Short story:

I love this course and the crowd support. Having friends at multiple points to cheer me on gives me an extra boost of energy. The expo is huge and a great opportunity to find other races or new gear. Always plenty of fuel on the course and potties at the start. Favorites post race were the pre-bagged food and grab and go ice bags. I'm not a fan of the neon race shirt, good news it will be different next year :) Also, for the bigger races you have to walk what feels like a mile to get out of the exit chute and the volunteers are instructed to keep you moving. It is exhausting after an already exhausting race.

Longer story:

I headed to the expo on Saturday morning via the train. I definitely recommend public transportation to the expo at McCormick place. Both the green line and red line have stops that are reasonably close and it is significantly less stressful than dealing with the car traffic. I was surprised by how many fellow runners were at the expo first thing Saturday. Getting my packet was a breeze, I checked in with one volunteer who confirmed my information then sent me to a numbered table. There I waited a few minutes, behind five or six other runners. They scanned my code and confirmed my information again. Then they sent you to the opposite end of the expo hall to get the t-shirt and goodie bag. I’m sure this setup is intentional to force you to walk through the vendor displays. I had planned on browsing so it wasn’t a big deal. As with most major races, there were tons of vendors from other races to almost any type of gear you could need. I think most major running brands (North Face, Brooks, Nike…) were represented. I stopped and chatted with the folks at the Starved Rock Marathon booth and scored a discount code, same for the Little Rock Marathon. I also grabbed a temporary tattoo with the splits from the Nike pacing team table for my goal finish. I love that they have them available. The other cool booths I saw but didn’t participate in (lines were pretty long) were free KT Taping and a custom printing station.

I was able to upgrade my marathon experience and gain access to the Fleet Feet / Chicago Endurance Sports race day resort. I’m so glad I spent the money on this and highly recommend finding something similar. I had access to indoor facilities, last minute food, smaller scale gear check that didn’t require a special bag, and was a block away from one of the main gates. Post-race they had more food, beer, soda (or pop), free medal engraving, massages/stretching, and early access to the Fleet Feet finishers gear.

I headed over to the starting area around 6:45. I have a pretty nervous bladder so I wanted to have time to visit the porta-pots. Shortly after getting through the security check point, I stopped at the first set that was just north of Congress near both the Wave 1 and 2 corrals. In that area there were a ton of units, I waited maybe 10 minutes to get in. I then wandered my way north to get into Corral D. I wound up in the corral by 7:10 and knew within 20 minutes my nervousness would have me dancing so I jumped in the incredibly long line. They had 20 plus units in an area restricted to runners in corrals C and D. I was through the line and back in the corral area by 7:25.

This is the only major marathon I have completed so I don’t have much else to compare it to on that scale. The course is awesome and gives a great representation of the different areas of the city. On the 26.2-mile course there are 20 aid stations all with Gatorade and water. Several in the back half have bananas and there are two to three with energy gels, this year was Powerade. The crowd support is amazing throughout and the volunteers are superstars. Footing gets sketchy with all the cups but I’ve never had a significant issue.

This must be the time of the neon shirts as this was the third or fourth I’ve gotten in the last year. I’m not a huge fan because I find it challenging to wear the t-shirt length for workouts. So I often use them as weekend running errand shirts and the neon doesn’t pair well, in my opinion. The medal was unique, sporting the Picasso statue.

The one area I struggle with in these large race formats is the finish line. After running 26.2 miles, I’m spent and it takes me some effort to keep moving. With the large format the finish line area is massive and they really push for you to keep moving through the additional three to four blocks. It was probably a solid block before I reached the water bottles and then another block to the Gatorade and food. The one thing I really liked at the finish they had several items pre-bagged which made transporting so much simpler. There was no chocolate milk, but for the drinkers there are beer trucks inside the finish line chute and really you can hang out and get your fill. In addition to the bagged post-race food, I really appreciated the bags of ice before the exit, typically you have to hit the medical tents to get these and it is nice to just be able to grab and go.

Get my full weekend recap over on my blog https://jessicarunsblog.wordpress.com/race-weekend-recaps/chicago-marathon/