Plan Ahead for MedtronicTC Marathon Events Transportation

Twin Cities In Motion Urges Motorists to Plan Ahead on Race Day
METRO Blue & Green Lines Free for Runners on Sept. 30 & Oct. 1

St. Paul, Minn. – September 26, 2017 – Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon organizer Twin Cities In Motion advises Minneapolis and St. Paul residents on the move on Sunday morning to plan travel ahead of time due to street closures for the 36th annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and Medtronic TC 10 Mile on October 1.

On race day, motorists will notice traffic restrictions in downtown Minneapolis starting in the early morning hours on Sunday. An area near the U.S. Bank Stadium from 5th Avenue to 11th Avenue and from 6th Street to 3rd Street will be closed at 5:00 a.m. for start line setup, reopening at approximately 9:00 a.m., ahead of the noon Vikings home game.

Participants and spectators are reminded that northbound I-35W will be closed on Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend for Franklin Ave. overpass demolition, so those driving into downtown Minneapolis are urged to allow extra time to reach the start line or other destinations downtown.

Along the marathon course which runs from downtown Minneapolis, along the chain of lakes to Minnehaha Parkway, up West River Road to the Franklin Bridge, down East River Road to Summit Avenue, and to the finish at the state capitol will prompt rolling road closures on the course itself and limit traffic across it to selected crossing points. The crossing points are listed on the Twin Cities In Motion website at tcmevents.org/transportation.

At the finish area on the State Capitol grounds in St. Paul, following closures are scheduled:

• Summit Avenue between Ramsey Street and Portland Ave. will be closed from Saturday, September 30, at noon through Sunday, October 1, at 6:00 p.m. Traffic will be detoured on Portland Ave to Arundel Street.
• John Ireland Blvd. between 12th Street and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. will be closed Thursday, September 28, at 9:00 a.m. through Sunday, October 1, at 5:00 p.m.
• Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Aurora Avenue will be closed Friday, September 29, at 9:00 a.m. through Sunday, October 1, at 6:00 p.m.

• 12th Street from Wabasha to John Ireland Blvd. will be closed Saturday, September 30, from 5:00 a.m. to noon and on Sunday, October 1, from 5:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The Franklin Avenue Bridge crossing the Mississippi River in Minneapolis will be closed to motor vehicle traffic while the 10 mile and marathon use the bridge. The motor vehicle closure is expected to last from roughly 5:45 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Parking: Motorists are reminded to take note of hooded meters and no parking signs along and near the course. Near the start line, event parking rates will apply on Sunday morning due to the Minnesota Vikings game later in the day. Finish line parking is available on the streets and in various lots around the Capitol grounds in Saint Paul. The Sears store west of the Capitol offers limited Event Parking near the finish line on a first-come first-served basis for $20.

METRO Lines: Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and Medtronic TC 10 Mile runners can ride the METRO Green and Blue Lines for free on Saturday, September 30, and Sunday, October 1, if they display their race bib. Event volunteers can ride METRO Red Line buses or METRO Green and Blue Line trains when they display a date-specific downloadable free ride pass for various times Thursday, September 28 , through Sunday, October 1.

More than 30,000 runners are expected for the 36th annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend which includes events on Saturday, September 30, on and near the State Capitol grounds. For more information about the events, visit the Twin Cities In Motion website, tcmevents.org

Minnesota's Marathon King Wins Houston

Dominic Ondoro, who holds course records at the Grandma's and Medtronic Twin Cities Marathons, won the Chevron Houston Marathon this morning.

WINNER! Congrats Dominic Ondoro, winner of the 2017 Men's Chevron Houston Marathon @houstonmaraton #houmarathon pic.twitter.com/yTdXqNOXaY

— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston) January 15, 2017

Stats for US Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifiers

Interesting stats about the qualifiers for the Olympic Marathon Trials HERE.

For the men: Medtronic TC Marathon and Grandma's had the second and third largest number of qualifiers meeting the standard in their races.

41% of the qualifiers did it by running a marathon.
59% qualified by running a half marathon

For the women: TCM had the third largest number of qualifiers. Grandma's was fourth.
80.3% of the women qualified by running a marathon. 19.7% qualified in the half marathon.

