Ches Hutchinson's Staging Area

Eau Claire is a smallish town about 90 minutes east of the Twin Cities. There were many inexpensive hotel options just a few short blocks from the start/finish. Packet pickup is available on race day morning! If you’re busy with home life and traveling for races with complicated logistics are tough for you, this is your race! I drove up late Saturday night got a cheap room for less than $100, woke up walked to the start area collected my bib and then just waited around as it was just that easy, no shuttles, no busy crowded corrals. Plenty of bathrooms with super short lines. Also it was raining a bit this morning as the start chute was covered so there was not getting drenched while waiting for the race to begin. There was a good number of pacers for the popular goal times. I started with one and it wasn’t overly crowded, I fell off the pace after a few miles but I was never running alone at any point of the race. There were a few moderate hills, one hairpin turn but there is no reason a well trained runner couldn’t set a PR or BQ on this course. The finish area is awesome, it finishes in downtown Eau Claire with plenty of bars, restaurants and hotels just steps away from the finish area. I’ve run Grandmas 3x and I gotta say if faced with a choice of one or the other, I would pick Eau Claire and not lose any sleep over it. A hidden gem of a spring Midwest race, can’t wait to run it again!