I signed up for this race based on weather and as a tune-up for my marathon. I was a little disappointed to find out the Packet Pick Up was at Navy Pier. When will races realize that Navy Pier SUCKS for packet pick up.?!??!?!?!?!??!

Once I FINALLY reached the end of the pier, I got my packet with ease and cruised the very small expo. Nothing to brag about. Boogied out of there as soon as I could.

Luckily a crew of FFRacing folks carpooled down to the race on Sunday AM. Matt had signed up for the VIP Parking, etc. Parking was suppose to open at 5:30am and it was 10 minutes late. Which was kind of frustrating!

Since this was my first race on the south side, I was happy with the set up for the most part. There were enough potties for before the race. I liked that the race was divided up in to Corrals. I was lucky enough to be placed in D. However, they weren't very strict on checking bibs for the letter that corresponded with that particular corral. There were several ladies in my D Corral who had J-K-L Corral bibs. Hate that.

The course weaves through the park and heads north on Lake Shore Drive to 31st Street and back. (Shout out to Bib Rave for being present at 51st Street? is that right??). The time spent on Lake Shore Drive was quite boring and not shaded. The surface also took a toll on my quads (still feeling them 2 days later!!). Aid stations were mediocre - volunteers weren't fast enough with the cup giving out. Also for the water they used PLASTIC cups. SO DUMB. I hate breaking the cups to try to drink out of them.

There were more spectators that I expected, so that was a plus. The finish line area was large enough for the flow of people from what I could see. The medal was great! It was also cool that you could earn 26.2 or a 39.3 medal for completing a series of races.

Loved having the Fleet Feet tent in the post-race party. Such a great perk to being on the FF Racing Team or CES.

Immediately post-race, I wasn't excited about having Lou Malnati's pizza but it tasted pretty good a few minutes after!

Leaving the race was a nightmare as the Bears were playing at noon. We had to head over to 90/94 to get out of the south side!