We’ve all heard of Punxsutawney Phil, the little furry guy in Pennsylvania who comes out, sees his shadow, and declares six more weeks of winter. Then there’s Augustus T. Groundhog, better known as Grand Rapids Gus. He’s Phil’s much more interesting cousin. Unlike Phil, who it seems can only see …
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We’ve all heard of Punxsutawney Phil, the little furry guy in Pennsylvania who comes out, sees his shadow, and declares six more weeks of winter. Then there’s Augustus T. Groundhog, better known as Grand Rapids Gus. He’s Phil’s much more interesting cousin. Unlike Phil, who it seems can only see shadows, Gus has much better eyesight and can look at a calendar on February 2 and know that spring doesn’t start for six weeks. Gus suggested that instead of lamenting over six more weeks of winter, we should EMBRACE the cold and snow and do something fun. And so, the Groundhog Day Marathon was born.
It’s a winter running event, in Grand Rapids Michigan. YES! THERE WILL PROBABLY BE LOTS OF SNOW ON THE COURSE. It’s more fun than a person should have while wearing clothing.
Full Marathon: Like the movie, you’ll feel like you’re repeating the same day over and over. A beautiful, snowy (we hope), approximately 4.4 mile course. Splits every 1/6th of a marathon. 8:00 a.m. 500 Runner limit combined for full and half marathons
Half Marathon: For those of you who couldn’t stay awake through the whole movie. Only three times around.
Moonlight 1/6 Marathon on Groundhog Eve: Hey, we’re going to be set up anyway, no sense in just long-distance people having all the fun.
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Groundhog Marathon!
My group signed up for this race as a "training run" for our ultra marathon. It was basically the only February marathon within the midwest we could find, and I … MORE
My group signed up for this race as a “training run” for our ultra marathon. It was basically the only February marathon within the midwest we could find, and I am glad we did because it was a fun race. This course was 12 loops. It was supposed to be 6 but because of water overflow on parts of the course, it was changed to 12. You get to pass the two aid stations every loop, the people who set up the race, and all the volunteers are so nice. Overall, it was a unique experience I really enjoyed.
Fun winter race!
Very fun race and great production, but many first timers don't realize that the park trails are not cleared so the course difficulty will vary from year to year, sometimes … MORE
Very fun race and great production, but many first timers don’t realize that the park trails are not cleared so the course difficulty will vary from year to year, sometimes having snow and ice, which is part of the fun and challenge just be prepared!
Postholing the day away!
If it snows... a lot... you are in for a BIG challenge. In 2014, when I ran this, there was about 8 inches of snow the night before. It took … MORE
If it snows… a lot… you are in for a BIG challenge. In 2014, when I ran this, there was about 8 inches of snow the night before. It took me longer to run the half-marathon than it usually takes to run a full, that’s how much difficulty the snow added. The other challenge is the 3ish mile loop that you have to keep running (a la the film Groundhog Day), but the post-race spread (great craft brews and homemade chili!) makes all the effort worthwhile. Great volunteers and organization!