Catching up with TCM 2014 Women's Champ Esther Erb Atkins

Catching up with TCM 2014 Women's Champ Esther Erb Atkins HERE

Evan Roberts' Twin Cities Marathon Photo Album

I know I'm late in posting these, but they were sent to another e-mail address for Down the Backstretch that I forgot about and has been neglected. Enjoy the photos.  Link is HERE.

The photos go from the front of the field to around a 4 hours 15 finishing time. People can click on "Show More" in the text at the top of the page to reveal a list of numbers that are prominent in the photos. So, if you remember your race number, you can scroll down through the page list and see if your photo is in the mix.

Patience

In marathoning, as in life, patience is a virtue.  If you analyze the tactics in the elite races at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon this past weekend, it reveals the value of being patient.  Both men's winner Tyler Pennel and women's champ Esther Erb, as well as Masters winners Mbarak Hussein and Sheri Piers know that the key to the marathon is acknowledging that it is an exercise in energy management.

That's not to say that running any other distance, be it a mile or an ultra, doesn't reward that same diligence.  Training, resting, and apportioning one's stored reserves isn't only important in a marathon, but rather that the marathon perhaps best illustrates the necessity of properly managing your resources.  If offers the most temptation to make the common mistake of running too fast, too soon.

If you've trained well, are healthy and rested, the early miles of a marathon can seem easy, lull one into thinking that the 26.2 mile journey will not be that difficult.  The reality being that if you give in to the temptation use your energy to go fast in the beginning, you'll often pay a steep price to get to the finish line.

Pennel was a rookie.  Twin Cities was his first marathon.  He was the fastest in the field in terms of a half marathon time, so he could easily have adopted a strategy to separate himself from his competition earlier in the race, but his plan was to run relaxed.  To get to 20 miles expending the least amount of energy he could to stay in contact with the leaders.  If anything the early pace was too slow.

Pennel could probably have run a faster time on Sunday, but his main objective was to win the race, not run a fast time.  Hussein had a dual agenda going into the race. The 49 year-old wanted to take a shot at the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 2:18:00 and, first and foremost, he wanted to defend his US and TCM titles, win both for the fifth time.

To have a shot at a 2:18, Hussein knew he probably had to run the first half under 1:09, as the hills in the latter part of the race make negative splitting a daunting task.  Masters phenom at the shorter distances, Kevin Castille figured to be Hussein's main rival.  While setting Masters records at the shorter distances, Castille has not yet mastered the marathon distance.  He and Hussein battled last year with Hussein coming out on top.  This year Castille wanted to reverse that result.

Castille also wanted to take a shot at 2:18 and he went out faster than Hussein, who kept on his timetable of going under 1:09(he passed the 13.1 mile halfway point in 1:08:56).  "I could see the leaders up ahead," Hussein said.  "I thought I might be going to fast, but instead they were going too slow."  Indeed some were as they passed the halfway point a little more than a minute in front of Hussein in 1:07:48.

Pennel was in front of a pack of around a dozen runners that went past 10K in around 32:23.  Pennel wasn't pushing the pace, but rather keeping it "honest."  Others had told him that the race really started around 20 miles.  At that point the waiting was over, and Pennel would run the last 10K around 30:50, but he wasn't the aggressor at first. Instead third place finisher Scott Smith was antsy and decided to put in a "fast mile" in an attempt to break up the lead pack that had shrunk by only one runner since the half marathon mark.

Smith transformed the dash to the finish into a solo race as Pennel opened a six second gap by mile 21.  Smith may have gone a little too fast in his effort to break up the pack or keep up with Pennel when he made his move as he faded significantly in the last two miles after runner-up Jared Ward passed him.  Ward would finish 40 seconds ahead of  Smith. Pennel and women's race winner Erb both negative split the last half of the race, Erb running splits of 1:17:30 and 1:16:30, Pennel 1:07:48 and 1:05:44.

Women's runner up Heather Lieberg and third place finisher Brianne Nelson had pushed the pace from the beginning, going through the half in 1:16:49, 42 seconds up on Erb.  Erb went into the race focused on a seemingly odd single goal.  She wanted to run the last mile fast.  She didn't ignore the rest of the distance, but something she had learned in her prior attempts at the marathon was that, like Shalane Flanagan who failed in  her attempt to break the US marathon record in Berlin a week prior to Twin Cities, being able to finish strong was something they both had to work on.

