For an inaugural race, this sure didn’t feel like one. The course was a point-to-point 5k through the heart of downtown, starting at the original Chicago Marathon start line near Daley Plaza, and finishing at Roosevelt and Columbus, near the current Chicago Marathon finish line. The course even ran down Columbus for a minute so we could get a close-up view of the start line before we headed down the Lakefront Trail with Lake Michigan to our left, Grant Park to our right, and the Museum Campus ahead of us.

There was no gear check for this course (and even if there was, we would have had to take the train or walk back to the start line). It might have been nice to have a sweatshirt ready for after the race since it was pretty chilly, but I survived. No race expo either - I was happy to have my bib mailed to me. Although international participants were required to pick up their bibs at the Chicago Marathon expo, there was a bib pickup tent at the start line for anyone who missed getting their bib. The starting line also provided water, gatorade, and some toilets, but unfortunately it was really cold and lots of people were huddled around the eternal flame in Daley Plaza - I think we were warmed mostly by each other's heat!

There was one aid station on the course, which I think had Gatorade Endurance formula in addition to water, but I already knew I was going to PR and I didn’t want to waste time getting fluids when I didn’t need them.

My garmin splits were of course totally messed up running through the loop and under Randolph St (it registered the course as 3.5 miles), but the mile markers were large and clear. There were police officers standing at the turns (though every cop I passed was too busy texting to be an effective course marshall) but there were also quite a few traffic cones demarcating the course, so it would have been pretty difficult to run off course at any point. Volunteers standing at the entrance to the Lakefront Trail cautioned us about the step up onto the curb, which was kind of them.

The finish line was great. I had to stop and collect myself, since my sprint to the finish and consequent PR had me almost throwing up, but I made my way over to the tables and picked up some water, gatorade, powerbars, an apple, and of course, the finisher hat, which is super warm and snug.

Overall, I absolutely loved this race. The course was amazing, it definitely didn’t feel like an inaugural race, and I loved seeing everyone’s nationality on their race bibs – in the start corrals alone I met people from the UK, Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan. So fun that racing brings us all together. Even though I may not run the Chicago Marathon again (at least until I can register as a time qualifier), I would definitely run the International Chicago 5k again if I were in Chicago during marathon weekend!