Happy to be racing in person again, 4 on the 4th is typically one of my favorite races!
This year the race was called 4 on the 3rd and it’s was once again on July 4th weekend in Elmhurst, starting at Elmhurst College.
Registration was easy and cost of the race was as previous race cost, which was great. The race was once again on the Chicago Area Runners Association circuit. At registration, runners were asked for their pace/estimated pace which what one could imagine was for corral placement…wrong. Corrals were placed by day of registration, meaning that if you came with a group but registered on different days, you had to wait for them to start. Corrals were started every 15 minutes (waaaay too long to wait), starting at 715. Some of the course marshalls were rude and some were nice about waiting in corrals with friends. I heard from many a runner they just ran when they wanted to as lots of people car pooled and didn’t wAnt to wait around for their rides. Course scenery is through downtown Elmhurst, volunteers are always great on course, thank you to the Elmhurst Police Department for cheering on the runners, too!
No excitement at the end, no awards ceremony, no donuts or anything. Kind of a let down. I’m hoping that they bring the race back to how it was next year.