General Info
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Price: $124 total for the full marathon (2023)
Date I ran it: 10/1/23
Participants: 1419 (2023)
Weather: Between 65 and 78 degrees, humid and partially cloudy (2023)
Overall Opinion:
This was by far the most scenic race that I've ever done. I wish I would have been able to take more on-course photos. I'd been to Milwaukee before but I never realized how picturesque it is. The course goes over the Hoan bridge twice. It's massive and there's great views of Lake Michigan, the city, and the shoreline. The course also goes through downtown Milwaukee, some nice historic neighborhoods, a forest preserve, and some natural areas. It's my favorite course that I've ever run.
It was a great marathon but there were a few aspects that I didn't like. It's not a fast course. The Hoan bridge offers fantastic views but it's huge and steep. Almost four miles of the race are on the bridge and there's no shade. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but runners tend to be obsessed with their times and there's a lot of flat fast marathons in the region. It's also prone to hot and humid weather since it's at the beginning of October. The last few miles were a grind. I loved the race but I couldn't stop obsessing about what time I would have ran at a different marathon such as Indianapolis (it's flat and usually has good running weather). It also had some small logistical issues that I'll go over below.
Pros
- It’s a great course with nice scenery. It also has nice variety, there’s forest preserves, nice neighborhoods, lakefront trails, etc.
- You get to explore a lot of Milwaukee, it’s not just along the lakefront.
- They have a morning packet pickup option.
- There’s a perfect mix of crowd support and peace.
- There were plenty of stations with water, Gatorade and gels. The volunteers were great.
- All the neighborhoods on the course are nice (unlike Indianapolis).
- Everyone was friendly, it had a nice vibe.
- Most of the course was wide and uncrowded. I didn’t have to zig-zag around people (unlike Chicago).
- There’s an indoor starting area (convention center) with indoor bathrooms and room to stretch and warm up.
- It’s cheap. It was about half the price of the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Hotels were reasonably priced as well.
- The whole event was well organized. The packet pickup, website, emails, shuttles, all of that stuff was nice and organized.
- Milwaukee is a great city. It’s a good place to spend a few days vacationing if you have some extra time.
Cons
- It requires taking a shuttle. There's a shuttle from the free parking lot to the start line and a shuttle from the finish line to the start line. The finish line and the start line are over a mile apart. It’s a short shuttle ride but I’m not a fan of shuttles, especially in the morning. It stresses me out, I’d rather just park and walk to the start line.
- There was a lack of bathrooms/porta potties. Even though the starting area was at the convention center with indoor bathrooms, there was still a line. The porta potties outside the convention center also had a line. Most of the on-course porta potties had a line.
- It’s not flat like most marathons in the region. The Hoan bridge is long and steep and you go over it twice. It has no shade. It wasn’t too bad, but it definitely slowed down my time.
- The weather at the beginning of October in Milwaukee is often hot and humid.
- The finishing area felt secluded. There also wasn’t a good area to cool down and stretch, it was all concrete without much shade.
- I’m not a huge fan of the shirt and medal, they look kind of dated.
