You’ve read my thoughts about my race during the Twin Cities Marathon, but I thought I would share what other people have said.

First, here is a list of other bloggers:

• Running Down My Dreams ran a PR.
• Life By the Falls ran an amazing and inspirational race.
• Down the Backstretch has a lot of coverage.
• Monomelic-Amyotrophy-tastic had a DNF.
• Make it a Masterpiece finished his 30th marathon.
• Team Unattached Running has a great list of their teammates performances.
• Simon Says… Run had a decent race.
• Kristin Armstrong‘s thoughts over at Mile Markers.
• I found Miss Alleycat’s comments through Technorati.  She wrote about the spectathon!

Have you heard about Marathon Guide? They are a great resource I’ll have to right more about sometime, but for now, they let people comment on a race.  Here are a couple highlights:

Outstanding race, year after year (about: 2008)
Course: 5 Organization: 4 Fans: 5
S. W. from St. Paul, Minnesota (10/14/08)
6-10 previous marathons | 4-5 Twin Cities Marathons

I love the Twin Cities Marathon and have now completed the marathon four times with this year (despite the rain and 48-degree weather), achieving a PR time. As is the case with Minnesota weather, you should be prepared for almost anything. In 2007, it was 80 degrees with 70% humidity, so if you do not train for varying conditions, the TCM can become a challenge very quickly. Overall, though, the fans were outstanding and seemed louder than ever, given that they must have been freezing while standing in the cold, rainy weather. The course was organized with plenty of volunteers at the water stops. Although, the event achieves a near-perfect mark in my opinion, I think the TCM fails miserably with post-race refreshments. Compared to Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, which is stockpiled with goodies, the TCM should look to get more food sponsors and thus give runners a real treat when finishing. It seems like this area of the organization continues to decline every year.

TC Marathon – Thumbs Up! (about: 2008)
Course: 5 Organization: 4 Fans: 5
Ryan Nied from Plainfield, IL (10/9/08)
11-50 previous marathons | 1 Twin Cities Marathon

Twin Cities 2008 was marathon #13 for me in 7 short years. I recommend you run this race.
I’ve read a number comments about the weather. I ran Chicago last year in 88-degree weather, so although I did fear hypothermia at one point, it was much better than last year.
The reason? The spectators were downright awesome. I couldn’t believe how many weathered the storm along with us runners.
The finisher’s shirt is great.
I set a 55-second PR despite the challenging conditions, and I am totally ecstatic about how the morning went. It was an extremely memorable, positive experience for me.
Couple of minor suggestions:
1. Aid stations need to be more frequent earlier on – not a fan of having to wait until almost mile 2.5 for a drink. Later on, they are in good frequency.
2. Check mile marker #3’s position for accuracy. Had an unusually fast mile – and it felt short.
Overall, great job by the organizers.

Holy Hannah! (about: 2008) Course: 5 Organization: 5 Fans: 5 L. Y. from Southeast USA (10/7/08) 3 previous marathons | 1 Twin Cities MarathonWow, what can I say. The weather was AWFUL!!!!!!! But the race was fabulous! As everyone stated previously, the fans were amazing. Hats off to the guy dressed up as the televangelist with the “BELIEVE” sign. You definitely were the best out there! I keep reading these comments about the hard hills from 21 to 25, and I’m thinking, “Really?” Seriously, they were not that bad. Very slow and gradual. Totally doable. I have to agree with the comments about the porta-potties. There were definitely not enough. Sadly, I had to stop twice, and each time I did, it cost me about five minutes off my time. And since I’m a woman, I don’t exactly have a choice but to wait in line. The post-race support was great and the food was adequate. I appreciate the simple things, so I was psyched when I saw the rolls! Overall, no complaints about this race. The weather was terrible but the city, support, and beautiful route more than made up for it! Kudos to Minneapolis!

Thank you, Twin Cities (about: 2008) Course: 5 Organization: 5 Fans: 5 Gregory Ruthig from Iowa (10/7/08) 6-10 previous marathons | 1 Twin Cities MarathonPros: 1. The course is as nice as advertised. The lakes and neighborhoods in Minneapolis and St. Paul were pretty, even in the pouring rain. Running over the Mississippi was a cool experience. 2. Crowd support (considering the weather) was phenomenal. I never got tired of hearing: “Goooo!” being shouted with thick Minnesota accents. 3. Volunteers were equally as good. Not only were they friendly, but they were clearly well trained by the organizers. For a runner who only wants to think about running on race day, they really made everything run smoothly. 4. Despite never having visited the cities before, my wife was able to drive around town and see me five times along the course. I can’t imagine that this is possible at most urban marathons. 5. I was worried that with only two corrals that slower runners would clog up the front of the starting line. This was not the case at all. From what I could see, everybody in the first corral was very conscientious about starting with similarly paced runners. 6. Finisher’s shirt. I usually don’t care about this sort of thing, but putting on the dry finisher’s shirt after running in the cold rain was heavenly. Cons (these are very minor and more like constructive criticism): 1. The layout of the receptacles for the warm-up bags made dropping them off pretty chaotic. If they were placed in a long line, or just more spread out, it would have been easier. 2. Getting up to the first corral involved waiting in a slow-moving line that made me get a little panicky about the race starting while I was in line. In the end I was able to make it up there with several minutes to spare. Breaking my PR by three minutes may be affecting my comments, but after running six marathons in four states, this was among my favorites, despite the rainy weather. This race combines much of the excitement of the mega marathons, especially the fan support, but lacks many of the logistical headaches. This was my first trip to Minnesota and I found the people made the visit and the marathon a great experience.

Wonderful first marathon, despite the weather (about: 2008) Course: 5 Organization: 5 Fans: 5 J. W. from Savage, Minnesota (10/7/08) 1 previous marathon | 1 Twin Cities MarathonThis was my first marathon and I had a wonderful experience. The logistics of signing up for the race, to picking up my racing bib and chip at the expo the day before the race, to getting situated at the starting line all went extremely smoothly. Despite the pouring rain and 47-degree temperature, there was fan support for the entire length of course. I had an overall wonderful experience and plan on doing it again next year.

That’s enough random thoughts.  Did I miss your post? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.

[tags] Twin Cities Marathon, Twin Cities, Marathon[/tags]