Date: September 28, 2013
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Finish Time: 1:34:18
Pace: 7:11 min/mi
I've been to Milwaukee twice in my life. Both times were for very short stays, once for a job interview, and once for a race. A few weekends ago I was in Milwaukee racing in state number 5 on my quest to 50. In case you didn't see, I'm documenting all my races here, and will soon be adding notes about the other races. Without further ado, here is Milwaukee!
Last year in Detroit I was introduced to a guy who was working with Janel. His name is Mason and we became friends, mostly because we have similar humor and tastes in music, but also because we're just cool people. Oh, and we also became regulars at a dive bar in Detroit called Jumbo's. Anytime you can become regulars at a dive bar in Detroit you must be doing something right.
Anyway, this summer, Mason moved to Milwaukee, the place he was living before he moved to Detroit. His knowledge of Milwaukee is impressive to someone who knows nothing about Milwaukee, so I knew it would be a really fun trip seeing and experiencing things that aren't in the guidebook.
I drove to Milwaukee from Ann Arbor on Friday. The drive is long and a little boring, except for the part where you go through Chicago. Lots of people are really frustrated when they get stuck in Chicago traffic, and I too spent an hour of my life that I'll never get back on the Dan Ryan, but I always kind of enjoy driving through Chicago. Stopped on the highway you can get a great view of the skyline and the city. I always see something different every time, and the people watching is great.
At any rate, I made it to Milwaukee right around 4 pm and arrived at Mason's, where I was greeted with curbside service and a smile from my friend. He showed me to his place, a nice apartment in the Riverwest neighborhood, a friendly, hipsterish place. There were interesting things to see on the street and nice little lots for residential living. Bars and stores littered the outskirts and Mason was thrilled to show me around.
He and his girlfriend made me pasta so I could carb-up for the race. And when I say 'made pasta' I mean they made pasta. Like, for real. They actually made the ravioli and the noodles and we ate like champions. As they said, once you have homemade pasta there is no going back. Seriously, go eat some now and then come back and finish this.
Okay good.
Knowing it was an early morning, we went home and slept to prepare for the next day. 5:30 came early, but I benefited from the hour time difference. We drove over to Miller Park and found the starting line and a good place to meet afterward. I could tell immediately that the race was going to be a bit smaller than I was used to. Milwaukee's main marathon event was the following weekend and runs along the lakeshore. This race took place on the south side, a notoriously smelly, industrial part of the city. However, the lakeshore race regularly sells out, so the Brewers saw an opportunity to give more racers a chance, and thus started the mini half-marathon. I'm not sure where the name mini half came from, its still a full half-marathon. Perhaps because the longest distance is ONLY the half?
I was surprised to find that I was towards the front of the pack when I lined up. My corral letter was 'D' (for David), but I found that the corrals were quite small and I was very close to the starting line. This was based on expected time of finish, and while I never thought I'd win a race, the thought crossed my mind today.
A few highlights from the race:
-The race started 10 minutes late to allow for late arrivals. This I'm told is a 'very Milwaukee thing to do.' I assume that means Milwaukeeans are friendly
-Because the race started late, I didn't plan accordingly and had to take my first ever bathroom stop on a race. I used a port-a-potty near mile 1. This was a great decision to make.
-The race was smelly due to a pheonomeon I learned was called 'South-sidedness', but I was running and didn't really care
-I saw a lot of interesting things in Milwaukee, but overall it was a fairly industrial run. I did enjoy the Miller factory area and the 6th street bridge.
-Part of the last mile was spent running inside the Brewer's ballpark. This was awesome as the stands were filled with people cheering and my face was on the megatron
-I finished just two minutes shy of my personal best time that I set in Toledo. It was a pretty good race.
Because the race started at 7 and I ran it in an hour and a half, it was only 9 o'clock when we left the stadium. Basically, Mason thought this race would take a long time and then realized that we actually had the entire day to see Milwaukee. Gleeful is the best word I can think to describe his mood.
I showered and ate, telling Mason that for most of the day I'd probably say things like, 'I'm hungry,' or 'I could eat.' We ate some food and played a game while chatting and waiting for his favorite mexican restaurant to open.
Turns out the restaurant was at the end of the 6th street bridge that I ran over. The restaurant was a divey place, dark and cold, but delicious. I had three enchiladas and a margarita, Mason had three tacos and a beer. Our total bill was $15. This is partly because they serve you on paper plates, but who cares. It was so good and so cheap.
Mason took me to the lakefront where I snapped the only 5 pictures I took in Milwaukee. 5 pictures! Really?! Wow. Anyway, here's one of them.
The rest of the night we spent with some of his friends in Milwaukee, watching football and drinking beer. We ate brats. We ate cheese. I got sick from running 13 miles, not drinking enough water, eating brats, cheese, and mexican food, and drinking mostly delicious Milwaukee beers. But that is not something your body is going to enjoy.
At any rate, we had a fun time in the city. I think I got a truly Milwaukeean experience. We went to an amazing breakfast place on Sunday morning, where I'm pretty confident I had the best eggs benedict I've ever had. I drove home with a much quicker trip through Chicago on a Sunday morning, and found myself home reading before I could reflect on the trip.
Milwaukee was a good time. I like the city. It seems that I never spend quite enough time there. Perhaps I feel like it isn't different enough from what I'm used to. That if you changed all the license plates to Michigan plates I would feel like I'm at home. Maybe that's just the hospitality of the Milwaukeean. Whatever it is, I'd like to visit again. State number 5 may have been the best race experience so far, and that's really saying something.
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