2011 Registration Opens!

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In this issue 2011 Registration Opens National Running Survey A Little Housekeeping Thanks to Everyone for YOUR Help! Other news Facebook & Twitter Follow us on Facebook via our group and fan page and on Twitter use #mkelfm to post and follow other runners. Unsubscribe Click to instantly unsubscribe from this mailing list. Send to a friend Send this email to someone you think may be interested.

Tuesday January 18, 2011 2011 Registration Opens Well…we told you all that we’d spend the months since the race getting ready for the 2011 race. We have definitely been doing that and will ratchet things up next week with our first planning meeting. The one piece of news that many of you have been waiting for is the opening of registration…set your chrono’s for Friday January 21 as we’ll be open then. As I indicated in my last newsletter, the fee for 2011 will be $75 and that includes the on-line processing fee. Also – registration will be on-line only, no paper forms. To register follow the link on our web site. You will recall that we are making a few significant changes for 2011 * START time has been changed to 7:30AM. This will prevent potential heat-related issues and will mean that the race presents fewer problems for people living and doing business along our course. * The entry limit has been increased from 2750 to 3050 – an additional 300 spaces for runners who plan ahead. We urge any of you (or your formerly unlucky friends) to register now, if you plan to run in 2011. Last year we sold out in mid-April and would expect to sell out very early again this year. We DO try to accommodate you by posting the number of available spaces remaining (some races don’t or don’t even tell you what their limit is, actually…). However, the last few hundred go in a matter of hours – really. * The marathon relay has been discontinued. We know that many people enjoyed the relay and are disappointed by this decision. Please understand that it was not made lightly. We discussed over a period of several years and just had to admit that the relay required resources disproportionate to the number of participants. We’d encourage relay runners to give the marathon a try or to find a great volunteer assignment. * We know that only men really think that “unisex” shirts are truly unisex… Therefore, we have decided to offer shirts sized for both men (unisex) and women. We’ll use RaceReady shirts again in 2011. Please consult the sizing charts on their web site before you register – saves us all a LOT of trouble later. Our 2010 designer – Mike Kasun – has also agreed to design our 2011 shirt – yiiipppeee!! * We will continue to provide special recognition to former winners who run our race. If you are one of our former winners and are considering running LFM in 2011, please contact us directly before you register. Back to top National Running Survey Calling all RUNNERS! What motivates you to run? What is your favorite race distance? How often do you run? You are being invited to participate in Running USA’s 2011 National Runner Survey, a comprehensive survey to assess the demographics, lifestyle, attitudes, habits, and product preferences of the running population nationwide. The National Runner Survey is easy to access and available online. All responses are completely anonymous and confidential. Don’t miss this opportunity to join other runners nationwide! Last year our race participated in this survey. We are participating again in 2011 and ask you to click the link and complete the survey. Select Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon as the organization that invited you to participate. Please note that the link is unique to our race. If you received a link from another race, it would still be very helpful for you to respond to ours. We receive the results of those who respond via OUR link. That allows us to target potential sponsors and to use the data locally – in addition to the post-race survey that many of you also completed. Please note that all responses are confidential. Back to top A Little Housekeeping It is great to see that so many people purchased the 30th Anniversary jacket. Today I saw a runner wearing one at a race – it made me feel so great! (I know - it is the little things.) Due to a couple of order issues, we do find that we have two jackets (now) in inventory – a Men’s Small and Women’s Medium. If you are interested in purchasing either of these please contact us for more information. Other merchandise – In-training shirts, 2010 runner shirts, and Finisher Shirts are available for purchase via the registration site or the form on our web site. Back to top Thanks to Everyone for YOUR Help! Finally, a note of thanks to everyone who responded to our request for help in identifying food providers. Our Food Captain Sherley will be in touch with you soon, if she has not already contacted you. I also want to thank the people who responded to our 2010 call for marketing/media help. I DID think that one of our race captains had followed-up with each of you but now find that that was not always the case... SO sorry and embarrassed. If you are still interested in helping out, please shoot me an e-mail - I promise not to lose track of you. Which reminds me...we could also use a little bit of help in setting up a very simple on-line "store" for merchandise sales. We have no problem sending the merchandise out ourselves to save you the handling fees assessed by third party vendors but there HAS to be an easier way than using mailed order forms or tacking it onto our registration site. If you are interested in helping in any other leadership capacity, also let us know. We always have a few Captain and Coordinator vacancies to fill.

