There seems to be an interesting race to the bottom on who can produce a more lousy Chicago half marathon between Team Ortho and F3. I thought Team Ortho had a good job at this but F3 is being a serious contender.

One of the things that really irritates me with races is lousy customer service, and F3 certainly does this well. I've never dealt with a more dour bunch of individuals. Their customer service manager is downright rude.

You can downgrade or upgrade the race if you need to - for downgrading, it's $16 and change, which makes this a very expensive 5k and upgrading makes this a premium half cost on par with Rock N Roll and other more established halfs. This is a bad model.

The shirt is pretty lousy - it's a polyester mix that is destined straight for the donation pile. The course itself is the same lakefront course that's done with every other race. It's well maintained and flat and fast, down and back. The aid stations are very good and have excellent volunteers.

Having done this race three years in a row, this will be my last. Clownish race production companies don't deserve your cash.