Running up Cricket Hill is the closest thing in Chicago we'll get to an actual mountain, and a race like this makes me appreciate the sheer bastardry of a race director who makes you go up it twice. Bravo, sir/madam.

Packet/shirt pickup was at the Old Town Fleet Feet, which is a dismal store. If I want to be ignored while they want my money, I'll deal with my kids instead. But the pickup was quick and easy.

The race: Typical lakefront run - it's hard to get excited about a course you run as part of your normal running, but it's the Chicago lakefront and the weather wasn't that bad. Aid stations were laid out in a good spacing but could have used a few more volunteers. The only real sucky thing for the course is the final lap and a half around the track to finish. That was fine because I like to show off my sexy legs to other runners as I preen around the track like a coifed rooster, but the positioning of the bib tracking gear caught me a lap early so my official finish time was short by 400m. It's the nature of the technology, but it did make me wonder how many other runners actually got caught with the scanner and were faster than they actually were.

Overall, it's a good start to the Chicago race season.