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In this issue 2011 Preview Finisher Shirts Thanks Again... Other news Facebook & Twitter Follow us on Facebook via our group and fan page and on Twitter use #mkelfm to post and follow other runners. Enter title here Enter body content here Unsubscribe Click to instantly unsubscribe from this mailing list. Send to a friend Send this email to someone you think may be interested.

Monday November 15, 2010 2011 Preview Over the last six weeks we have been winding down from the 2010 marathon, taking care of post-race runner questions, and beginning to plan for 2011 (though that actually began quite a bit before the 2010 race…). We really appreciate the time that many of you took to respond to the post-race survey. We look at every single comment to find ways to improve our race – more than 700 of you provided at least one comment and many of you commented on several questions – that is a LOT of input. We were very pleased with your overall rating – 99.6% of you said that you’d recommend the race to a friend. All I can say is WOW and THANKS for your continued support! I do hope that you noticed that our survey company, Events Response, removed the ads on their “landing page” this year. When we explained that we are not really a commercial endeavor, they agreed to do that – thanks so much to them for that! As we begin planning for our October 2, 2011 race, we’d like to make you aware of a couple of significant changes in the race and a couple of other things that we have in mind based upon your comments. Relay and Marathon Entry Limit – After much thought and discussion over the last several years, we have decided that we will no longer offer a relay as part of the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. Since the inception of our race in 1981, our race staff and the Badgerland Striders have focused on the marathon as our primary mission and on making this the best marathon experience that we can. The relay was added many years ago as a secondary event to support the marathon. We have simply gotten to the point where the effort and resources required to maintain the relay are taking away from the marathon. The relay is the equivalent of 100 marathoners - for whom we have a separate busing strategy, have very significant spectator management issues, and accounts for a vastly disproportionate number of questions and issues. Importantly, our post-race survey shows that the relay runners want MORE from us - medals, immediate bus service to the finish and between exchange points, accurate timing of their splits, treatment equal to what we provide the marathoners, etc. We simply are not in a position to meet those expectations. We also received many marathoner comments about the relay - that they believe that it detracts from their experience and that we should drop the relay and simply increase the marathon entry limit. That is exactly what we will do. We will increase our entry limit by 300 to 3050 in 2011 and focus entirely on the marathon. We know that some people will be disappointed but hope that you all understand that we believe that this decision is in the best interest of the race and ask your support. Start Time – Since the heat in 2007, we have discussed a change in our start time from the current 8:00 to 7:30 - and will implement that change in 2011. We believe that this will provide for a safer race should we experience the temperatures we experienced in 2007 and that Chicago experienced in 2007 and 2010. We also believe that this will reduce race-related access issues with homeowners and businesses on our race course. Registration and Fees - For those planning ahead…we expect to open registration for 2011 in late January – we will let you know (in January) when we set the exact date. The 2011 race fee has been set at $75 and will include the on-line registration fee. Registration will be on-line only – we will not be processing paper race forms. And, for those REALLY planning ahead the date for 2012 is October 7. Race Shirts – We received such great feedback on our 2010 shirts and happy to report that 2010 designer Mike Kasun has agreed to return to design our 2011 shirt. We’re still thinking about color choices… Back to the survey…Events Response tells us that we have a higher proportion of female racers than other marathons and many of you have requested gender-specific race shirts. Therefore, in 2011 we have decided to make the plunge to offer both male and female sizing in our race shirts. Do I hear a “Yippee” from the ladies? Finish Area Food – We had a lot of comments from people about the food lines and the quality of the food at the Finish. We will figure out a better way to feed you at the end. What we’d really like to do is to find good sources of pre-packaged items that can be bagged and handed to you in the runners' corral. Believe it or not, it is hard to get 2000+ items when we ask. This is where you can help – please let us know if you know of a good source of pre-packaged items – cheese, dried fruit, salty stuff, meat snacks, etc. One of the runners said in their comments “Tell us what we can do to help.” Well…we could use your help on this. And…we really ARE working on the chocolate milk thing. The Train – Several of you commented on the train delay. Ever since the front runners were delayed by a train more than 25 years ago, we have gone to great lengths to ensure that things like that don’t happen. We contact the railroad several times, double check with them, and promise them sweatshirts… The railroad person in charge was very embarrassed by this glitch and promises that it won’t happen again…we’ll also triple check on this next year. Back to top Finisher Shirts We still have a good selection of the navy blue ¼ zip Finisher shirts, though availability of Women’s Medium is limited. You can order them using the form on the web site . We also have a few 2010 black runner shirts (no women’s XS or S) – the form to order those is also on the web site. And...for those who liked the 2009 shirt we do have some of them available for sale as well. Back to top Thanks Again... This is probably enough news for one e-blast… Have a great holiday season, stay safe on the roads, and thank you all so much for your support!

