I've done this race 3 times now, and I still love it just as much as I did the first time. Yes, it's absolutely insane to run a half marathon on the lakefront path in Chicago in January. But once you cross that finish line, you have bragging rights for life.

Chicago in the winter is, in my opinion, so much more beautiful than it ever would be in the summer. You can take so many cool pictures with the sun and the snow and the ice in the lake.

The course is measured accurately, there are ample aid stations, and plenty of enthusiastic volunteers. The bottle opener medals are high-quality and very cool. As for the shirt, this year was a half-zip in both women's and men's sizes, both high quality as well. I have found that I wear my shirts from this race way more often than I would have otherwise expected.