Expo, schedule and race morning

Packet pickup

• Friday, October 2, 2026: 11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.
• Saturday, October 3, 2026: 10:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M.

• Marathon, 10 Mile and Half Marathon bibs are expo-only. The official marathon page is blunt about it: there is no packet pickup on race day, no exceptions. If you land Saturday evening you have no bib.
• The expo is in St. Paul, roughly 8 miles from the Minneapolis start line, so the trip you make Friday or Saturday is the opposite direction from the trip you make Sunday morning.
• Bring a photo ID and your race number. Numbers are emailed the week of September 28, about a week out. Have that email saved offline; the RiverCentre lower level is not a place to discover you have no signal.
• Everyone entering the expo floor passes through a security checkpoint with metal detectors. Leave bags and non-essentials behind and add time, especially in the Saturday afternoon crush before the 6:00 P.M. close.
• Your gear-check bag is handed out at packet pickup and it is the only bag accepted. No expo trip means no bag, and your own duffel will be refused.
• Saturday racers (10K and 5K) do get a race-morning option: packets at the State Capitol Grounds from 6:30 A.M. until the start. That option does not extend to Sunday's races.
• The expo is free and open to the public, with 80-plus exhibitors, so plan for crowds rather than a quick in-and-out on Saturday.

August 2026

The published weekend schedule

This is a point-to-point race that runs away from where you will be sleeping. Nearly everything except the start is in St. Paul: the expo, the Saturday races, the finish, and gear reclaim. The marathon starts at 615 S 6th St in downtown Minneapolis, about 8 miles from the Capitol finish, so if you have booked near the finish you must plan the outbound trip Sunday morning. Twin Cities In Motion runs free participant buses for the Marathon, 10 Mile and Half Marathon from St. Paul to the Minneapolis start, then back from the finish to both the Minneapolis start area and downtown St. Paul; departure times had not been published at the time of this check, so confirm them before race weekend rather than assuming a bus will be there when you want it. Every weekend participant also gets free Metro Transit bus and light rail on Sunday, October 4, using the bib or a digital pass, which makes the Green Line a workable backup between the two downtowns. One inconsistency worth resolving directly with the race: the marathon page says gear check is dropped at the Minneapolis start line on race morning in the clear bag from packet pickup, while the TC 10 Mile page says 10 Mile gear check is dropped at the expo and will not be available at the start area on Sunday. Whichever applies to your race, everything is returned at the Capitol and closes at 3:00 P.M. Note also that 2026 is the last early-October edition; the race moves to mid-October starting in 2027.

Getting there

Metro Transit is the spine of this weekend and the race pays for it: every Marathon Weekend participant gets free bus and light rail on race day, redeemable through an online pass or simply by showing your bib. The Green Line is the single most useful piece of infrastructure in the whole logistics puzzle, because it touches both ends of the course, U.S. Bank Stadium Station at the start and Capitol/Rice Street Station at the finish, which means one train line solves the point-to-point problem for spectators and for runners who miss the bus. Driving is the option that goes wrong. The start-line box closes at 4:00 a.m., the course itself shuts to traffic at 6:30 a.m. for the 10 Mile and 7:30 a.m. for the marathon, and roads are closed a block on either side of the route as the field passes. If you must drive across the metro on Sunday, use the freeways: I-94, I-35W and I-35E. One specific trap: the Marion Street exit from eastbound I-94 closes Saturday morning and Sunday, so use Dale Street to reach the Capitol area.

• U.S. Bank Stadium Station (Green and Blue Lines). The station sits essentially on top of the start at 615 S 6th St, which makes it the obvious arrival point for anyone not already downtown. Your bib is your fare. Because the start-line streets close at 4:00 a.m., the train is genuinely the easier way in on Sunday morning, not just the greener one. Confirm Sunday first-train times before you rely on it for a 6:30 a.m. arrival, since that early-morning schedule was not something I could verify.
• Nicollet Mall Station (Green and Blue Lines). The downtown Minneapolis stop for hotels on the western side of the core, and a useful spectator staging point given the 2026 route runs Marquette Avenue, 12th Street and Hennepin Avenue near here. If you are staying around Nicollet, walk or ride to the start early rather than trying to cross the course after 7:30 a.m.
• Government Plaza Station (Green and Blue Lines). One stop west of U.S. Bank Stadium and inside the same closure footprint. It is a fine alternative if the stadium platform is jammed at 7 a.m., and it puts you a short walk from the start corrals. Same free-fare rules apply.
• Capitol/Rice Street Station (Green Line). This is the finish-line station and your ride back to Minneapolis if you would rather not wait for a bus. Gear check is at the Capitol grounds and closes at 3:00 p.m., so collect your bag before you head for the platform. Expect the train to be full of runners for a couple of hours after noon.
• Union Depot (St. Paul). The eastern terminus of the Green Line and the natural hub if you are based in Lowertown. It is about 1.5 miles from the Capitol finish, so you can ride two stops or walk it if your legs cooperate. TCM's post-race participant buses also run from the finish to downtown St. Paul, which lands you in this general area.
• Free participant buses. Marathon, 10 Mile and Half Marathon runners ride free buses from St. Paul to the start in the morning, and from the finish back to both the Minneapolis start area and downtown St. Paul afterward. Buses run roughly every 10 minutes or when full, and the morning drop is on 6th Street between 10th and 11th Avenue South, a short walk from the corrals. Departure times and St. Paul boarding points for 2026 had not been posted when I researched this, so check tcmevents.org in the last two weeks before the race.
• Race parking: Centennial ramps and St. Paul College. Free parking for participants and spectators is offered in the Centennial ramps (Orange, Green, Blue, Purple) near the Capitol and in the St. Paul College lots, reached from Concordia Avenue, Marshall Avenue or the Dale Street exit off I-94, first come first served. Green, Blue and Purple have a 6 foot 4 inch height limit; Orange does not. SpotHero is offered for advance reservations near the Minneapolis start. If you park in downtown Minneapolis ramps, get the car in Saturday night, because the streets around the start are gone by 4:00 a.m.
• Dinner the night before. Hell's Kitchen, 80 South 9th Street in downtown Minneapolis, is open until 10 p.m. on Saturday and is a walkable ten minutes or so from both the start line and the Depot host hotels. It is a basement dining room known for breakfast, which is exactly the point: you can eat a large, unfussy, carbohydrate-forward dinner there Saturday and then come back Monday morning to eat it again as a reward.

Parking near the course endpoints

These are mapped garages near the course, not a promise of race-day access. Check closures and pre-booking rules with the organizer.

• Centennial Parking Ramp6 minute modeled walk to finish
• 14th Street Parking Ramp9 minute modeled walk to finish
• World Trade Center Ramp9 minute modeled walk to finish
• Gold Ramp11 minute modeled walk to finish
• Robert Street Municipal Parking Ramp11 minute modeled walk to finish
• West Patient/Visitor Parking11 minute modeled walk to finish
• Blue Ramp12 minute modeled walk to finish
• Lawson Commons Ramp12 minute modeled walk to finish
• Treasure Island Center12 minute modeled walk to finish
• RiverCentre Ramp13 minute modeled walk to finish

Published entry tiers

Checked 2026-08-26; fees and tiers can change.