Race Weekend Approaches!

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In this issue Ready for Race Weekend? Expo & Packet Pick-Up Finish Area Runner Parking Have Your Friends & Family Follow You on Facebook Elite Athlete Technical Meeting Race Weekend Freeway Closures The "Rule of 2000" Runners of Note Other news Facebook & Twitter Follow us on Facebook via our group and fan page and on Twitter use #mkelfm to post and follow other runners. Enter title here Enter body content here Unsubscribe Click to instantly unsubscribe from this mailing list. Send to a friend Send this email to someone you think may be interested.

Saturday September 25, 2010 Ready for Race Weekend? Race weekend is almost here – we can hardly believe that in just a week we will be welcoming all of you to Milwaukee and to the 30th Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. Your race staff has been working very hard to make sure that you can run the best race that your training will support! This is your "almost final" e-blast. You can expect another on Thursday or Friday. Questions... Questions... Lots of you have lots of questions related to packet pick-up, the expo, race rules, the race (of course), etc. We have tried to assemble lots of information to answer those questions on our web site. We hope that you find everything that you need on the Race Weekend and Maps tabs. If you have questions related to you registration – correcting data errors, lost your confirmation e-mail, etc. please contact our Registration Manager directly at LakefrontRegister@gmail.com . If you need to have someone pick up your packet you need to use the Packet Pick-up Form. Please fill out the form as indicated, attach a copy of your photo ID, and give it to the person who is going to pick up your packet. This might be a good time to tell you all a little bit about our race and some of the things that we think contribute to making it special to everyone. First, we are sponsored and owned by the Badgerland Striders Running Club. We have approximately 1600 members and are very active putting on 15-20 races annually. The race is put on by an army of people who have full-time “day jobs” or are lucky to be retired… We have more than 50 Race Captains or Managers and marshall more than 1300 volunteers to assist on race weekend. We think that the fact that we are all runners putting on the type of race we’d like to run is one of the things that makes LFM special. We could not conduct this great race without the support and assistance of our host municipalities. We work closely with their public safety personnel - their greatest concern is the safety of you, the runner. Please be sure to thank the residents and police as you see them and remember that we are guests in their homes. Back to top Expo & Packet Pick-Up In case you don’t have the information handy… packet pick-up and our Health and Fitness Expo will be held at the MSOE Kern Center on Friday from 4-7 and Saturday from 9-6. We have a great line-up of vendors and exhibitors. We will also again have our “Cheer Sign” area to provide a chance for kids to make special signs to support their favorite runner. The Preliminary Expo Seminar Program has been posted on our web site. We hope that you plan your trip to the Expo to take advantage of some of these great presentations. Of special note is our traditional Saturday morning fun run with special guest two-time Olympian Anne Marie Letko. She will lead a run from the Kern Center to the LFM finish and back - about 4 miles. The group will leave the front of the Kern Center at 8AM on Saturday morning. Anne Marie will also speak at the Expo and will be available to meet you at the Jenny Crain Make it Happen booth. Last year you told us that you’d like to see more seminars and technical information so we added a second, smaller seminar area to the Expo. We have invited our Expo vendors to make presentations in this area. We will post the preliminary schedule soon. Back to top Finish Area Runner Parking As you know we strongly encourage you to park near the finish area and take the FREE Runner Shuttle Bus to the start. Last year we had runners park at O’Donnell Park and loaded the buses at the Milwaukee Art Museum. O’Donnell Park is closed due to structural issues. We have secured parking for the runners (paid for by the race) at the Italian Conference Center (ICC) approximately .75 mile from the