This was my first time running any of the big six marathons, boy was this little Maui boy in for an eye opening experience. I feel like this race was so great that I will forever be let down when I run other races.

Expo: This was by far one of the biggest expos that I've been to save Honolulu. It was so well organized, which is had to be with so many runners. We got an email with our bib number and a QR code, which was even Apple Passbook capable. So when I got to the first station I scanned my code from my phone that checked me in a gave me a station number. At my station my name and bib number were already in cue making it easy for them to give me my bib. Next we walked all the way through the expo to the end where our swag bags and finisher shirts were. They scanned our code again and made sure we got the correct shirt. Then there were all the different vendors including but not limited to Nike, Fleet Feet, Aftershokz, Nuun, and so so many more! Tons and tons of swag in the bags for us!

Race morning: Getting to the race start was pretty overwhelming. I have to enter through a specific gate in order to get to my corral. Then go through a security checkpoint where they check your bags, and then still another checkpoint at the gates to my corral to make sure I had the matching letter on my bib. The MC did a great job keeping the crowd moving and entertained as we made our way up to the start. The race started on time and was very prompt form corral to corral.

Race: It's really difficult to recall all the different roads and neighborhoods that we went through for me not being a Chicago native. You can get a more detailed and specific description of the course on their website. The things that stuck out the most for me were how flat the course. The only real hills were going up over bridges or under an underpass, except for in the final .2 miles there is on pretty steep hill. I thought that it wasn't terrible because the crowd was raging loud enough to push you up the hill. The course went all around that city so there were parks with beautiful fall colored trees, residential areas, and through big cityscapes. Absolutely breathtaking!

Aid Stations: each aid station was about a block long. They don't mess around here! The first half was all Gatorade and the second half was water. There was an aid station that had Power Gels in many different flavors that they passed out, some with caffeine and some without. Then towards the ladder end of the race there were three different aid stations with bananas.

Parking/Access: it was a very accessible race location. I didn't have a car so I cannot say how the parking was like but the buses, trains, and taxis made it very easy to go to and from the race. I will note because this is probably one of the biggest faults of the race is that to leave the finisher chute you have to walk down a flights of stairs. I'm sure everyone complains about this, I didn't find them terrible at all. I mainly just wanted to mention so they future runners would know to expect that.

An extra fun fact is that there were Nike Run Club pacers who were perfectly on time! Something to keep in mind is that if you need someone to run with then they will be there for you. I think this is one of the best races I have ever done so I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to have a fun Marathon!