Fits Do Race Reviews: Maple Leaf Half Marathon

By: LL
As I talked about here, I recently completed the Maple Leaf Half Marathon in La Crosse, Wis. This race coincided with the city's annual Oktoberfest, which was the perfect reward for a long run.

{SWAG - cotton tee}

The race started at Riverside Park, which is the city's park that runs along the Mississippi River. The park was cold and empty even up until 20 minutes before the race. They did not have sufficient bathrooms (especially since they only had one port-a-potty along the race - at mile 7), so the line was ridiculously long. But for a small town and a small race (just under 550 runners), they had a well organized gear check and the local radio station DJing the start (even if they did start with Gettin Jiggy Wit It as the race began).

The course followed the Oktoberfest parade route for the first two miles, heading from the south side up to the north side of the city, and then over to an area called French Island, which is where the city's airport is located. The first two miles were great because the route was closed to traffic for the parade that started right after the race. The streets were packed with people who were staking out good places for the parade. Unfortunately, once we turned onto French Island and headed off to mile 3, we were running with traffic. The small town that owns French Island refused to close off the right to traffic. It was annoying and I witnessed 3 near-misses of car-runner accidents.

{Running with cars throughout the race}

The course itself was fairly flat, with only 50 ft difference in elevation. The hardest hill was on the main causeway, which we hit right after mile 1 and then on the way back just before mile 12. We ran straight out and straight back. There were no bathrooms along the route until the turn around (where the line was at least 15 people deep for one john). The water stations were well staffed and spaced every 2 miles, however, the Gatorade was VERY watered down. Runners get Gu (non-caffienated) at mile 6.

{Smiles and waves at mile 8}

{Water hand-off at mile 10}

After mile 11, we turned back onto the Oktoberfest parade route, which was even more rambunctious as the college students woke up for the drunken festivities. The cheering crowd makes you feel like you are running a really important race. After running back up the causeway hill, right past the Oktoberfest grounds, then around the corner to the finish. At the end, you get a medal and a free button to get into the Oktoberfest grounds, along with the usual bananas, oranges, bagels, water and the same horrible Gatorade.

It was a great time. My in-laws were finally able to see me run and afterward I was able to enjoy brats, cheese (yes, in Wisconsin you get cheese thrown out at parades) and beer. I will likely be back next year...any takers?

{Oktoberfest 2012}

Fits Do Race (P)Reviews: Maple Leaf 1/2

By: LL
Since my husband and I will be in La Crosse, Wisconsin for the city's annual Oktoberfest celebration (rolling of the Golden Keg anyone??), I decided that it would be fun to run the Maple Leaf Half Marathon that coincides with the event.

In doing some research of the race, it appears that it is a fairly small race - only 1400 total in the four races offered in 2011 (13.1, 5, 5k and a 1 mile fun run). However, knowing La Crosse fairly well, I believe that this will be one of the most scenic races that I have run - comparable to the Twin Cities Marathon.

The "website" lacks good details (not sure when the expo might be or if there is a gear check), but at least I found some information through www.halfmarathons.net, which says that the route "takes runners along some of the city's most scenic streets, as the half marathon starts and finishes in Riverside Park overlooking the mighty Mississippi River, and also takes runners over a bridge that crosses the Black River, and features views of Lake Onalaska in the middle portion of the race's 13.1-mile course [...] Runners in the half marathon start their race at 7:00 a.m. at the park, and follow what is basically a long, out-and-back route." The bluff city of Wisconsin is normally very beautiful and this time of year will likely make this route, even though I will see it all twice, the perfect fall race.

Here is one of the only photos that I could find of the race from previous years:

{Gotten love the dude in his high school singlet [Logan] out front}

Due to the annual Oktoberfest Maple Leaf parade that is also held that day, runners must finish in less than 2 hours and 45 minutes, which seems pretty standard, maybe a tad quicker than other half marathons. And, unfortunately it appears that there is no medal and that the shirts will be lacking (cotton perhaps).

Either way, I think that it will be a fun race and definitely a good start to a weekend of good ol' German "merrymaking" in a town that has been doing it right since 1961!

{Permanent Oktoberfest grounds in La Crosse, WI}