finish area. We will load the buses to the start on Chicago Street directly in front of the ICC. Take a look at the handy map on the web site for details. As always, the buses to the start are for registered runners ONLY – no spectators. Please note that you will (definitely) not be able to park off of Lagoon Drive or in the War Memorial lot. Please use the parking at the ICC. We will have shuttles going back to the ICC after the race for runners who don’t want to (or can’t) walk that far. Buses to take runners to the start will also leave the Hyatt and the Courtyard by Marriott at 6AM sharp. As with the ICC buses, the hotel buses to the start are for registered runners only. Back to top Have Your Friends & Family Follow You on Facebook This year your friends and family can follow your progress via Facebook. YOU need to set this up on Facebook prior to the race using the link provided . Please follow the instructions provided - they are so easy that even your overloaded RD coulf figure them out :). We will have timing mats at 7 miles, 13.1 miles, 20 miles and the Finish. Back to top Elite Athlete Technical Meeting We have scheduled a special Technical Briefing for Elite Athletes on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 in the small seminar area at the Expo. The briefing will be conducted by Elite Athlete Captain Dan Held, assisted by Race Director Kristine Hinrichs and our USATF Official. The briefing will cover race rules and other logistical issues. If you think that there is any chance that you will compete for prize money, WI USATF Championship, or RRCA National Championship we strongly suggest that you attend. Note that Masters and Grand Masters athletes also compete for these awards. Back to top Race Weekend Freeway Closures WDOT announced last week that a portion of I-894/I-43 in the Milwaukee area will be closed on race weekend. This will not affect most of the runners but may affect you if you come from communities southwest of the Milwaukee area. Information about this closure is available in this article in the JournalSentinel . Also...runners coming from the south should be aware of freeway construction from the WI/IL border through the Mitchell Field area. Back to top The "Rule of 2000" Huh??? Yep – you know the concept… “I know that I shouldn’t be doing this but IT is JUST me and it can’t matter to anyone.” One latte cup left on a resident’s lawn might not be a big deal – 2000 spectators, each dropping a cup IS a big deal. One spectator who thinks that it is cool to follow their runner by car might not cause a problem – 2,000 cars on the course following a runner – chaos. One runner too impatient to use the porta-pottie – 2,000 runners…get the idea? We know that runners are great people and that your friends and families are the greatest in their support for you. However, we would like to remind you to review the Race Rules and Spectator section of the Runners Guide. As we have said before, we get more complaints about the behavior of spectators than any other issue. Please make sure that your spectator is not the one that makes it difficult to get a permit next year, makes it impossible to secure use of a private parking lot, or does something that will result in YOUR disqualification. Back to top Runners of Note We have many special runners who will toe the line on October 3rd – including each of you! However, there are a few that you’ll want to watch for. First, we have assigned #1 to Anne Marie Letko and #2 to Mike Henze member of the US 24 Hour Team who won a bronze medal at the World Championships in May. Mike's performance in that race was nothing short of amazing! We also have several former winners who have come back to help us celebrate our 30th Anniversary. With the exception of Cornia Canitz running with her favorite #4 in honor of her four beautiful daughters, all of the Champions will have red race bibs - their race number represents the year they won the race. We also have three guys who have toed the starting line every single year – James Bahr #38, Duane Tate #39, and Bill Boehm #40. If you see them, give them a high-five. You also might see a guy out there running a bit of the race (he has retired from marathons) wearing #30. That will be Bob Fitts – our original Race Director. Thanks, Bob for setting us on the course from Grafton to Milwaukee. We hope that you like what your baby has grown up to be.

