What can I say? This was my first ever marathon experience and it went great. I mean, sure my time wasn't anything world class but I finished and I was very happy about that! Now, I do have some pain and soreness now but during the race nothing major ever came up and I did have a fear that it might. So I was lucky. But, back to the race. I loved the experience! I've never felt that way during any run ever before. The energy the crowd provided was insane and amazing and I am forever grateful for all the fans and the volunteers which made it an event that I will never forget. And they were celebrating their 40th anniversary this year so as a separate piece of bling, they sent anyone that turned 40 or was turning 40 this year a patch to iron on or clip on your gear for the run. Another cool memento from an awesome race!

T-Shirt/Swag: Basic honesty here. The tech shirt is great and all the coupons are great and the edible inclusions are a nice extra touch that not a lot of races do. The post race beer from Goose Island was a perfect ending along with all the goodies (bananas, water, cheese popcorn, other salted crisps, etc) plus my beer ticket for the post race party netted me a Goose Island IPA. But the main swag that I care about is that oh so sweet medal!

Aid Stations: Awesome! As were all the volunteers at them. Water, Gatorade Endurance drink at all of them. People filling your portable water bottles if you had them. Sometimes people with hoses spraying water to cool people down. Later on, at a few stations were quarter pieces of banana. Also at one station were Gatorade gummy Bloks and a couple of stations after that were Gatorade performance gel packets. Plenty of ways to hydrate (or overhydrate too) but also making sure all runners were fueled up.

Course Scenery: Not much to look at really. I was so focused during part of the race that I didn't get to see out over the river when we crossed it a few times, but I did enjoy going through the tall buildings. But mostly city streets and concrete to look at. Nice finish line and great area (Grant Park) for the post race party.

Elevation Difficulty: None really. Some small points of incline and decline throughout but relatively flat until the very end before the finish line and even that was a very subtle rise before leading you around a corner to that magic ending.

Expo Quality: So I didn't get to this until later Saturday just a few hours before it was ending so I think I missed out on some of the excitement. But there were a TON of vendors with nice merchandise to purchase or just to check out. Lots of shirts, shoes, energy supplements, testing out areas, places to sign your name and take pictures, areas to check out your gait, etc. The expo was easy to get to as well; bus service from select hotels made it simple to get to and fro. Also, packet pickup was a breeze. No wait. Went by quickly and then onto all those vendors.

Parking: Meh, I stayed at a hotel and did the valet thing at a "great" $71 for one 24 hour cycle. Ugh, Chicago....

Race Management: Great, great and great. Constant updates for months leading up to the run. And the week of kept me updated with possible weather changes and whatnot. Really great information being provided constantly. No excuses to say you didn't know what was going on or when something was going on.

All in all, I had a great time and am glad that I was accepted to run this race and make it my first ever marathon. It was amazing and I would tell anyone who has not run Chicago to definitely run it and if it will be your first, all the better!