I arrived in a humid Honolulu from a snowy freezing Colorado about 12 hours before the race. So I wasn't doing myself any favors there. The altitude helped but the humidity was a bit of a shock to the system. Upon arrival I went straight to the massive beautiful expo hall, only to be disappointed at the quality of the expo. The race gear was cool but vendors and atmosphere was lacking big time, however this may have been since I came at the very end due to my flight. The race morning was awesome, it seemed like there were a million people, most of which were Japanese, and there were a lot of signs and directions in Japanese, making it easy to navigate around, if you could read Japanese. the start wasn't corralled at all, so you had to fend for yourself and push to get up to the front if you wanted to get a good start. All in all it was a cool race with lots of people in a beautiful place. The race starts at 5am due to the humidity, so you really don't see beautiful scenery until the sun comes up and are on your way up diamond head. Aid stations were great, I would know, I hit every one to try to keep hydrated. And the highlight.. post-race MALASADAS!!! amazing.

I had the opportunity to run the Chicago Marathon as a member of the Nike Pace Team. Chicago is the second biggest marathon so I wanted to check it off the list either way. It didn't disappoint. The city is amazing and the crowd energy is Epic! I stayed at the Westin on Michigan Ave which is about a Mile away from Grant park where the race begins and ends. Great walk to and from the race. The expo is further, so public transit is a must, or via Uber. To and from airport by way of the L Train. I would highly recommend doing Chicago at least once. You won't be disappointed.
Pros:
- Beautiful City
- Flat Course for fast running
- Sponsored by NIKE (Nike Pace teams available)
- Crowd energy is amazing, Lots of scenery along the course
- Aid stations and medical staff at every turn

Cons:
- Parking (foget'abow'it)
- Buildings downtown create a wind tunnel, you can get slammed by unexpected gusts
- Metal grates on bridges are not ideal to run on
- So many people that you are crowded in at times (but always have someone to run with)