A few stats from the pre-race announcer: there are 4000 runners across all the events. They come from 41 states and 3 countries, “truly making this an international event.”
The marathon is supposed to start at 7; the half at 7:12 am. How they arrived at a 12 minute split in start times is never disclosed. Trade secrets I suppose. However, there was a further delay in closing the course to traffic so it would be open to us. We weren’t hugely delayed, just five or ten minutes, but it was a frustratingly airline-ish repetition of “just one more minute… just holding for another minute… still holding, just a minute.”
It was a beautiful day though. Not too chilly at the start (I didn’t even bring my space blanket and gloves). Honestly, later in the race I kinda regretted having a long sleeve shirt on. But we had clear skies, sun, and a supportive race crew.
It was dark at the arrival, wherein I got lost and opted to pay the $5 parking fee rather than seek out street parking that was who knows how far away. The lot was in an open field and I wasn’t sure what landmark I could use to find my car post-race. A giant tree was my best guess:
The sunrise over Lake Michigan was beautiful though.
As the race began, we trudged along on our own for several miles. Marathoners met up with the halfers around mile 4 through 9 and it required a bit of Millennium Falconing.
But after the split, it was, as another runner said to me, like a bomb had gone off and the walking dead were all we had left. Wide open, empty roads and paths through parks, industrial districts, and the odd bike trail.
There were still the helpful aid station volunteers and a smattering of hardy supporters but overall there was much more of the loneliness of the long distance runner vibe… and as that fellow runner said, it felt of a post-apocalyptic landscape wherein the population wasn’t decimated (as that would technically only be a 10% decline) but it was wiped out en masse and only a handful of us remained.
The biggest criticism I could lodge is that the turnaround at mile 19.5 was poorly marked. There was a spray painted arrow on the bike path but MANY runners hadn’t seen it and there was no volunteer directing us to turn around. A lot of us ran right past it, looking for someone to tell us we had reached the turnaround. I was lucky enough to have a lot of faster runners come back toward me saying we had missed the turnaround. As a result, I probably only did an extra quarter to half mile whereas the speedsters ahead of me probably added a mile or more to their “marathon.” These things happen and I was nonchalant about it; had I been shooting for a PR or BQ though I could see myself raging.
Heading back to where we started, we ran along a glistening Lake Michigan. At some point a fish jumped out of the water and kersplashed back in, sounding like a brick had been thrown nearby. I’m sure the few spectators around had a chuckle as I momentarily flailed about like a fish myself trying to source where the sound had come from.
And that’s how it ended – not with a bang, but with a splash. I grabbed a few cookies, some chocolate milk, and wandered over to check my results. I don’t think I earned the 3rd place in my age group as I assume some faster runners got detoured by the unmarked turnaround. And yet my position stats seemed fairly consistent at split times. So I took the medal. I regret it, I don’t feel good about it, but I did it.
I had a free root beer realizing I’m not a fan of root beer. I skipped the complimentary Coors Light as I’m not a fan of piss-poor beer either. ZING! Honestly I was perhaps most saddened to see the sign telling me kids born today in 1995 were 21. That felt like a punch to the gut followed by several kicks to my writhing on the ground fetal position soul.
As for the race itself, it’s fine. Nothing that made me rant or rave. It was what I did today. A solid run, a good time, a beautiful day to be out and about. No complaints really, even with the detour.
I headed to the airport and splashed soap and water on my face to get a bit of the crusty salt off me. I dunno — maybe I shouldn’t ever wash my hair as I feel like post-Run I was having a pretty good hair day!
One other note – I dug the MKE airport vibe as okay security they had this sign posted:
Winging my way back to LAX, I’m feeling mostly ok post marathon. I’m hopeful that’s a harbinger of next week as I pack in a multi-day series with Mainly Marathons.