Milwaukee Running Festival Race Recap
This was the inaugural year for the Milwaukee Running Festival. Based around the idea of bringing a multi-distance running event to Milwaukee while showcasing everything that makes Milwaukee unique.
Packet Pick-Up was held at the Harley Davidson Museum on Saturday. Also on Saturday, there was a Milwaukee Miler and a Kid's Dash. The expo had a decent amount of vendors including Brew City Brand Apparel, which made the official MKE Running Festival gear. There was a large variety of shirts (men, women, and unisex), mugs, stickers, hats, etc. I picked up a crew neck sweatshirt and a 13.1 sticker for my car. (Yes, I'm one of those people who has stickers all over my car.)
Runners got a long sleeved gender-specific shirt. I love the design but the sleeves are super short, hitting about my mid-forearm. Not that I wear race shirts anyways.
I volunteered at Packet Pick-Up and had so much fun talking to people! Everyone seemed very excited about the event. Just a little PSA: if you are picking up your packet and the volunteer can't find it right away, please don't get pissed and snap at them! I had one woman get SO MAD at me and it turned out that she had spelled her last name wrong. This is NOT that serious.
After having dinner and stalking the weather forecast as I do, I got my Flat Laura Instagram-ready. I was ready to take my Oiselle KG Tights out on their maiden voyage (very comfortable to wear, perfect choice given the weather conditions!) and charged up all my electronics. I have been religiously using my
Plantronics BackBeat Fit headphones since I got them - never going back to cords!
It was chilly the morning of the race but warmed up very nicely, especially in the parts of the route that had full sun., which was a very decent amount of it, especially as it got to be later in the morning. It was still breezy next to the lake for the first few miles, which was awesome!
It's hard to remember sometimes what a beautiful city Milwaukee is! I had many such thoughts as I ran on the lakefront, through Lake Park, down Brady Street, down 2nd Street and through Downtown, then heading back to the Summerfest grounds.
Milwaukee, you're pretty okay :)
Aid stations were very frequent and had both water and NUUN available at all of them. There were lots of people (and their dogs!) cheering the runners on throughout the course.
Sheila, Annie, and I with our finisher medals!
After crossing the finish line, everyone got their medals, a banana, water, chocolate milk, and some cookies.
There was supposed to be food in the Post-Race party for the runners (or at least that's what I assume, since there was a tear tag on our bibs) but there weren't any tables with food that was signed, anyways. There was a tent with NUUN representatives giving out samples as well as a table with Anodyne Coffee Roasters, but you had to pay extra for coffee.
The finish party was pretty bare and very cramped in the area to the west of the mid-gate entrance to Summeriest. The birds and I stayed to watch the elite men and women finish the marathon and then B and I headed home, since I had an exam to study for.
Looks like we were at an apple festival!
Arthur was so happy to see me...and he likes to wear the medal, too!
This was my last half marathon of the year and I was happy with my time as well as how I felt during the race! All this year I've been dealing with persistent knee pain once I hit mile 8-9 in every half I've done, so I'm going to take the winter to cross train and do a couple 5K's, then try to PR a sub-2:00 half next year!
Free photos courtesy of the Milk Marketing Board!
Still not drinking milk, sorry!
All in all, I loved this race and can't wait to do it again next year!
Pros:
- free race photos (courtesy of the Milk Marketing Board)
- great course showcasing the city of Milwaukee
- aid stations were numerous and pretty well spaced out, for the most part
- all finishers get a medal
- local companies were partnered with - Brew City Apparel, Anodyne Coffee
- parking was easy and not expensive ($5 at the ICC)
- registration was available at the expo
- runners could exchange their shirt for a different size at the expo
- the Facebook and Twitter accounts were very involved - answering questions and sharing info on social media ramping up to the event
Cons:
- no beer at the finish party (something fell through with the liquor license - super disappointing!) Sprecher offered free tours that day until 3 pm for participants, but the last thing I wanted to do was go on a brewery tour after running 13.1 miles
- finish party kind of looked like a lackluster tailgate - nothing to really motivate people to stick around
- the first aid station was kind of far, about mile 2.5 - should probably be slightly closer, especially for those who need to use a port-a-potty
- MORE PORT-A-POTTIES AT THE START LINE
- corralled start line - people just put themselves wherever and it was a little chaotic
- clearly signed food for the runners - don't give us a tag on our bib and then not have any food!
- the medals did not have the distance on them - I heard a lot of runners (especially the marathoners) mention that
I realize it was the first year and inaugural events always have some kinks that need to be ironed out. I'll happily run it next year!
As long as there's beer.
Check out my review on
BibRave!