This is now my favorite Marathon! Chicago is a beautiful city and the community is amazingly supportive of all the runners. Let's start with the expo.

The whole experience was well organized, starting with the expo. I easily got my bib & shirt and browsed around for a little, but not too long. I was surprised at how small the expo seemed for such a big race. There were a lot of people working that made sure you knew about weather, the course, start times...anything race related. I've never had so much help at an expo before. It was nice.

Race morning we met up st a gym near the start line (I ran for charity, MDA). I think running for charity at this race is the way to go. There are a ton to choose from and when you have your team shirt on EVERYONE is cheering for you, not just your team. My shirt had my name and I had a ton of spectators cheering me on. The start was easy to get to, I was in Wave 2 Corral F. Everyone moved along pretty quickly and while I got there about 1.5 hours before the race it went by fast.

Along the course you are always with runners and spectators. Constanty being around other runners is nice. You never feel alone. Constantly having people cheering for you is the BEST! The crowd really keeps you going. I've run races where people have yelled at us because roads are blocked off and they are mad. Not here. Chicago peeps seem to love this race and all of us runners. There are some miles between 17-22ish that don't have as many people, but it is never empty. My watch was way off for this race, as many others. I think that was due to the buildings, so I never really knew my pace. My watch said I ran 26.8 miles. That was tough when I thought I was at mile 20 and I was really at about 19. Miles 1-16ish were great. Beautiful city views, running through parks & over bridges. I was told the last 0.2 miles or so was the only hill. Not true. There was a few, but they weren't bad. Even the end wasn't bad (but I also like hills).

I can't tell you enough how beautiful this city is. That is what makes this race my new favorite. The aid stations were great too. There were TONS of cups that you had to run over, which I wasn't used to, but the volunteers at the stations were great. Plenty of electrolytes and water. Water was always the second table so I knew where to go. I've had some races mix it up and that is frustrating. Aid stations were always on both sides of the road. The port-a-potties were always off to the side, behind the spectators. Volunteers kept the pathway clear and directed you to where they were. Super easy. With how many people run this race (40-45k) I was happy to see there was plenty of aid stations, potties and post race fuel & pictures stations to where you never had to wait.

One thing I didn't like is the spectators running across the course. I get they are moving from place to place to cheer, and I appreciate that, but wait until runners aren't running by. I ran into a woman crossing, I tried to move around her but when you're running a marathon it isn't easy to move out of the way very quickly. I also ran into 2 kids. A woman was crossing with 2 kids, and I slowed down for them, but still ran into one of the kids and almost fell. Not cool. But all in all, I had a great experience.

If you have not run Chicago you NEED to! If you're not a runner, I suggest you get there on race day to experience the race as a spectator. Runners love the support and you will understand why runners run. This is a race I will be back to for sure.