Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon: The Aftermath

The story continues from here.

After I crossed the finish line, the race director Scott, who I'd met at the elite meeting, told me he'd see me at 12:15 at the awards with a check!  One of the volunteers gave me the choice of a heat sheet or jacket, and I thought they were giving jackets to everyone until I saw that it said "top finisher" on it and that only 5 others had one.

I was photographed by the race officials and made my way though the chute to find my honorary coach Christian.  I know it's difficult to watch a marathon you were supposed to run, so my heart really went out to her, and she was such a great help with driving to the start, carrying my bag, taking pictures, etc. - not to mention exceptionally fun to vacation with!

Scott, the race director, was AWESOME

Top 5 (from left to right 2, 3, 4, 5, 1)

The awards ceremony began with the top 5 overall females, and when I was on the stage they told me not to leave because they'd be calling me back up for masters.  When they were announcing masters and got to me, they said something like, "Even though Sara was also in the top 5 overall, the judges also decided to give her 1st masters" (typically top finishers are taken out of masters, or alternatively given the best monetary award out of the two, which in this case was 3rd overall).  I'm not sure who these judges are, but I like them!  This race was also the Wisconsin RRCA State Marathon Championships, so I got another award for winning masters in that.  The Wisconsin resident awards were cuter, but the judges didn't give this Missouri girl that one, hah!  Also, fun fact - the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon and I are both 40!

Top 3 masters

I learn things from every marathon, and my big take-away from this one is that if the weather is poor, I should use my watch early on instead of running by feel.  I went out at an effort that felt sustainable for 26.2 miles, and in hindsight my early pace was about what I think I could do in great weather.  Clearly, it was not the correct pace for this race, and had I been watching my splits I would have known that and dialed it back.  Alternatively, I could have gone out at 50k effort and probably fared well.  It's been a very long time since I've run a warm marathon (since Heart of America 2010, I believe), but I will be more prepared to execute it well when it happens again.  On the other hand, I think I'd have overheated either way in this race, and I struggle with negative splitting anything in warm temps, so I'm not sure if I'd have run much faster with a more conservative start under the circumstances.  I'm proud that I put myself in there with the female field and wasn't scared to go out to try to win the thing, even though I was unable to.  I am pumped that I set the masters course record.  My time was 8-10 minutes slower than I think I could do in good conditions, which isn't terrible considering the weather, but the way I ran it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  

This is the year to not worry about times, though!  We don't know for sure when the 2024 OTQ window will open yet, but we do know it's not mimicking past cycles (if it was, it would have opened last month).  If it opens next fall and the time is potentially achievable for me (e.g., not something like 2:38), that will be the time to worry about times!  I would love to PR in the meantime, but I also know it's not going to happen in 70 degree weather so had no expectations for it in this race, though my training cycle was very similar to what I ran before Indy 2019 so under different circumstances I'd have had bigger time goals.  But, I can't wait to do 26.2 again...and as per usual, I think I have a faster one in me, God-willing!

Racecation details are here.

Stuff

Lake Michigan

This doesn't adequately depict my
level of soaked-ness

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