Latest reviews by Matt

(2015)
"Relaxed, evening fun-run"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
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My girlfriend had run this event the prior year and enjoyed it so we decided to run together this year. As running is a means to be active and healthy for me, I'm not terribly interested in the more competitive/serious races. Overall it was an easy and pleasant experience. Arrive just as packet pick up opened and walked right up - no wait, and got our shirts and bibs. We were then provided some glow stick necklaces - which we supplemented with other glow-attire.
The course took runners around the corporate campus of AT&T in Hoffman Estates, I counted two fairly slight inclines, and the rest of the run was flat or downhill. Being a glow-in-the-dark run, the course was mostly dark. There were glow sticks scattered around the road of the course, and a few glowing, inflated decorations to fit in their theme this year "Safari".
Being a "fun run" I only had a few criticisms :
Distance markers - Aside from knowing my general pace and checking my watch, I had no idea where we were. Sure I'd looked at the map, but that didn't even mark out the mileage. Not a big deal for 3.1 miles, but would have ran harder that last half mile if I'd known.
Trip Hazard - The whole course was on a nice paved road, except for one short stretch that took runners up over the curb and across grass to run through some inflated, glowing, giraffes.
Having walked by this installation earlier - as we came up on it, I knew we were about to leave the road and go up over a curb, but not all the runners around me caught this. A few people tripped over the curb and wiped out on the grass/sidewalk. There was a race attendant standing there, but he said nothing - until after these runners fell, asking them if they were okay. I was rather disappointed in just this individual - other attendants were pretty vocal the rest of the race, and I would have expected this person to be warning people there was a curb they had to run over. It was a race in the dark after all.
Once finished, we got our beverage and snack, but we didn't stay for the after party very long as we were tired and generally found the DJ to be boring.
Overall, it was a fun evening and I could see doing this event again - but more than likely there are other "fun runs" that we'd enjoy more.

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(2014)
"First Race, Cold Race"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

The North Shore Turkey Trot was my first race ever. When I couldn't make the Hot Chocolate 5K, I decided I would see what other races Ram Racing hosted - and when I saw the Turkey Trot was a little closer to home I decided to sign up. My girlfriend and I were doing this together, she'd done a few races before.
While no designated parking - it was rather easy to find a spot in downtown Highland Park, probably had to do with the holiday. We already had our packets and swag due to the convenient packet pickup which was so close to our places of work. We just walked our way to the start corrals.
Having never raced, but attended a few of the ones my girlfriend ran - I wasn't sure what to expect.
There was no party-like atmosphere at the start/finish area, which I somewhat expected for what I'd consider a "fun-run" (even though it is chip-timed). The most/only amusement came from all the costumes. I was somewhat jealous of some of them - as they looked very warm.

The course was rather easy, only a few small hills which I was thankful for on my first race. The most memorable part of the race was the temperature. I don't remember Thanksgiving day being so cold in past years - but then - I'm not usually spending much time outside on Thanksgiving. Having done very little outdoor running, let alone cold weather running - I was very nervous about being too cold or worse - wearing too much and being too hot. Luckily I did some test runs and was overall fairly comfortable once the race started.
Once the race ended, we collected our free apple pies and bottles of water and made our way back to the car. I suppose being a holiday - runners aren't to interested in an "after party", so it was a bit of a personal let down for me to finish my first race and just walk back to the car -- but the pie was good.

Overall, fun race, comfortable hoodie swag (although not my favorite color) and an event I would participate in again.

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