The Twin Cities Marathon weekend is September 30th and October 1st in 2023. Each year, Twin Cities in Motion (“TCM”) offers fun ways to make it a family event on the first day of the weekend. The Marathon itself sells out fast, but we have ideas for making this a fun and healthy weekend for family whether or not you participate in the long run.
As part of the TC Kids Run Free program, kids 18 and under run free at Twin Cities In Motion events. Throughout 2023, you can sign the kids up for a variety of races including a 5K (or longer!), one mile, half mile and/or pre-K dash races. We include these family-friendly TCM events on our Family Sports & Fitness Calendar.
Start Anytime by Printing a
Family Training Schedule and Log
Want to be able to run a 5K together (That’s 3.1 miles)? Get a printable kids 5K training schedule and a training log for 12, 8 or 4 weeks. This is one way you can promote a healthy lifestyle for the whole family. Even the little ones could get involved – either riding in a stroller or riding their bikes for these workouts.
Don’t worry about it being too much, TCM has created tools to help kids (and their parents) to “take it one mile at a time”. Below are links to some printable schedules and logs.
- PRINTABLE KIDS’ 9-week 5K TRAINING SCHEDULE (Start by July 30th to be ready for the TCM Weekend)
- 12-WEEK TRAINING LOG – Start July 9th.
- 8-WEEK TRAINING LOG – Start August 6th.
- 4-WEEK TRAINING LOG – Start September 3rd..
Twin Cities in Motion will be offering other activities all month long. Follow TCM on your favorite social media to get all the details.
Register to Participate as a Family
After training together for the 5K, you can sign up to participate in 2023. Besides the adult races, their are several family races on September 30th during the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend Family Saturday held at the Minnesota State Capitol grounds. Whether you want to do a family mile, a half mile, the toddler trot or the diaper dash, there is usually for something for everyone and participants receive family-friendly fitness gear to celebrate finishing the race. Registration opens March 7, 2023.
- 5K
- Family Mile Race
- Half Mile
- Diaper Dash
- Toddler Trot
Hang out in the Family-Activity Area to enjoy kid-friendly music, live art and entertainment and participate in activities from 8am to Noon.
Don’t Forget the Health & Fitness Expo
Most years, runners and fans can attend a Health & Fitness Expo to get more ideas for training and getting healthy. The 2022 expo was held at the Saint Paul River Centre (175 West Kellogg Boulevard, Saint Paul, MN 55102). Stay tuned for 2023 information. The expo is traditionally FREE and open to the public.
Cheer on Runners along the Twin Cities Marathon Course
The marathon itself is on Sunday, October 3rd and begins at 8am and is considered an exceptionally beautiful course. The race starts near US Bank Stadium in Downtown Minneapolis and the finish line is at the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul. Two recommended spectator spots are along Summit Avenue in St. Paul or on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis; but the race course also runs through other parks including Lake Harriet and the Chain of Lakes and along both sides of the Mississippi River, so you should be able to find a cozy place along the marathon route to cheer on the runners and enjoy the scenery and the fall colors. You can probably even park yourself near to a playground.
Also returning in 2023, The Diane & Alan Page Cheer Challenge has special cheer zones that compete to win money for charities by having the loudest cheering sections and best crowd support.
Take some coffee and cocoa, pick your spot along the “most beautiful urban marathon” and get ready to cheer! You can also find an app to track your favorite athlete and find other race day details by searching “Twin Cities in Motion” in your app store.
Marathon Family Read Aloud
We have a great picture book suggestion to pair with this fun weekend, but beware I have not been able to get through it without a few tears in my voice. Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon, written by Kim Chaffee and illustrated by Ellen Rooney, tells the story about how Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with an official number, the race officials that tried to stop her and the people who helped her succeed. This was an inspirational story for the whole family – boys, girls, adults and children.
Beyond the Twin Cities Marathon
Maybe you would like to start running as a family, but want to start a bit smaller? To help with this, we feature races along with other family-friendly sporting events on our Family Sports Page. While this is a rough year for gathering-type events, some races are still happening or going virtual. You can sign up and complete the virtual races on your own.
