Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
Payne2B2008
member
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Grandma's Marathon - Parking?
Anyone know what parking is like at the Grandma's Marathon? We would love to go up & cheer on a friend but if parking sucks we might hold off on it. Also any helpful ideas on lodging as I am sure hotels downtown will not be the cheapest rout.
Thanks
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Re: Grandma's Marathon - Parking?
I wouldn't stay at all. Drive up in the AM, and go home that night. Even if you go as far as Superior or down to Black Bear, you're not going to find anything under 100/night with a 2 or 3 night minimum. Hotels for Grandma's are ridiculous now.
As for parking, we park downtown (I think it's the casino's ramp) and walk to the finish area. You'll need a good map, because the main roads are shut down for the race
Yeah I wouldn't bother staying if you can possibly avoid it. We were lucky when DH ran it because his family is there. They jack up the prices big time that weekend.
I think we always went somewhere around mile 17-19 when we watched DH. It was a quiet spot next to Lake Superior.
ETA: I wish I could remember better exactly where it was, but there is this guy that always hangs out there and likes to yell "Welcome to Duluth!" to all the runners.
I think that's at Lester River.
DH's grandparents live at about mile 21. He wouldn't be running it anymore if SIL and her BF didn't have a cabin up there.
we went 2 years ago and drove in. We didn;t get there until about 10am or so. We exited really early in Duluth to try to avoid the traffic and managed to find a great spot in a metered lot. We only had to walk about 8 blocks to the finish line. I couldn't for the life of me tell you where we were but there are definite possibilities though it would be harder with a little one in tow.
Just bring quarters so if you find a meter you can grab it...my one suggestion!
My sister has run Gma's Marathon about 6 times, and I've never missed one of her marathons.
Honestly, if you don't already have a hotel booked - you probably won't get one with it being just 3 months out. We would always book our rooms a year out. The marathon is a BIG deal there and rooms book FAST and they are almost always at capacity. Even in the neighboring cities - Superior, Cloquet, etc.
Parking will be a hassle, but if you want to go, I also recommend driving up that day. I always used to rollerblade the second half of the route on side streets to cheer Shelly, so you could also do that or bring bikes and burley for the little one.
this hasn't been as true the last few years. The combination of pricing and the economy has really changed it. 4 years ago we got a villa at Spirit Mountain about 3 months before race day, and I know both last year and the year before some hotels ended up with empty rooms. Most of the Canal Park hotels though are booked a year out and rarely have a vacancy.
There are actually a large number of hard core marathoners who've refused to run Grandma's the last few years because of the prices. The race hasn't even been full the last 2 years which never used to be the case either.
Check the marathon website, I think they have links for lodging on there. Also, if you're not super picky, I know that the colleges in the area rent out dorm rooms. When we went a few years ago, I think rooms were about $75/night? Parking - you can usually find street parking, but you'll likely have to do some walking. Colleges to check:
St. Scholastica
University of MN - Duluth
University of WI - Superior
It is pretty fun up there that weekend. Grandmas in Canal Park has huge tents out in the parking lot and have live bands.