10k:
They have an EAS race weather warning system in America, I gather following
some previous incidents somewhere.
Unfortunately with a storm blowing in for the Saturday this meant e-mails
from the organisers warning of possible changes etc. and a final update at
4am on Sat.
Saturday's events were cancelled. I was bitterly disappointed at first,
especially when this was allegedly due to the risk of lightning strike, yet
we saw no lightning at all. I must admit though, the idea of volunteers
standing in that torrential rain seemed horrid and would take some real
dedication, this to me was surely the main safety issue. So pros and cons -
it was best to be safe, it would have been slippery and dangerous on course,
winds could blow things over/into runners/spectators, marshals could be in
low numbers if volunteers, volunteers would be exposed for long periods, was
the right call - plus, my stuff would have been absolutely soaked for the
main event. Shame no refund, but they are posting out the medals and
t-shirt.
PS - this was indicative of St Paul/Minneapolis at this time of year (colder
than we expected) - we had a couple of nice days, one wet, one very cold
with icy winds.
Twin City Marathon:
The storm had passed and I woke to a glorious new day. I'm up and on the
Metro at Union Depot St Paul, headed to Minneapolis US Bank Arena for the
start line.
Turns out the metro (tram) is home to quite a few homeless overnight and
they were quite surprised by the disturbance we caused, as each stop went by
even more runners joined.
Its early doors and icy cold, start time at 8am, well organised, plenty of
loos, easy baggage drop, drinks station already, big screen and music,
decent DJ, knew what he was talking about race wise too.
Hats off for the national anthem with 10 min to go.
8 am and we are off!.
The race is through the skyscrapers and city centre of Minneapolis, moves
west and circles the network of lakes and nature areas, hits the Mississippi
and follows it north, crosses, follows it south for a bit and then strikes
onto the famous Summit Av for a long stretch to the finish line at the state
capitol building in St Paul.
A mix of big city, suburbs, lakeside views, wooded areas, river runs, posh
neighbourhoods and grand city capitals.
I intended to take this one easy, especially with the big race next weekend,
and just enjoy the day, the race, the atmosphere and the views. Wow! What a
race.
This race basically delivered on all aspects, wonderful city start, great
skyscraper running, out past parks and churches on the main roads to the
wooded suburbs, there before you know it.
A mainstay of running through fantastic lakeside roads with amazing views,
tree canopied lanes, classic US style houses (many already gearing up for
Halloween).
The last of the lakes also meant we looked north across it and saw
Minneapolis' skyline in the distance, great view.
A huge level of support, seemed like everyone had simply come out to watch
on the Sunday morning, weather clearly helped.
Plenty of people sat having breakfast parties on their lawns, lots of
cheering, music, water stations etc. all the way round.
The river part was probably less dramatic than I'd expected because there
were trees on both sides of the road/lane we were on, as such the river view
was obscured in parts, but the tree lined running and crowds were great and
there were plenty of views of the river at other points.
Summit Hill was no trouble at all, and then the 4 mile long Summit Av to the
finish was brilliant and again with massive support, passed the cathedral
and then the finish line and capitol is in view for the home straight.
Timewise - 3:21 - bit of a surprise, really meant to go a bit slower.
Effort wise, did start to get twinges in my right knee in the last two miles
and swopped over my knee support (I wear it more out of habit these days) on
my other knee. Worked a treat, but left me wondering about next week.
Easily met up with my wife, changed, and carried on with our tourist stuff,
plenty of walking about and I was feeling good, paddleboat on the river in
the afternoon, was nice, and sneakily free.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2768936198
Chicago Breakfast Run:
I do like these breakfast runs, not really a race, a bit of a laugh, lots of
flag waving, plenty of music, a leg warmer event that can cover parts of the
city you won't cover in the main event.
I had also been told that a lot of the celebrities and elites do this one so
a chance to hang-out at the park afterwards - not so much I'm afraid.
I thoroughly enjoyed the run, had all the normal razzmatazz and flag waving
at the start next to city hall and the Picasso sculpture.
Must admit that once it began it seemed to develop into more of a 5k race
the further on you went and the less crowded it became - which seems odd as
there's surely no way you could PB on this.
I especially liked the straight alongside Grant Park as runners were in both
directions and as you approached the u-turn you saw yourself on the big
screen.
Very well organised, liked the striking bobble hat that everyone was wearing
for the rest of the day, and with a 7:30 start it doesn't affect your days
activities at all.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2782710798
Chicago Marathon:
Expo first - opened at 9am on Friday, with a fleet of free shuttles (yellow
school busses) picking people up from four points in the city from 8.30
onwards.
I opted to go first thing and beat the rush, downside, so too did lots of
others, upside, selfie with Paula Radcliffe. All the usual stuff, pretty
speedy once inside, and shuttle back to just round the corner from my hotel
- great service!
