This trail run is a good option for folks in the Chicago area that want a half-marathon trail run on the Des Plaines River Trail. The entry fee was pricey ($70 for day-of registration) given the support on the course. You could probably get the same run experience by simply heading to the Half Day Road Forest Preserve and running the trails if you don't care about the party afterwards.

There were water stations between 2-5 miles apart with only water no sports drink or food. I was bummed to see one of the most remote water station was packing up when I went by so no water for me at mile 8. The money appeared to go for a Chicago hot dog for every runner and unlimited beer. Both were good but at 10:30 in the morning I'm not pounding down beers.

Pre-race the organization was good. Packet pick-up was the morning of the run and it was well run. The t-shirt fit me well and was mildly clever given the name of the race (nearly sane). There was water and food before the run started. The organizers forgot a microphone so the pre-run briefing was hard to hear in the crowd.

Post-race you got a medal that is also a bottle opener. There is no large timing device to know the official time although nobody seemed to care that much about timing on the run. It was easy to get the post-run food and drinks. There was water again after the run and a little Gatorade, although there was a lot more beer than recovery drink.

Overall, I like the trail and the people were nice. The swag was a t-shirt and a bottle opener. The price would probably keep me from doing it again. I'd prefer instead to bring my own water and run on the DPRT with a running group.