First, the good: The marathon course provides a great view of Milwaukee and its neighborhoods. Since it's not a massive field, it's easy for spectators to find the runners they came out to see.

Unfortunately, the most important aspect of the marathon was wrong. For the second year in a row, the course was the wrong length, this year coming up short by more than a half mile. This would have otherwise been a great experience for my first marathon, but the incorrectly measured course tarnished an otherwise worthwhile event. In the future, I think they should keep this to a half marathon until they can figure out how to properly ensure the marathon is the correct distance.