I chose this 5K on Thanksgiving Day because the start/finish line was 2 miles from my front door! It's proximity made for a nice warm-up run up to the race locale and a nice cool-down run back home. The course was flat and fast, basically circling Northwestern's campus. There were enough people to make it competitive but it never felt crowded. The swag is an awesome stocking cap! They also had pins for anyone who "beat the turkey" (a man dressed as a turkey running around 6:45/mile).

There were two self-selected waves: Wave 1 for anyone running faster than 10-min miles, and Wave 2 began 5 minutes later. There were mile markers (I didn't see Mile 2 and wish I'd kicked it in sooner!) and an aid/water station. There wasn't an EXPO, per se, but there were some tents around the start/finish area that local businesses were running.

The race day bib pickup and registration stuff seemed to be really easy and convenient, although the line for A-I last names was really long when I got there, and I would be surprised if everyone in that line had their bib prior to the 9am start time.

Other than the long lines for bibs on race morning, I would 100% recommend this small-ish 5K race to anyone who happens to be in the Evanston area on Thanksgiving Day!