This was my 4th half marathon of 2008, and by far my favorite. I thought the organization was amazing, and everyone knew exactly where to go and when at all times. The start time at 6:30 was my first race that started in daylight, which was interesting, as I love part of the run usually being watching the sun come up. It was also my first “warm weather” run, but it the temps were relatively mild, so it was nice.

The crowds were pretty steady along the entire course, which was fun and motivating-even if they didn’t cheer that much and weren’t that loud. Just seeing people lined up was fun. I loved running through the city, but I ran in my Vibrams, and going over the SPIKED drawbridges was a bit rough on my feet. Not a huge negative, as I could easily jump up on the sidewalk for the part going over the bridge and then jump back down into the street. I LOVED the wave start. They were very strict about which corral you were assigned too, and started each corral 2 minutes apart. That was my first experience was that, and it was fantastic because you didn’t spend the first mile running and tripping over everyone running on top of each other. Right from the beginning you were spread out enough to run your own race. At all water/drink stations they lined BOTH sides of the streets-another HUGE plus. There was no bottle necking at the water stops, and you could easily decided which side was the best to stop at and get your water and go. I DID NOT like that they official race drink was Cytomax…it was super sweet and make me a little sick to my stomach after the second one, so I stuck with water the rest of the way. The wet sponges twice were great, as it was starting to warm up quickly…however, I wish they would tell the volunteers (as much as we appreciate what they do) not to throw water out on us as we pass. It was not a spray or a mist…they would soak up a sponge and then throw out the water as they squeezed it. Running in soaking wet shoes and also trying to protect my Garmin was a little annoying. The first half of the race was through the heart of the city and the Miracle Mile, and then headed south, around the stadium where the White Sox play. The tunnels were very fun to run in…they were totally dark and everyone would cheer as we went through. The loop back up was nothing short of breath-taking. It was along the riverwalk, right next to the water..so you got the breeze off the water, the view of the Chicago skyline from a good distance and it was as flat a course as I have ever run. BIG DOWNFALL..it completely bottlenecked a the beginning of the path, and then the last 4 miles were on a very narrow path. While some people were tiring out, others were trying to go faster, but it was very hard to navigate around people and through crowds of people. Some people were running at the same pace, and taking up the entire path, so it was very hard to get around them. One girl just came to a complete stop and then turned perpindicular to the path and started stretching – taking up at least 75% of the course. The mile markers were also a bit off. My garmin watch said they were about a half mile off, and the guy running behind me was talking about it as well. Somewhere between mile 7 and 8 it was an extra .5. Then we passed mile 13, and everyone thought we were done at a tent off in the distance that would have easily been the last .1 mile, and as we got closer, we realized you had to turn on the path, go down and under a bridge and then down a street to the finish line. When I got done my garmin said 13.64 for the distance, and we met a bunch of people stretching in the grass afterwards that all said the same thing-it was definitely longer than 13.1. Everyone had varying lengths (depending on how wide you took turns, etc), but all of us had between 13.5-13.7 as total distance, which was a little frustrating for your time. I set my watch to tell me the time at 13.1 and I was still a good distance from where they had the finish line.

The medals were my favorite yet, the shirt is my favorite of any race yet, and the photographers were all very good about getting everyones picture when they finished. The pre race expo was fantastic, and I purchased WAY too many things, and after the race hanging out in Grant Park with the bands and all the runners was so much fun. The traffic control was excellent and there were enough porta potties for the entire city of Chicago! It was so nice not to have to wait in a line before the race started! I loved this race and will definitely do it again.