Erb ran the TC race conservatively, and took the same approach as Pennel of focusing on the last 10K.  That almost ran into difficulty as Erb had to take a bathroom break around mile 20.  She didn't panic, however, or try and do too much too soon. She gradually began to catch Lieber and Nelson, gaining about 10 seconds a mile through mile 24.  Another ten second gain in that mile brought Erb even with the duo and then Erb ripped off a 5:31 last mile to pull away to a lead of eight seconds at the finish over Lieberg, who was still running strong, but not as strong as Erb.

What all this illustrates is that the marathon is not about instant gratification.  Good things come to those who are patient...And know how to manage their energy.  Patience isn't just holding back or waiting.  In running patience is, at least partially, a product of the accumulated knowledge one gets from training, racing, and coping with the various challenges the sport provides.  All runners learn lessons daily that define for each of them what it means to be patient.  Or to define the word another way patience is the ability to run not only fast but to run smart.

Spyros Barres Takes on More than the Marathon Distance on Sunday

Spyros Barres conquers more than the
distance he runs

Runners love challenges.  Some challenges, however, can be more difficult than others.  In January of 1999, Spyros Barres was faced with a big one.  One of the top Masters runners in his home state of Connecticut, Barres began experiencing the symptoms of what was later diagnosed as Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that attacks the stomach.

There is no cure for Crohn's disease.  It is not known what causes it..  For Barres it left in its wake a ten year struggle to manage the disease, to attempt to get back to a "normal " life.  He tried acupuncture, diet changes, even eating pig worms in an attempt to control the most severe symptoms: loss of appetite, rectal bleeding, 20 pounds or more weight loss, fatigue.

When none of these worked, Barres had surgery, an ileostomy.  His colon was removed.  He wears a colostomy bag to manage his fecal waste.  None of which sounds either pleasant or common for an athlete who still wants to test his limits.  But the operation worked.  His weight is back to normal.  He's running, training, and competing at a level near where he was before the disease forced him into a ten year hiatus from competitive running.

He returned to his childhood sport of soccer to stay in shape during his struggle to manage the disease, never giving up hope that one day he would return to running, to competing at a high level. In hindsight, he says, he should have had the operation sooner, but he feared that it would permanently leave him disabled, unable to engage in activities he had considered normal.

It was in researching the outcomes of the operation and recovery and the lack of results from any other mode of treatment that made him finally submit to the surgery.  Olympic swimmers, other high functioning athletes, have Crohn's, and after the operation were able to return to their sports.  So has Barres.  "I don't even think about it unless someone reminds me, talks about it," says Barres of his disease.  He's back to winning races, running near or at the speeds he did before he was stricken.  This Sunday he is attempting to run under 2:40 for the marathon.

His best marathon time is  2:32, which he ran when he was in his early 30s.  After his operation he has run shorter races at or near 5:22 per mile pace.  He ran Boston this year, again with the goal of breaking 2:40, but it didn't happen.  Bad race.  "I should have been able to do that at Boston," he says.  So he regrouped and has set his sites on achieving that goal at Twin Cities.

"I've always been an optimist, always had a hopeful attitude," Barres says.  While he can't "cure" the disease he can at least manage it, he says.  People who didn't know about his disease, wouldn't know his has Crohn's, he says.  Even if he was "wearing a Speedo, you wouldn't notice," he says.  He's had three and a half years of recovery, of successfully managing his condition.  He works at his job in real estate, managing properties, trains, does short races, even ultras.

Barres is determined not to let the disease control his life, limit what he can achieve.  And, he says with a smile, that his operation has left him with one "advantage" over other runners: "I don't have to make a pit stop" on long runs.  As a 50+ year old, Barres will take any advantage he can get, but he won't give up.  There are miles to go and goals to achieve.  On Sunday, he hopes to achieve at least one of them.

News: Medtronic Renews TCM Sponsorship; NCAA Weekend Summary/AOW/Rankings; College Results; Mile in My Shoes; Transgender Athletes

Medtronic extends sponsorship of  Twin Cities in Motion events, which include  the Twin Cities Marathon, the TC Family Events, and TC 10 Mile this weekend, for five more years. News release HERE.

NCAA weekend recap from USTFCCCA is HERE.

Three Griak winners selected NCAA Athletes of the Week HERE.

NCAA Regional DI rankings HERE

St. Mary's No Limits Invitational results are HERE.

MPR on the Mile in My Shoes Program HERE.

MPR on the looming and, increasingly politicized, debate over transgender athletes is HERE.

