Upcoming "Race:" An Unofficial TC 10 Mile!

Everyone's invited! Come "race" if you'd like!

Here's the gist of it from a recent post of mine on Facebook:

Anyone want to race an unofficial TC 10 Mile in a few weeks? I'm getting a group from my gym together to race. It's self-supported and more of a "time trial." We're meeting on Sunday Oct 4th (TC marathon/10 mile date) at 6:45 a.m. just south of Lake Street on River Road (maybe in the grassy area by the Danish American Center) and planning on a 7:00 a.m. start. It's a simple loop with a bit more added on towards Hidden Falls - I plan on marking the "course" in that area with chalk earlier that morning. Everyone is invited! Let me know if you'd like to be kept in the loop.

SO HAPPY to be thinking about "racing" (even though it will be my slowest 10 mile) with the way the last year has went with my injury (and walking cast, and knee scooter, and steroid shot/pack, etc.)!

I first brought it up to my team, but someone mentioned that Twin Cities in Motion is urging people NOT to run the ACTUAL TC 10 Mile or TC Marathon race course that day as they don't want people congregating at the start and finish. And I realized that the final 4.5 miles down Summit Ave withOUT it being closed to traffic would lead to some dangerous dodging of cars at the stoplights.

So I mapped this out online, and then actually biked it (with my Garmin) as well. Miles 1.5 - 4 are on the regular TC 10 Mile course, but it's the middle of the course (and moving in the same direction as the actual race), so it should be good:

I'll have more of a "race course preview" in a few weeks (which I will direct all of my teammates towards) with extra information, but I'm excited to be thinking about this!

It's not a bad course! We still "get" to climb that short steep hill at mile 3.8 of this course (which is just after mile 5 of the regular TC 10 Mile course). There are small rollers here-and-there, but the rest of it should be pretty fast. (Well, not horribly slow at least.) We only have to cross River Road twice: at mile 1.5 to get up to the Franklin Ave Bridge, and at mile 7.5 to get up to the Ford Bridge.

It'd be GREAT if someone wanted to volunteer to hold everyone's water bottles under the Ford Bridge so we could get a sip of something at mile 6 and 7.5, but I'm calling this pretty "self supported." Once we get closer to the day, I might see if anyone from the gym wants to meet us at the start and schelp everyone's water bottles over into St. Paul for us. But there are a handful of issues with this idea, so I might scrap it.

Sunday, Oct 4th
Just south of Lake Street on River Road
(The Danish American Center is right there: 3030 W River Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN 55406)

Gather at 6:45 a.m.
"Race" start at 7:00 a.m.
B.Y.O.G. (Bring your own Garmin) - there's no "official" start or finish line