Race day - 7:30 start with advice to be there a good 1.5/2 hours early. I
opted for the plan of arriving circa 6:30, meant I'd have an hour for all
the security and bag drop stuff etc. and planned to meet up at the fountain
with Debs and Simon. It did cross my mind that I may not be the only one
with this sort of plan, suffice to say, 6:30 was fine, plenty of time,
fountain was good too, though Debs and Simon were running late. Don't forget
that they close the pen at 7.20 so you need to bag drop and get to it, I
delayed bag drop to keep warm and ended up cutting this a bit finer than
expected - doh!
I ended up at the back of my coral, but with 45,000 runners I looked on the
bright side, I'd be in for a slow start but it would help stop me going off
too fast.
Hats off, national anthem - I do like this touch.
7:30 and we're off!
Turns out they've really sorted out the coral size and staggered start, and
with the wide roads there was no congestion from the get go!
Little bit of weaving here and there, that's it.
Wow, what an iconic start, big city running! Once again fantastic crowds and
a great atmosphere.
Big main avenues, great going over the rivers, they'd even laid out red
carpets for us over the bridges (turns out this was due to the criss-cross
metal road structure underneath - but at first I thought it was VIP type
stuff!)
Plenty of music, lots of people cheering, plenty of water stations (must
remember, Gatorade is first, water second).
Long, pancake flat straights, this course is a great one for a PB (not that
I'm heading for anything given the sheer mileage I've covered over the last
week and a half, added to last week's race)
We're soon headed north to Lincoln park and the various neighbourhoods (I
think we run through 29 different ones), we go through part of the park,
pass the zoo and conservatory, through Old Town, all good stuff, and again
still plenty of support and regular music, all feeling good.
I recall Old Town, I also remember the drag queens singing Brittany songs on
stage at the side of the road.
Then we turn and are headed back to downtown, skyscrapers luring us back in
once more, into the heart of the city, over the bridges and along the river
this time - all simply brilliant.
It's almost half way and we head out again to more suburban neighbourhoods,
definitely two halves to this race. The first half big city and parks, the
second more outlying neighbourhoods, China Town, and a home stretch for
Grant park.
Lots of people out cheering us on all the way round, must admit - 1hr 33 at
the halfway point made me feel 3:10 was on the cards - and as every mile
passed and I maintained pace, thereabouts, it seemed more likely. This would
be a cracking PB afterall!
I loved the comments of 'you've got this', initially a feeling of 'damn
right I have' slowly turned to more of a 'come on me, you have got this'.
Through China Town, tree lined suburbs, all the while with scrappers in the
distance.
Come mile 20 I was really tiring, come mile 22 the wheels were coming off
the bus, come mile 23 I reckoned on a PB but was unsure of 3:10, come mile
24 I walked a few meters and struggled thereon, even tried some Gatorade to
help.
I knew when we turned for home and the last two miles straight had me
looking at the skyline in the distance getting ever closer, motivating
myself on. 'You got this!'
Such a relief to enter the final turn and head for the line, I felt
completely spent, 3hr:13 - and a PB by 30 seconds!
Here's the funny thing, in the immediate aftermath I heard serval people say
in a disappointed tone of voice that they had a PB. Like me, the pancake
flat course, the atmosphere, the crowds, the speedy start, all meant so many
went off too fast. Like when your eyes are too big for your belly, their
pace was too fast for their feet. By the end of the race it came home to
bite, so a new PB, but you feel you've left time on the course (a good three
minutes for me I reckon).
Loads of stuff handed out, glad I got my bag back as I needed it! Two beers
as well (should not have had them, I can't normally face much immediately
afterwards, I know better than a post race beer, circa 2 hours later I was
sick!)
I clearly was utterly spent as I had to stop and sit on a park bench for a
couple of min on the way back to the hotel (twice), and was extremely
lethargic until the evening time, as we popped over to Navy Pier and out
onto the lake etc.
Overall a classic race, really well organised, amazing support and a
thoroughly great atmosphere.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2786426744
PS - attached my strava links for the runs, loads of pictures too, as I
snapped and ran, Chicago was such that I didn't put my phone back in my
pocket at all!
PS - don't expect your Garmin to work in the big city parts
PS - on the way home the male winner was sat just across from me as we ate
lunch in the airport, and the female winner was on our plane (not to
Norwich, we flew via Amsterdam)!
PS - Milwaukee was almost missed off the road trip plan but turned out to be
a wonderful gem of a city. An hour and half from Chicago by train, if you
ever do Chicago, seriously consider a night in Milwaukee.
PS - Have now spotted that Quebec and Toronto are a week apart at the start
of October..not next year as I have plans already, but 2021 perhaps..hmm?
