2016 was the inaugural running of the International Chicago 5k. Aimed to bring together people from around the world that come into town for the Chicago marathon, this race provided a nice opportunity to run the streets of Chicago and along the lake front the day before the marathon.

This "race" seemed to be chicago's version of the breakfast run at the Berlin marathon that encourages you to represent your company and be around and meet people from around the world there to run the marathon the following day. Some people were definitely there to race but it seemed like the majority of people were there to enjoy a morning run through the loop.

There was one aid station along the course and the combination of running through the streets of the loop and the lake front path were fairly seemless. The finish was only a few hundred feet before the marathon finish which was a cool choice.

This years swag was a pretty awesome stocking cap that had the Chicago flag stars on it.

Definitely a fun race and a nice opportunity to be around fellow marathon runners.