Frigid temperatures, possibly snowy ground and — like the 1993 Bill Murray movie — the feeling of repeating yourself over and over await at western Michigan’s Groundhog Marathon and Half Marathon, which makes its 12th annual run on the weekend of Groundhog Day 2023.
The race takes runners through Millennium Park, which lies a short drive from downtown Grand Rapids and, when completed, will feature 20 miles of trails and reclaim some 1,500 once heavily used land for public recreation, which will one day make it about twice the size of New York City’s Central Park.
Runners — and walkers, the race is open to both — start the course in the Meadows just inside the eastern edge of the park, east of Maynard Avenue. From there, the course heads east along the Kent Trail to the Fred Meijer Millennium Trail, a newer paved trail that circles the park.
The course parallels Butterworth in the middle couple of miles and then turns left at the loop, starting a stretch that will head south into the park. There will be a stretch of crushed limestone trail in this section, which will later turn left again, bringing runners all the way back to the starting line area.
