Summer means weeknight races on the lakefront in Chicago, and this has been targeted on my race calendar for some time as a summer race kickoff. A nice $10 discount from the local running club (CARA) made the 10k $40, which is fairly reasonable for the distance in the city.

The expo was packet pick up at the local Universal Sole on the Monday and Tuesday before the race. My issue with this would be that the confirmation email (and apparently the website) said no race day pick up, which is kind of ridiculous when a the pick up isn't on a weekend. I guess I'm willing to accept no race day pick up or no weekend pick up, but not both. A quick phone call to the number listed in the confirmation email after 'Questions?' verified that there was race day pick up, just would've preferred to go without that admittedly minor inconvenience.

Swag was a nylon shirt that apparently came in different colors for each gender/size combo. Mine was a 'meh' aqua with the race logo on the front and sponsors on the back. I prefer mesh runner's cut shirts of the nylon t-shirt cuts, but the color/design was more of a turnoff than anything.

Course was a nice out and back from the easy to get to Gold Star Families Park and Memorial just east of Soldier Field. The 5k started 10 minutes after the 10k and shared the course, so that meant dodging walkers for the last ~1.5 miles, but otherwise congestion wasn't an issue.

There was a nice vibe to the race, with the disco theme providing plenty of inspiration for costumes and the music at the start/finish line party and in a couple of spots along the course fitting in with the theme nicely, the race overall though was just kind of okay. For a serious race, this doesn't warrant recommendation, but for a fun night on the lakefront, you can do a lot worse.