2013 Illinois Marathon (Champaign/Urbana) (Chicago, Peoria: hotels, YMCA, university)

[Toronto416]

So I've never been south of Chicago before, and in April I want to make the trip from NW Ontario, Canada to Champaign to run the IL Marathon. If any of you are locals, I would appreciate if you had any advice...
-I'd be starting out in International Falls, Minn to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minn (about 315 miles)...would it make sense to fly to Chicago and then take the train to Champaign? It appears to be about a two hour trip from Chicago...is the train station right downtown?

- Since I'm just planing on staying a night, are there hostels or a place like the 'Y' you'd recommend for someone travelling alone just looking for a place to sleep for the night?

- Has anyone here finished or watched the Illinois Marathon? Is it an exciting race with people coming from all over the state? Or more a local-type event?

Thanks for your input!

J.

[madpaddy]

Originally Posted by Toronto416

So I've never been south of Chicago before, and in April I want to make the trip from NW Ontario, Canada to Champaign to run the IL Marathon. If any of you are locals, I would appreciate if you had any advice...
-I'd be starting out in International Falls, Minn to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minn (about 315 miles)...would it make sense to fly to Chicago and then take the train to Champaign? It appears to be about a two hour trip from Chicago...is the train station right downtown?

- Since I'm just planing on staying a night, are there hostels or a place like the 'Y' you'd recommend for someone travelling alone just looking for a place to sleep for the night?

- Has anyone here finished or watched the Illinois Marathon? Is it an exciting race with people coming from all over the state? Or more a local-type event?

Thanks for your input!

J.

If you fly into Ohare Airport you either have to take a ~4 hour bus ride (Peoria Charter Coach) from the airport to Champaign or take a 1+ hour commuter train from the airport to downtown Chicago, walk two blocks to Union station, and then take a 2-2.5 hour Amtrak train ride to Champaign. Either will drop you off at the Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign.

I'd personally recommend flying into Midway Airport on Southwest Airlines. You can catch the same Peoria Charter Coach that goes from Ohare, but you're only 2.5 hours to Champaign.

I haven't been to the race (I work Saturdays) but it seems like a pretty big deal. The community really seems to get behind the event. Spectators will be mostly locals and family/friends of competitors. Since its a Boston Marathon qualifier, it attracts a few national and even international runners (last year's top two finishers were Kenyan), although the bulk of competitors are from the midwest. The finish has historically been at the University of Illinois Memorial Stadium.

As for inexpensive lodging, I really don't know of any hostels and don't believe either YMCA has rooms. If you decide you really want to do it but a place to stay is your only concern, PM me. I'll see what I can do to help.

[Aerio]

Originally Posted by Toronto416

So I've never been south of Chicago before, and in April I want to make the trip from NW Ontario, Canada to Champaign to run the IL Marathon. If any of you are locals, I would appreciate if you had any advice...
-I'd be starting out in International Falls, Minn to Minneapolis/St Paul, Minn (about 315 miles)...would it make sense to fly to Chicago and then take the train to Champaign? It appears to be about a two hour trip from Chicago...is the train station right downtown?

- Since I'm just planing on staying a night, are there hostels or a place like the 'Y' you'd recommend for someone travelling alone just looking for a place to sleep for the night?

- Has anyone here finished or watched the Illinois Marathon? Is it an exciting race with people coming from all over the state? Or more a local-type event?

Thanks for your input!

J.

I've never been part of the marathon or watched it, but I have lived in the town when it was happening and it snarls traffic at times because you wait for runners to go past. It's fairly popular, and I would recommend looking at hotels now because they fill up surprisingly fast. I am not completely sure on that, but have a feeling it's better to be safe than sorry; a friend who worked in the Holiday Inn Express said the hotel was completely full for those types of events.

Here's an article from the University of Illini Daily Illini publication which is a local campus paper there about 2012's marathon:

Expect delays as runners flock for Illinois Marathon this weekend - The Daily Illini : News