Medtronic TC Marathon and Marathon Weekend Registration Open Feb. 1

Registration for Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon opens on February 1, along with six other marathon weekend events. Information available HERE.

News Bits-Metrodome "Last Lap"

Metrodome running, which has been a Minnesota winter refuge for over three decades will, hopefully, just be taking a break during the construction of the new facility.  The "Last Lap" will be held at 7:55 PM on the day after Christmas at the Dome.  One last chance this winter to run on dry pavement this Winter.  Rick Recker, USATF president and administrator of the Metrodome running program since its inception, reports that talks are being held to continue the runs in the Dome when the new facility is built.  Stay tuned.

Three time Grandma's Marathon champion and 2006 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon champ Mary Akor banned for positive test for clenbuterol is HERE.  TC Running's Jenna Boren, who was second in the March 2 Woodlands Marathon, gains the title vacated by Akor's ban.

Sun Sailor article on Wayzata girls win at NXN is HERE.

MIAC Student Athlete Spotlight on Bethel's Alex Hintz is HERE, on St. Mary's Shauna Stephens is HERE.  MIAC feature on Macalester's Gretchen Greene's "cross training" via log rolling is HERE  NCAA feature on St. Thomas alum and former coach Mark Dienhart is HERE.

NSIC indoor track has begun, first weekly review is HERE.  NSIC coaches polls are HERE.

Gopher men's throws coach Lynden Reder's presentation at the USTFCCCA convention is HERE.

UMAC Indoor Track Athletes of the Week are HERE.

Boise State College newspaper story on Emma Bates is HERE.

Fitger's 5K Run & Walk registration opens HERE.

Dyestat final boy's HS individual rankings HERE. Girl's rankings HERE.

Registration Open For TCM Race Series

Twin Cities In Motion (TCM), the organizer of the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and a host of year-round running events in Minneapolis and St. Paul, opened registration for five TC Challenge race series set for 2014, four of them new to the TCM line-up.

TCM launched its first race series, the TC Loony Challenge, earlier this year.  The event groups three marathon weekend events – the Saturday TC 10K, TC 5K and Sunday Medtronic TC 10 Mile.  The TC Loony Challenge returns in 2014 along with four new options: The TC 5K Challenge, which includes three 5Ks scheduled throughout 2014;  The TC Ultra Loony Challenge, which includes the TC 10K, TC 5K, and Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, all on Oct. 4-5, 2014; The TC Summit Challenge, which includes four races throughout 2014, culminating in the Medtronic TC 10 mile; and The TC Ultra Summit Challenge, which includes four races throughout 2014, culminating in the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.

“We did focus groups and research studies last year and heard loud and clear that our runners want race series,” Twin Cities In Motion Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman said.  “Runners are always looking for new ways to challenge themselves, and our series offer them an opportunity to push their fitness to a new level. Race series make sense for us as an organization – in maximizing our current race calendar – and make sense for our runners, as they provide value and convenience.”

The series launches came as the organization opened registration for its winter events – the TC Kids Fieldhouse Fun Run on Feb. 1, the Valentine’s Day TC 5K Run/Walk, presented by Marathon Sports, on Feb. 8, and the 100% Irish for a Day TC 5K and TC 10 Mile, presented by Marathon Sports, on March 8.

TCM, in partnership with Grandma’s Marathon and the American Birkebeiner, also organizes the Upper Midwest Endurance Challenge which groups those events and the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon into a running and skiing series.

For more information on TCM and its race series and individual events, visit tcmevents.org.

MEADP Applications Open

The MEADP may seem like just another acronym.  It won't mean much to most of you, but can be very important to a few.  While many of us enjoy watching our elite athletes perform, there's not a pervasive understanding that nearly all these aspiring Olympians do not start out with a "steady job" or anything resembling financial security.

Elite athletes live a "hand-to-mouth" existence.  Liz Podominick, for example, has had to do periodic fund raisers to be able to continue her pursuit of her Olympic dream.  She's not alone.

Groups, such as Team USA Minnesota, have been created to ease that financial burden on these emerging elites, but even the Team USA Minnesota athletes  have to do other jobs on the side to be able to pursue their chosen "profession."  Just as actors often spend much of their time waiting on tables while they are working to get that first big break that will propel them to stardom,  the same financial struggle is there for aspiring athletes.  Which is why programs, such as the Minnesota Elit Athlete Development Program, was created.

