Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend

Wow what a fantastic event!!! This was my 34th different marathon (ran a few courses twice), and it is in my top five. I had this on the list for a long time based on Runners World and other reviews. I should not have waited so long to run this! Race organization is very important to me. There were tons of volunteers, huge aid stations, and PJs every mile. Plenty of PJs at the starting line. Only knock on the organization aspect is they could use more starting corrals - three is not enough. Course itself is beautiful and not that challenging. I had feared the big climb from mile 20 to 23, but it wasn't bad. My Apple Watch 7 did not clock as high of a gain. Most of the course felt downhill - and was, according to my watch. The scenery was beautiful, running past many lakes, along the river, and past gorgeous homes. Fans were awesome!!! There was not a lonely spot along the course. I expected there to be some near the lakes, particularly with the road closures, but there weren't any. The whole community really turned out for this. Finish was also fantastic! I loved running past St Paul's Cathedral towards the State Capitol building, with the finish line ahead of it. No annoying last minute turns or circling around to find the finish. Post-race party and expo were great. One knock (besides # of corrals): the 2024 race shirts were awful. Hopefully other years' shirts are better.

Beautiful course, great crowd support, sufficient porta potties, buses were - no lines, no waiting - a little warm but a great race. Hills towards the end of the course are deceiving. Only concern is that the app to track runners was not 100% accurate. Had my daughter still running the course even though she had crossed the finish line.

This is a wonderful marathon that should be on everyone's bucket list. For an urban marathon, it's so scenic and the crowd support was amazing. The course is not as fast as Chicago due to the 2 miles of hills that start around Mile 20, but it's certainly more scenic than Chicago. My only complaint is that the Nuun electrolyte fluids were terribly 'watered down'. The fluid tasted about like water! After the race, many people complained about this issue on the Medtronic Twin Cities marathon Facebook page and that it was possibly a major factor in causing their cramps late in the race. Next time, I'll bring my own electrolyte fluids when running a marathon. This was an important lesson. Regardless, I hope to run this race again in the future!