This was my 5th running of the Naperville St. Paddy's 5K and as always, it did not disappoint. This is a fairly large, local race with almost 3,000 runners but it still maintains it's small town feel.

Packet Pickup is held for two days at the Naperville Running Company and is also available on race day morning. I volunteered for pickup this year and it is a very simple and quick process. The race shirt is a nice, long sleeved tech shirt with men's (crew neck) and women's (v neck) models available.

On race day, parking is available all over downtown Naperville. The race is on a Saturday and hours before the parade or normally Saturday business. With 3 big garages, and lots of street parking, parking is free and available.

It was a cold race this year, 16 degrees at race time with a wind. Yet, it didn't seem to deter too many people. The crowd was only slightly smaller than previous years. This is a great "first race" and it was my first race in 2011. Serious runners, not so serious runners, walkers and strollers are all encouraged. A good part of the crowd dresses up for St. Paddy's day and when the race takes off there is a sea of green running through Naperville. The run takes place on the parade route and is fairly flat except for one hill (up at the beginning and down at the end). The streets are totally blocked so there is no traffic to contend with and the parade Marshals do a good job of keeping the runners in the right place. There are two out and back segments so there are multiple opportunities to see the lead runners speeding through town as well as multiple opportunities for your family and friends to see you on the course. There is one water stop half way through and it seems to be enough. This year a lot of the water was frozen so it took a few seconds to get a cup but there wasn't much they could do about that!

After running the finish gate, we were each given a strand of green or gold Mardi Gras beads. This is the one thing they could improve. A cheap medal would be a nicer touch. The beads just get tossed shortly after the race.

The post race party for this race is great! There's a huge tent which helps on a cold morning. Inside the tent there were PBJ sandwiches, corned beef sandwiches, bagels and cream cheese, cookies, pizza and green beer. I think there was also coffee and hot chocolate. Outside the tent, there were a number of vendors offering freebies.

As 5Ks go, this one is a lot of fun and has a great after party!