WHAT WAS AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?
The race organizers really spent a lot of time improving the post-race experience. I don't experience it a lot, but the runner refresh area probably gets crowded on the Soldier Field concourse. In years past after we watched everyone finish, we rushed back to our car so we could start tailgating. This year, they expanded everything. The Gatorade and water was spread out leading up to the medal presentation, which had the nice touch of being passed out by active military members instead of volunteers. The nice touch were the runner refresh bags, which makes it easier to carry all of your stuff post-race and controls how much food people get after the race, which must make the organizers happy as well. The "tailgate area" once again grew thanks to offering free beer for the first time in a long time and a real band. Instead of nothing or, possibly even worse, Michelob Ultra, participants got a free can of 312 brewed by Goose Island. The post-race band was Soul Asylum, which was a little pass my time but my uncles loved it. Of course at the end of the day, as long as they let us tailgate in the parking lot, they win in my book.
WHAT WASN'T SO AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?

Honor this one year and I won't have anything to complain about. I'm also not happy that my watch didn't link up to any satellites, but that is not the race's fault. That is my fault. A little background on this though, the easiest way to park is to go the way we do. For some reason, local officials are convinced this is not true. If it is true, don't publish a parking map that agrees with us and not with local officials. We show up early enough that it's not a huge deal, but we lose 20 minutes every year on this. I also wish they had done some stuff for the runners who just completed their 10th Soldier Field 10 Miler. It is a greedy request because I was one of the many that have done all 10 and I have done other races that have honored these people with special bibs, t-shirts, and more. What did we get? A hash tag.