The Chicagoland Spring Half Marathon (not to be confused with the Chicago Half Marathon) is held in Schaumburg, IL (which is not Chicago) and run both on streets and on paved trail in the Busse Woods Forest Preserve (IL speak for "park"). Unlike the big city races, this is a much smaller, no frills event. One of the draws of these events is the free and easy parking. Schaumburg is about a 40 minute drive from home so my friend and I left about 5:30 and reached Schaumburg a little after 6 AM. We parked the car in a huge lot a couple hundred feet away from the starting line and went off to pick up her race packet. I had mine mailed to me (a nice option) and it had arrived a few days earlier. Same day packet pickup is also really nice and it took just a few minutes to do so. We walked back to the car, sat for a bit to stay warm and then went to the port-a-potties. Kudos to the organizers, there were more than enough port-a-potties and although there were lines, they went fast.

The start of the race is a little cramped and it takes a few minutes to get the 1500 runners through the shoot. Still, it is nothing like the huge city races with multiple corrals and long waits to get started. Just a few minutes and then we crossed the mat and were off. The first 2.5 miles and the last 2.5 miles of the half (and the full marathon) are run on a mostly cement totally uninteresting road beside a major highway. Fortunately, there is a bit of distance to the highway and it is fenced off so it is not like actually running on the highway. Also, the event organizers close off two lanes of the four lane road so there is plenty of room to run and pass people as need be. This year, the weather was cold (35 to 45 deg during the race), sunny and windy. The run on this open stretch of road, while not exciting, was enjoyable although the way back was in a pretty good head wind. It seemed more brutal than it actually was after having already run 11 miles. On a hot, full sun day this part of the run would be really brutal.

The majority of the run is held in the Busse Woods forest preserve on a paved bike trail. There is only one hill over the highway as the course leaves the road and enters the forest preserve. It isn't much of a hill and is quite short, yet many people just walked it. Once the hill is crested, it is downhill to the flat run through the forest preserve. The Busse Woods trail is fairly narrow and the course runs out and back in a few places. As such, there were times when it was difficult to get around slower runners and there were times when the faster runners felt that they could just run in the wrong lane. Although it was a bit annoying, it didn't happen often enough to ruin the run. Another small complaint about the race is that the Busse Woods path is open to the public during the run (race organizers don't get permission in Chicagoland to close off public access to forest preserve land) and bikers were also on the path. A lot of the bikers are irritated that runners are there and instead of just not riding, they behave badly and just make for an uncomfortable situations. Again, it only happened a couple times, so it was ok. The run through the preserve is really pretty, a number of spots with views of the ponds and some shade.

Overall there seemed to be plenty of aid stations though the first station doesn't appear until a bit over 2 miles (too long for me). I carried water so didn't actually stop at most of the stations but there was water and Gatorade at all of them and the volunteers were enthusiastic. I did stop at the last station for a bit of Gatorade to carry me to the finish.

The race ends where it starts at an office complex. The course runs around the back of one of the big buildings and as soon as the last turn is made, the finish line is right there. The final couple hundred feet is up a tree lined shoot with a very good band playing. As you cross the final mat, they handed out the medals and a bottle of water.

There isn't much of an after party for this race except for the band. There were a couple vendors, Orange Theory is one I remember and some food -- grapes, bananas, granola bars, peanuts, cookies, more Gatorade. No beer. My friend and I hung out for a little while and saw some of the first marathon runners come in and then walked the few feet to the car and drove home.

The swag for the race was a nice technical long sleeved quarter zip pullover. There was a choice of pink or black although both were unisex sizing. I chose the pink one although I really liked the black too. I did not wear it during the race but it was perfect for the day's weather.

I really enjoyed this race and PR'ed by over 13 minutes. It's on my must do list for next year. Totally low key and easy.