I ran this race last year, had a great time, so I signed up again this year. After I signed up, the race changed management and names from the PNC Milwaukee Running Festival to the PNC Milwaukee Marathon.

Parking: A big deal was made about parking on social media before the race. I did not choose any of the pre-pay/reserved options that were available as I assumed that I would be able to find a street spot on a Sunday morning if I left my house early enough. I was not wrong. I easily found a street spot on 2nd Street not far from race start. I had some trouble getting back to my car after the race because of where the course was blocked off but it wasn't terrible.

Expo: I had to take my two young kids to the expo with me and we all had a good time, except it was fairly crowded. The set up was still at the Harley-Davidson museum but in a different building so it seemed better organized than 2016. I still think they could benefit from having more space in the aisles. I thought the variety of vendors was better this year than last.

T-Shirts/SWAG: The finisher shirt is awesome. I typically order a man's small sized shirt because I find that the "women's cut" are always super tiny but not here. I liked the sizing and the design of the shirt. The race also included a Milwaukee Brewing Company beer for all finishers. Last year they had a Coors beer and I was wishing they had included a local brewery so I was super happy to see this change. Great beer vendor!! Finally, the medals for this race were awesome. I really liked the design and that everyone had the same medal with different neck ribbons by color to designate the distance you participated in.

Aid Stations: The aid stations were well placed and well supplied. Volunteers were amazing.

Course: I liked this course a lot. I thought it offered a lot of variation and enough change that you were not bored.

Elevation: There was a bigger hill around mile 5, where Lincoln Memorial Drive turns into Lake Drive. Running west on Wisconsin Avenue is a slight uphill which feels harder because of the placement around mile 10.

Race Management: It seemed to go ok. I would like to see starting corrals by time put into place and I really did not like starting with the finisher chute tables in the way. The starting area was already quite narrow and it didn't help that you had to look out for the tables and that it was still dark at the start. I think the idea of having the start/finish be at the Yards seemed ok except, like last year, if there is any rain in the days leading up to the event (or during the event), the entire post-race party ends up being a giant mud pit. It seemed that the finish line tent areas were sort of half-assed put together; for example, the women's changing tent still had flaps unsecured so during big wind gusts, the flaps would fly open. Gear check was easy to use. The amount of porta potties was adequate. I liked that the food trucks and kids activities were at the finish. Unfortunately, the weather was not conducive to sticking around very long to participate in the post-race party, which is not in the management control. I noticed a lot of photographers along the course and while I haven't seen my photos yet, I know that they are free. I think the free race photos option is always a nice inclusion. One thing I was disappointed in is the time we had to wait for results. At this event last year, there was a results tent where you could get a printout of your results data right after your finished. This was awesome. Official results were not available until early afternoon of race day, by which time I was already home. I would love to seem them bring back the race printout technology that they had in 2016.

Overall, I think this is a great half marathon course!