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Re: IM Maryland [mattr] [ In reply to ]
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Does anyone happen to know if the short out & back on Hudson Road allows traffic during the day. Found a house off of Hudson Rd. but if the road is closed during the race, the family won't be able to get back to the house during the day.

Have a couple of emails into the race director but can't seem to get a response.
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Re: IM Maryland [Tri3] [ In reply to ]
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  Chessie was the best! Back then you could pitch a tent and shower at the school. Super excited that Church Creek TT is on for this year. Injuries kept me off the road for a couple of years and during that time lost Chessie and B2B to the IM borg.

No coasting in running and no crying in baseball
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Re: IM Maryland [dgutstadt] [ In reply to ]
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dgutstadt wrote:
70Trigirl wrote:
dgutstadt wrote:
The best accommodation is the Hyatt which also has bus service in the morning to the race. but it is very expensive. if you are coming with family/kids I think its worth it, but really depend on your budget
Otherwise there's usually reasonable motels 30 minutes drive distance and as noted above there's no issue getting into town in the morning and parking close to start/finish.
Assuming you get up to eat at 4am anyway and can't get back to sleep, its really not a big deal.


I did try the Hyatt but was booked. No kids but we do like to have a kitchen as I have dietary restrictions and like to cook my own meals before a race. It's not the end of the world if we have to stay at the Comfort Inn. We'll figure things out. But I will be on the look out for openings.


my experience with the Hyatt is that people book in advance (since its free), but then two weeks before the race there are a lot of cancellations.
I would not bet on it, so definitely get other accommodations, but it is very likely rooms will free up there just before the race.
This was my experience with the Hyatt three times I race there.

I just booked a hotel (the only one I could find) 35 mins away in Salisbury. It has free cancellation up to a day or two before I need it, so my plan is to keep that one in my back pocket and keep monitoring closer/cheaper for availability. Hopefully something will pop up. Otherwise, as they say "When in doing IM Maryland, do as the Marylandrians do" (or something to that effect!)

The odd part is that right now, on AirBnB/VRBO, everything is either $1500/night or campsites - some of which are literally people's yards!
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Re: IM Maryland [mattr] [ In reply to ]
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I seem to be the outlier on this one. I have done MD twice and think it is a horrible event. I only suffering through it the 2nd time because it was drive-able for me.

For the race itself:
  • Swim is fine
  • Bike you can either get no wind or a nasty head wind; usually on the 2nd loop
  • The run is mental torture. I have run 30+ marathons and 13 IMs and this is by far the worst 26.2 miles ever designed. You run out to no-mans-land and on an uneven cobble road twice or three times? I have tried to forget all aspects of that course.


The town and support:
  • I hole heartily disagree with the group. The town does not support this race at all; probably because IM stiffed all the restaurants a few years ago on the food voucher. You will get some fans near IM village and on the brief stint you are running on 'main street' but they are most likely family of other athletes. And the town doesn't offer much; a few restaurants (on a scale of 1-10, they are 6s at best), a few stores, but that is it.
  • There is 0 appeal to Cambridge MD. One year my family lucked out and there was a local oyster festival the next day.
  • I lucked out and found a great AirBnb that was a decent walk from the expo; it was a shared townhouse and the host was fantastic. I stayed with her both races. You can easily access the main rip-off hotel; eat a their bar and use their pool, no one checks.


The year I did Lou, it was blazing hot!!! but at least Lou is somewhat of a city and you have decent crowd support AND one of the best finish lines in all of IM.
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Re: IM Maryland [laughable] [ In reply to ]
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laughable wrote:
I seem to be the outlier on this one. I have done MD twice and think it is a horrible event. I only suffering through it the 2nd time because it was drive-able for me.

For the race itself:
  • Swim is fine
  • Bike you can either get no wind or a nasty head wind; usually on the 2nd loop
  • The run is mental torture. I have run 30+ marathons and 13 IMs and this is by far the worst 26.2 miles ever designed. You run out to no-mans-land and on an uneven cobble road twice or three times? I have tried to forget all aspects of that course.


The town and support:
  • I hole heartily disagree with the group. The town does not support this race at all; probably because IM stiffed all the restaurants a few years ago on the food voucher. You will get some fans near IM village and on the brief stint you are running on 'main street' but they are most likely family of other athletes. And the town doesn't offer much; a few restaurants (on a scale of 1-10, they are 6s at best), a few stores, but that is it.
  • There is 0 appeal to Cambridge MD. One year my family lucked out and there was a local oyster festival the next day.
  • I lucked out and found a great AirBnb that was a decent walk from the expo; it was a shared townhouse and the host was fantastic. I stayed with her both races. You can easily access the main rip-off hotel; eat a their bar and use their pool, no one checks.


The year I did Lou, it was blazing hot!!! but at least Lou is somewhat of a city and you have decent crowd support AND one of the best finish lines in all of IM.


In the past I've chosen race destinations that are exciting. I was originally signed up for IM Wales (5th IM) but was able to transfer to IMMD. Mostly I wanted to change to a domestic IM and one that was drivable. It's harder getting through the big training when you are not excited about the race or venue. While I'm grateful to be able to race in September, I wish I could get more excited about this event.

Is the run exposed mostly to the sun? Just curious. I am a runner, so I can handle a brutally boring course. And I ran an IM course with a notable amount of cobblestones in Copenhagen.

Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.
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Re: IM Maryland [Triingtotrain] [ In reply to ]
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I have done both Maryland and Copenhagen. Loved both, yet very different experiences.

Very little cover on run course. Much easier than Copenhagen based on surface though.
Much more remote with less crowd support obviously.
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Re: IM Maryland [CJAC] [ In reply to ]
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CJAC wrote:
I have done both Maryland and Copenhagen. Loved both, yet very different experiences.

Very little cover on run course. Much easier than Copenhagen based on surface though.
Much more remote with less crowd support obviously.

Really glad you loved both! I've heard so many mixed opinions on MD. It does sound like the RD is awesome and creates a solid race experience in spite of the downfalls of Cambridge, MD.

I loved Copenhagen and the entire race experience. First time racing in Europe for us. I hope to go back overseas to race again someday if/when covid and the variants get under control. I was sad to learn that IM Wales was canceled a second time. If I hadn't been able to transfer to IMMD I'd be out of luck this year.

Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.
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Re: IM Maryland [Triingtotrain] [ In reply to ]
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Triingtotrain wrote:
CJAC wrote:
I have done both Maryland and Copenhagen. Loved both, yet very different experiences.

Very little cover on run course. Much easier than Copenhagen based on surface though.
Much more remote with less crowd support obviously.


Really glad you loved both! I've heard so many mixed opinions on MD. It does sound like the RD is awesome and creates a solid race experience in spite of the downfalls of Cambridge, MD.

I loved Copenhagen and the entire race experience. First time racing in Europe for us. I hope to go back overseas to race again someday if/when covid and the variants get under control. I was sad to learn that IM Wales was canceled a second time. If I hadn't been able to transfer to IMMD I'd be out of luck this year.

Copenhagen was special to me, as that is where I grew up, live in US now.
The atmosphere of a downtown run course was amazing, I honestly don't think there is a race like it across the circuit.
Maryland biggest challenge is people get excited about going really fast on the bike, and force themselves to just stay in aero way more, than they do in training, and watching them get of the bike is interesting.
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