Twin Cities In Motion, the Minnesota Distance Running Association, and Grandma’s Marathon, Inc. have joined together to supply the modest stipends that are given out to selected athletes.  The money goes to post-collegiate athletes and the application process has begun. Athletes can visit the MEADP web site and download an application HERE.

Kim Jones: Winning the Big One

Kim Jones writes about winning the National Championship and making her first World Championships team in the final excerpt from her book Dandelion Growing Wild HERE.

Kim Jones: Twin Cities Memories, Part II

In Dandelion Growing Wild excerpt Part II, Kim Jones writes about the build up and early portions of the 1986 Twin Cities Marathon, which was also the US Championship that year, HERE.

Kim Jones: Twin Cities Memories

Kim Jones has many fond memories of the Twin Cities Marathon.  She won the US Championships here in 1986 and ran her second marathon at Twin Cities the year before.  Twin Cities in Motion is featuring excerpts from Kim's book Dandilion Growing Wild on their website HERE. The portion of the book dealing with 1985 is up now.  The story of the 1986 race will be posted later.

Medtronic Global Heroes Announced

Twenty-five long-distance runners who benefit from medical technology have been named to the 2013 “Medtronic Global Heroes” team, and will run the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon or TC 10 Mile on Sunday, October 6, 2013.

This year’s team includes runners from 12 different countries including Australia, China, Ireland, Israel, Germany, Macedonia, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay,  and the United States.

Each runner has a medical device to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, spinal disorders, chronic pain, or neurological disorders. The Medtronic Global Heroes program, launched in 2006, celebrates their accomplishments and passion for running, which serves as an inspiration to others living with chronic diseases.

Global Heroes participants are selected by Twin Cities In Motion, the non-profit organization that directs the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. In addition to providing race entry and travel expenses, Medtronic will donate $1,000 in honor of each runner to a non-profit patient organization that educates and supports people with chronic health conditions.

Additional information about the Medtronic Global Heroes program can be found at www.medtronic.com/globalheroes.  

Visit the Medtronic Global Heroes Facebook page. 

The 2013 Medtronic Global Heroes are:

Marathon Participants

Adriane Devereux, Dallas, Texas

Devereux has an implanted spinal cord stimulator to help manage chronic pain.

Sally Feinerman, Auckland, New Zealand

Feinerman has a pacemaker to treat an atrioventricular heart block.

Adam Fitzgerald, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Fitzgerald has a shunt to treat hydrocephalus.

Tom Grossman, Midland, Michigan

Grossman has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Peter Johnson, Baltimore, Maryland

Johnson has a pacemaker to treat Sick Sinus Syndrome.

Sandra Kemper, Weseke, Germany

Kemper has a pacemaker to treat atrioventricular heart block.

Kostadin Martinov, Novo Selo, Macedonia

Martinov has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

  

Maureen McCool, Farmington, Maine

McCool has a shunt to treat a complication from a brain aneurysm.

Siobhan Monaghan, Enniskillen, Ireland

Monaghan has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Johan Sileson, Ytterby, Sweden

Sileson has an implantable  neurostimulator to manage chronic pain.

Greg Goebel, Sarasota, Florida

Goebel has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to treat sudden cardiac arrest.

Ana  Luisa Amado Vaz, Evora, Portugal

Vaz has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Ten Mile Participants

Paul Arcangeli, Vienna, Virginia

Arcangeli has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to manage sudden cardiac arrest.

Sara Costas Varela, Montevideo, Uruguay

Varela has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Gerard DeGannes, Maraval, Trinidad and Tobago

DeGannes has a pacemaker to manage irregular heart rate.

Noa Rinzler Diwan, Ness Ziona, Israel

Diwan uses spinal and bone therapies to manage Spinal Stenosis C3-C7.

Katherine Hernandez, Bradenton, Florida

Hernandez has a pacemaker to treat a heart block and a valve replacement to treat aortic stenosis.

Nagesh Kuppuraju, Robbinsville, New Jersey

Kippuroju had a heart valve replacement to facilitate blood flow.

Karen Lordan, Sydney, Australia

Lordan receives sacral nerve stimulation to treat bowel incontinence and chronic pain.

  

James McGurl, Cataumet, Massachusetts

McGurl has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Crystal Pitney, Fairbanks, Alaska

Pitney has spinal and bone fusion to aid recovery of a broken back.

