Packet Pickup
There were a couple of ways of getting your race packet. You could visit one of their packet pickup location in the week leading up to the race, or have it mailed to you. The locations that you could pick your packet up from was Fleet Feet in Old Town (Chicago), and Fleet Feet in Deerfield. For someone like me who lives outside of the Chicago area, you can pay the fee to have it mailed to you, or you can have someone pick it up for you. Ram racing did a great job of informing runners of these options through emails leading up to the event. If you provided the right paper work, someone else could pick up your packet for you.

Included in the race was your bib number, drawstring bag, race shirt (real nice) and flyers for local races and businesses.

I arrived in Highland Park at around 6:00 local time, that means an hour and a half early. This allowed me to find a parking spot right by the start. Parking was real easy to find.

The 5k was up at 7:00 and the half was at 7:30. Both races had corrals. The 5k had corrals A-C and the half were D on back. Each corral started 3 minutes apart. This was a good size race but not huge. I had never seen a race start like this. I am sure it made for a smoother start of the corrals further back. After the national anthem was sung, the first corral was sent off with the sound of the air horn.

Race

I was in corral D, the first coral to go, so I got to start right behind the elites. First half mile was down hill followed by an uphill on the second half mile. This was a sign of things to come, a lot of rolling hills. The course ran through a lot of beautiful neighborhoods in the area. The streets did have some crowd support cheering on the runners at various points in the race, as well as kids looking for high fives as runners pass.

The course had aid stations at about every mile. Of course you have your standard water, but unlike most races, the aid stations had Nuun. At least in the local Indiana Races, Nuun is not an option. I am not a fan of Nuun, but I am not a fan of Gatorade either so it doesn't matter to me. The course was also very well controlled by local police. Tried my best to thank as many of them as possible for taking the time to be out on the course.

The rolling hills continued, and then right after mile 7 came the tough hill. The down hill on Park Ave towards the lake was real nice, the uphill on Egandale going away from the lake was a different story. Wow! That was a good challenge.

The rolling hills continued after that but really no other major hills. My favorite part of the course was the area around Fort Sheridan. Just a beautiful area between miles 9 and 11. The last couple of miles, the crowds started to build more as you approached the finish. Trying to slap the kids hands as you ran by (you never know who you are inspiring) you can tell by the crowds you are getting close. After a slight left turn, there was the finish line. As you crossed, they read off your name as a finisher.
The course was a real challenge but I loved it. It is probably one of my favorite half marathon races that I have done. Very nice neighborhoods, mixture of hills and flat. Not too many twists and turns, well marked course.

After you crossed the finishline, you are given a medal, a ice cold towel (felt so good), a bottle of water, and a bag of food. In the bag was banana, chocolate milk (soy), rice crispy treat, pretzels, and a bagel. My one complaint is the soy chocolate milk. I would much rather have regular chocolate milk, in fact it's the one item in the bag that I threw out when I got home. The race also has free photos of the race. I know that there were photographers at the finish line and also after you left the finishers shoot.

I will be keeping this race on my radar for future years. The folks at Ram Raving showed me that they know their stuff, and they put on a first class race. You can tell that they care about the runners and want to do their best.

Link to this review