Early September Up-date

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In this issue 30th Anniversary Jackets Race Day Runner Parking - NEW Location Race Day Spectator Parking Relay Changes Pasta Dinner Tickets Still Available Special Guest Anne Marie Letko Have Your Friends & Family Follow You on Facebook A Few More Important Details Other news Facebook & Twitter Follow us on Facebook via our group and fan page and on Twitter use #mkelfm to post and follow other runners. An Army of Volunteers We are in the midst of recruiting the army of 1300 (!!!) volunteers required to put this race on. If you are injured, have decided not to run for other reasons, or have friends or family who'd like to help, we REALLY need you! You can volunteer on-line or can contact Alice directly. Unsubscribe Click to instantly unsubscribe from this mailing list. Send to a friend Send this email to someone you think may be interested.

Thursday September 2, 2010 30th Anniversary Jackets Just a reminder for those of you thinking about ordering the special 30th Anniversary jacket. These jackets are available for pre-order only and will not be sold on race weekend. The deadline to order yours is September 8. Information about the jacket, sizing and cost is available on the LFM web site . If you will be doing the LFM marathon build-up run on Saturday September 4th, Alice will have samples there for you to take a look at. And, Yep – your trusty RD and several of our race staff have already ordered theirs. Back to top Race Day Runner Parking - NEW Location As you know we strongly encourage you to park near the Finish Area and take the FREE Runner Shuttle Bus to the Start. Last year we had runners park at O’Donnell Park and loaded the buses at the Milwaukee Art Museum. O’Donnell Park is closed due to structural issues. We have secured parking for the runners (paid for by the race) at the Italian Conference Center (ICC) approximately .75 mile from the finish area. We will load the buses to the Start on Chicago Street directly in front of the ICC. Take a look at the handy map on the web site for details. As always, the buses to the Start are for registered runners ONLY – no spectators. Please note that you will (definitely) not be able to park off of Lagoon Drive or in the War Memorial lot. Please use the parking at the ICC. We will have shuttles going back to the ICC after the race for runners who don’t want to (or can’t) walk that far. Buses to take runners to the Start will also leave the Hyatt and the Courtyard by Marriott at 6AM sharp. As with the ICC buses, the hotel buses to the Start are for registered runners only. Back to top Race Day Spectator Parking As with runner parking, spectators will not be allowed to park at the War Memorial or off of Lagoon Drive. We suggest that they park in one of the two private structures on Michigan Street between Lincoln Memorial Drive and Cass Street. The location of these structures is noted on the Runner Parking Map . We will have signs directing spectators to the Finish Area via the seawall east of the Milwaukee Art Museum. Speaking of your loving family, friends, and fans… PLEASE, PLEASE have them read the Spectator Section of the Runners Guide. Spectator parking is VERY LIMITED on the course this year and they will have to be prepared to walk a half mile or more to get to the course. They really do need to follow the direction of the police and volunteers and to remember that the parking areas we have secured for their use have been generously donated by private businesses – these generous owners really don’t want to be picking up your spectator’s empty latte cups. Back to top Relay Changes Remember that September 15 is the (really) final deadline to make substitutions to your relay team. Instructions are posted on the LFM web site. Back to top Pasta Dinner Tickets Still Available Pasta??? What would a marathon be without pasta? You want to share pasta, camaraderie, and a good story with other runners? Don’t forget the American Cancer Society DetermiNation Pasta Dinner . The featured speaker this year will be 22 year cancer survivor Darren Fortney. Darrren has completed the Badwater Ultramarathon, Ironman triathlons and many other events to raise funds for cancer research. Register directly with ACS no later than September 