Marla Sewall, Dallas, Texas

Sewall has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)  to treat sudden cardiac arrest.

Lin Shen, Zhengzhou City, China

Shen has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Yao Hui Wang, Wuhan City, China

Wang has an insulin pump to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Warren Williams, Sydney, Australia

Williams has a pacemaker to treat atrial fibrillation

About Global Heroes

A cooperative effort between Twin Cities In Motion and Medtronic Philanthropy, the Global Heroes program recognizes runners from around the world who have a medical device to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, chronic pain and spinal and neurological disorders. There is no application restriction on manufacturer.  

Registration Lottery for Medtronic TC 10 Mile Extended Through Monday

The registration lottery for the 2013 Medtronic TC 10 Mile has been extended to Monday, July 22, at 11:59 p.m.  Twin Cities In Motion officials extended the lottery, which was set for Friday at 11:59 p.m., to accommodate runners who did not receive the email announcing the lottery’s opening on July 10. To honor the race’s many loyal participants who have made the celebrated fall event a tradition, Twin Cities In Motion has changed the deadline to allow sufficient time to register.

The lottery selects runners for the popular event to be held on October 6 in conjunction with the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. Runners interested in entering the lottery may do so by visiting the Twin Cities In Motion website, tcmevents.org.  Runners will learn their entry status on Tuesday, July 23.

The 2013 Medtronic TC 10 Mile is limited to 9700 runners.

500 and Counting

Only 500 entries remain for runners hoping to compete in the 2013 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on October 6.  Race officials expect the race to reach its capacity of 12,200 runners before the end of the weekend. Runners interested in registering for the event should visit tcmevents.org.

Looney Challenge--Not for the Birds

Runners with an uncommon desire to test their endurance in three Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend events, will get that chance in October thanks to the inaugural TC Loony Challenge. 

Named in honor of the Minnesota state bird, the common loon, participants in the TC Loony Challenge can distinguish themselves by competing the TC 10K and TC 5K, presented by Fredrikson & Byron, on Saturday, October 5 in St. Paul and follow those efforts by racing the following day in the Medtronic TC 10 Mile, which races from downtown Minneapolis to the State Capitol.

Registration for the TC Loony Challenge opened today.

Runners who complete the TC Loony Challenge will earn a finisher’s medal and bragging rights among distance runners.  The top three men’s and women’s finishers in the competition, based on their cumulative time in the three races, will win a TC Loony Prize pack.

The TC Loony Challenge, which is limited to 250 runners, has the added feature of offering participants entry into the Medtronic TC 10 Mile that bypasses the lottery registration held for the majority of the spots on the starting line of the popular event.

“We’re excited to offer the TC Loony Challenge to our most ambitious runners,” Twin Cities In Motion Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman said.  “Runners are often looking for new challenges, and for those who like to pack a lot of racing into their weekend, we think the TC Loony Challenge will be ideal.  We’re glad to offer them non-lottery entry into the Medtronic TC 10 Mile as a perk.”

TC Loony Challenge registration ends on July 9 or as soon as 250 runners register for the event.  Details about the TC Loony Challenge can be found on the Twin Cities In Motion website, tcmevents.org.

Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Entries Near Capacity

Registration for the 2013 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon is nearing completion with 90% of the 12,200 runner field already registered for the event.  Twin Cities In Motion officials expect the 32^nd annual event, scheduled for October 6, to close before the end of the month.

“We typically fill the marathon in June, and it looks like that will be the case this year,” Twin Cities In Motion Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman said.  “If there are runners sitting on the fence about whether to run, now’s the time to register. You’ll get yourself in the race and have time to train well for it."

30,000 people are expected to compete in running events held Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6.  Saturday events at the Capitol grounds in St. Paul include the TC 10K and TC 5K, presented by Fredrikson & Byron, and the Medtronic TC Family Events.  The Medtronic TC 10 Mile, which starts in downtown Minneapolis and finishes at the Capitol, kicks off Sunday racing which is followed by the signature event of the weekend, the 32^nd annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. 

Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend kicks off on Friday, October 4 with the Health & Fitness Expo at Saint Paul RiverCentre. The Expo, which runs through Saturday, features more than 100 exhibitors, a full schedule of presentations and packet pick-up for the weekend’s races.Further information and registration details can be found at tcmevents.org.