Looking to getaway from Tx heat for a weekend of marathon training in Aug or Sep in Duluth, MN.
Can i simply follow the Grandma’s marathon course on a given weekend morning or are there better long distance courses in the area?
If you like hills and trails you have lots of options. If you want to stick to flat roads, I suppose Grandmas route will work. Do a little bit of google research and you should find a lot of info.
Superior Trail - is that is Duluth or Grand Portage?
You can run the Grandma’s route from Two Harbors on Old 61. There is a wide shoulder, and no stop signs for about 19 miles. But, other than the fantastic scenery, it it is still a road. It is actually a great route for riding because there are no stops.
As was already mentioned the Superior Hiking Trail is GREAT running, but be prepared as it will kick your butt. The path itself is 18" wide, but the trail is cleared to 4’, and it is hilly! You can run it in Duluth; south of Duluth (around Spirit Mountain and Jay Cooke State Park), or north of Duluth starting just north of Two Harbors. I recommend the sections north of Two Harbors near Castle Danger. Bring some trail shoes with sticky trail soles (rocks and roots). Also bring water - either handhelds, or a camelback.
Have fun! It is some of my favorite running.
Doug
Seattle now but was born and raised in Duluth. The Grandma’s course is absolutely beautiful running along the N. Shore and might be worth a run, but one run only. As the others have said, there is some of the best running anywhere in the country in and around Duluth - from trails to quiet country roads. The Superior Trail is epic, also talk with the folks at the running store on Superior street (can’t remember the name off hand) and they’ll take great care of you.
Have a blast in one of the most beautiful cities in the country
The route for Grandma’s is a good option as it has the mile markers painted on the road (white is the marathon, yellow for the corresponding half marathon) which would make pacing easy. To avoid the annoying section in town where you would need to run sidewalks, you can park just north of the Lester River at Brighton Beach and run the portion on Old Hwy 61 (basically mile marker 18 backwards to the start), or take the lakewalk out to 60th and then jog down the sidewalk the one block to London Rd/Hwy 61.
Also, Duluth has a good mix of trails with some solid hills if you want. I really like Lester Park (on the cross country ski trails), and Chester Park (also cross country ski trails; very hilly). If you are training for Twin Cities, I would suggest against the Superior Hiking Trail as that is an exercise in true trail running; it is not really running the same way a road marathon is. I ran an 8 mile section (with another 5 miles thrown in of roads) of the SHT in the spring and had a blast, but it may not have been the true best long run in preparation for my road half marathon (the Garry Bjorklund which is run with the Grandma’s marathon). There is also the Lakewalk for the easy run with the Canal Park scenery; in the afternoons this will be crowded with people. Another option is to run down Park Point and take a dip in Lake Superior at the Park Point beach.
All in all, lots of options. You can check out the Duluth Running Company on Superior Street, or Austin Jarrow for local running shops. Both are really good. Also, check out northlandrunner.com for local running races if you want to find a 5k/10k when you are around.
The superior hiking trail is the best!!! I absolutely love running there. I also like to run in Chester Bowl, Lester Park, and Hartley Park on the cross country ski trails. The other road I would recommend is Skyline Drive- it is a a great scenic overlook of the city and lake superior! Those trails are all great for mountain biking too.