Disclaimer: I ran the Madison Marathon as a BibRave Pro, which means my race entry fee was covered in exchange for social media promotion and reviewing the race!

I was excited to run Madison Marathon in 2018. I knew from friends that the course would be challenging, and that the weather in November in Wisconsin would be cool. The 2018 race proved to be both!

While my time was not the greatest, I did enjoy this race.

Logistics: My family and I stayed at the Hyatt Place hotel, which was a short walk to the start/finish area. Everything was very well organized and easy to get to. I should say that I went to college at UW Madison so am very familiar with Madison. My family was able to see me in several different spots along the course and they said this was not challenging to do. I loved that the start and finish were at the same place, the capitol. This made race morning very easy to deal with.

Expo: The expo packet pickup was the day before, located in the Monona Terrace. The expo was easy to navigate and did not feel as crammed as expos usually feel. The race had a banner for all expo attendees to sign and thank a veteran. My kids and I had a great time with that.

T-Shirts/SWAG: I love the t-shirts. They are a soft cotton long sleeve black shirt with a very cool graphic design on the front. They fit beautifully. The medals also are really nice - this race is doing those puzzle medals - where if you run the race several years in a row, your medals will form a puzzle. The race also does free race photos, which is one of my favorite amenities races can do!

Aid Stations: The aid stations were well placed and well supplied, although I only used them for water cups. It was so cold that the water in cups started freezing! The finish line food was great - bananas, oranges, bottles of water, a Panera lunch, including a sandwich, cookie and bag of chips, and a Michelob Ultra beer. They did a nice job of having plenty of porta potties at the start/finish area.

Course: The course is great, and very challenging. I really liked how they did a figure-8 style course including the arboretum, bike paths, UW Madison campus, Tenney park, Warner Park, and Maple Bluff. There are a LOT of hills. This is a good course to challenge yourself with!

Elevation: The elevation is no joke. Strava showed a 1,240 foot elevation gain over the course.

Race Management: This year was the 24th year of the race. Volunteers were great and the course was well marked. Emails leading up to the race were clear and easy to follow and had good graphics. I thought the course map in particular was nice. I really liked the alignment with Veterans Day. The race gave us "Thank you for your service" buttons to wear and veterans who ran were easily identifiable with a USA flag on their race bib.

Overall, this is a well organized, easy to navigate race experience showcasing a great Midwestern city!