24th. Remember – there will be a lot of people in Milwaukee for the Farm Aid concert on Saturday so dinner reservations may be an issue for you. Back to top Special Guest Anne Marie Letko We are pleased to welcome two-time Olympian Anne Marie Letko as our special guest this year. Anne Marie competed in the marathon in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 (10th in 2:31:30), the 5k in Sydney in 2000, and in three World Championships. Anne Marie was also inducted in the Road Runners Club of America Hall of Fame in 2009. As a very special bonus Anne Marie will be running the marathon with the three Foy brothers to raise funds for Jenny Crain. She will host a fun run from the Kern Center (to the LFM Finish and back) on Saturday morning, will speak at the expo, and will be available at the Jenny Crain Make it Happen Booth throughout the weekend to talk to runners. This will be great – we are not aware that an Olympic Marathoner has ever run LFM. Back to top Have Your Friends & Family Follow You on Facebook We are excited to announce that we soon post a link on the LFM site to a Facebook app that your friends and family can download to allow them to follow you (and others) in the race. Stay tuned for details…it will be cool…because we are all really cool here at LFM. We will also add another timing mat at the 7 mile point to provide you with additional feedback after the race and to provide another way-point for people to follow your progress. Back to top A Few More Important Details Runners Guide Thanks for your patience! The 2010 Runners Guide has now been posted on the web site. The Guide includes most of the information that you will need for race weekend. Please take the time to review the information – most of what you need to know is there and it will save those e-mail responses from your trusty RD that begin “As noted in the 2010 Runners Guide…”. Saves me time to work on other important LFM stuff. We always have a few late-breaking issues that we will cover in our Race Weekend Bulletin will be available when you pick up your packet. Expo/Packet Pick-up We do have a nice mix of vendors and informational booths for our health & fitness expo but can always use a few more. If you would be interested in being a part of the Expo this year, contact Pam and she will get right back to you with the details. We also have a nice goodie bag stuffer program that might be a good fit for your business. Pam can tell you about that, too. Farm Aid Speaking of Farm Aid… Don’t forget that the 25th Anniversary edition of Farm Aid will be held at Miller Park in Milwaukee on Saturday October 2nd – 40,000 people filling the stadium, hotels, and restaurants. We don’t know exactly what impact this will have on your pre-race preparations – however, you do need to be aware of the event. If you have not yet booked a hotel room, do so ASAP! Our host hotel blocks have been filled – go to VisitMilwaukee.org for other options.

Special 30th Anniversary Jacket

30th Anniversary Jacket Now Available

As we promised in our last e-blast, we have a special 30th Anniversary Jacket available. This jacket is available for PRE-SALE ONLY on Active.com . Runners will pick them up at the Official Merchandise booth at the Expo. Complete information about the jacket is available on the LFM web site. OK... we do know that the Active.com site is not really set up for merchandise sales... please follow the link and click on "Register Now" to be directed to the ordering information.

Sizing information is on the sale sheet. We also expect to have sample jackets (without the printing) available for inspection at the BLS marathon build-up program - just look for Alice...The deadline for ordering the jackets is September 8, 2010. Note that the $75 and $80 sale prices include Wisconsin sales tax.

Take it from your Race Director - I own more LFM merchandise than anyone will ever need. I am, however, tempted to add this to my inventory - this is a great jacket for winter running and for knocking around in cooler weather.

Again - please note that this is a PRE-SALE item only. We will not be selling them on race weekend.

We do hope that you like the 30th Anniversary logo as much as we do. LFM friend Mike Kasun designed this and othe special logos for the 2010 race. Thanks, Mike!