Many of you are running your last long run this weekend in preparation for the 2nd Annual Maple Grove Half Marathon on Saturday, May 16th. I wanted to share some information about the event and the course (and the hills) with you in this post.
Please practice your fueling on Saturday. Look at the water stops on the race course and try to mimic that timing in your run on Saturday especially if you do not want to carry your water bottles.
The logistics: The races, both the half marathon and 5K are closed.
Race website: www.maplegrovehalfmarathon.com
Start time is 7:30am for the half marathon and approx. 7:50am for the 5K. Both races start on the high school stadium track in Maple Grove. I ran the race last year and was impressed with the set up. They had plenty of port-a-johns and parking officials. It has the atmosphere of a small town race which I personally love. They handed out wicking tech shirts at the finish line.
Packet pick up is strongly encouraged on Friday, May 15th at the Maple Grove REI between 10am and 9pm. There will be door prizes too! I would be happy to help out with packet pickup if anyone can not make it to REI. You can have others pick up for you. Just ask ok!
You can pick up your packet race day morning at the track but you would really want to arrive early and the race already starts rather early (7:30am). If you choose this route I would make sure to be at the track around 6:30am on race day morning.
The timing chips are disposable this year. Half marathoners will have a timing tag to be exact and 5K runners will use the gun, no tag. Check out the tag and instructions on how to attach it to your shoe (yes, it has to go on your shoe). http://www.chronotrack.com/for-athletes/
There are 6 water stops for the half marathoners. Sports drink will be available at the last 5 stops (not the first one at 2.5 miles, just water). It is either Gatorade or Power Ade that they use. I will try to find out. The stops are spaces about 2-2.5 miles apart which is really nice. I am afraid there are no water stops for the 5K runners. The course map does not indicate that there is a stop. Please be prepared for that all you 5K runners.
Half Marathoners have a nice option this year, to register to run with a pace group. There are 3 pace groups to choose from based on your goal finish time: 1:45 (8 min. pace), 2:00 (9:09 min. pace), and 2:15 (10:18 pace). This is an exciting opportunity and I suggest you think through what your goal is for this race very thoroughly before signing up for a pace group that will challenge you. Of course you can always drop back if they are going too fast for you but you will have used up a lot of energy early in the race.
For example, if you train at 11 minute pace consistently please do NOT try to run with the 2:15 pace group, you will really pay the price. You need to train at that race pace (10:18) some to be able to maintain for the 13 miles. Now, if you have a dream race you just may catch up to them later in the race which would be exciting. It has been known to happen! Just conserve early, do not put undo pressure on yourself to run 45-60 seconds faster per mile for 13 miles if you have not been training for that pace.
Now, let’s talk about the course! I loved it last year. There are rolling hills and 1 or 2 longer uphill climbs that I remember but they were not longer than 2 blocks or so (if I can remember). It is a big loop (my favorite kind of course) and a mix of city streets which were closed off and bike trail. You will run along a creek, around a lake, and through a few parks and neighborhoods. Many people in the neighborhoods sat out on their lawns cheering us on and handing out water or spraying us down with hoses (it was a relatively hot day last year).
The race director, Paul, described the hills to me so here you go: the toughest is going up to mile 6, I believe this is the one I remember, longer and gradual, there is a hill after you go under I-94 which is short and a little steep, a longer gradual hill going up to mile 8 (you are in a neighborhood at this point), longer gradual hill at mile 10 and again at mile 11, miles 11-13 are flat back to the high school track. Note: you have to run 3/4 of the way around the track to the finish so prepare your brain for that! I will have copies of the race map with the hills pointed out at training Thursday night and Saturday morning.
I will be volunteering for the race as a course marshall. I will be stationed before mile 10 where you exit the bike trail onto a neighborhood street. If anyone spectating wants to join me here to create a cheering section that would be really great! Mile 10 is a common place to need a pick me up!
I will probably have you all meet at 7am as a group. I pray we have our Sport Science shirts (the blue ones with the new logo on the back) by then and ask you all to think about wearing something Moving Soles if you have it. I did get the hats and visors in today so maybe we will have those in time too!
Hopefully this gives you some more information and that it is helpful.
Cheers!
Moving Soles Running Club 