There seems to be an interesting race to the bottom on who can produce a more lousy Chicago half marathon between Team Ortho and F3. I thought Team Ortho had a good job at this but F3 is being a serious contender.

One of the things that really irritates me with races is lousy customer service, and F3 certainly does this well. I've never dealt with a more dour bunch of individuals. Their customer service manager is downright rude.

You can downgrade or upgrade the race if you need to - for downgrading, it's $16 and change, which makes this a very expensive 5k and upgrading makes this a premium half cost on par with Rock N Roll and other more established halfs. This is a bad model.

The shirt is pretty lousy - it's a polyester mix that is destined straight for the donation pile. The course itself is the same lakefront course that's done with every other race. It's well maintained and flat and fast, down and back. The aid stations are very good and have excellent volunteers.

Having done this race three years in a row, this will be my last. Clownish race production companies don't deserve your cash.

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.

I've never had the best of luck with ACE for their running events, and yet, I still sign up for them. This is the inaugural race for yet another St. Patrick's Day themed run. You'd think with 500 races offering the same theme, they'd up their game a little.

Race start/finish was at the Bolingbrook Village Hall, along with packet pickup and the typical race day stuff. The race was benefiting Bolingbrook Hospital as the race charity. They did offer pacers, which was nice. Five water stations for the half marathon and one for the 5k.

Course: Overall, fairly flat with only one or two portions that had a moderate incline. Took you through shared bike paths (that were empty) along power lines (ComEd Greenway, which was green and well-maintained), suburban residential streets, a 1.5 mile loop around Whalon Lake and along the East Branch of the DuPage River. The shared bike paths and the path along the lake and river were quite nice and if I were a local, I'd be using these regularly. Well-maintained, and in great condition.

Course criticism: Both the 5k and the half runners started out at the same time and split around mile 1. Half runners met up with the 5k runners (for them, 2 mile marker, for half runners, around 4.) That caused a bit of concern seeing our pacers vanished and the runners looked to each other for support. A bit more signage is needed especially around the merging areas.

Shirts: Typical long sleeve medium weight polyester shirt. Nothing special. Race logo over left breast with sponsors on the back.

Aid stations: Featured water and sports drink. Guess what they didn't feature? Portapotties. Somehow this was missed and there was no portable toilets at any of the spots. This seems like a major oversight. As a guy (and after the NYC marathon), I have no inhibitions about dropping trou and urinating in public. However, this being the suburbs, that wouldn't fly. Around mile 4, I darted into a 7-11 to use the toilet. Apparently, my darting across the street caused other runners to not only remark how handsome I am, but to also realize I'm trying to use the only somewhat public bathroom. I left the clerk a $20. The only real bathroom was at mile 8 as we looped the lake (which had a proper rest station.) But the oversight seems like a major thing. I've been at zero-budget races who still had portable toilets because that's what you need.

Finish: Medal of average size and quality, a leprechaun cookie and a pint glass. There was a band there but they were hipster-ish.

Other: Got a text with my finish time within seconds of crossing the finish line. That was rather nice. Local police were nice and friendly in directing traffic.

If it wasn't for the portable toilet debacle, I would have been happy. It's nothing special, but it's a good run on a flat course that could end up being a PR. I wouldn't go out of my way to run it, but if I was close enough and knew going into it that it wouldn't be amazing, then I'd sign up again. Only if they fix the portable toilet situation.

I've run the Shamrock Shuffle a few times and it's always a fun race. It's crowded and chaotic and yet, it's a good way to spend a Sunday. Since I live here in Chicago and my condo is at mile 1, I won't write a long-winded review but merely some observations.

Expo: All race expos are depressing and sad, and this is no different. One thing that is done very well is the logistics - you scan your barcode and get your bib and then get your shirt and bag of stuff. This year we got the standard Nike drifit shirt and a stocking cap.

The race: Having done runs on 6 continents, one thing that I'm constantly amazed at is how well the Shamrock Shuffle does big crowds. For pushing 20,000 people across the start, it went off flawlessly. This is a well oiled machine.

The course. Running around the Chicago loop isn't that exciting. The course is flat and you get to experience the first 1.5 miles and the last .25 miles of the Chicago marathon. Aid stations were gatorade/water and the crowd support was ok but minimal music and festivities - but that's due to city ordinance.

Overall this is a pageant, not a race. It's hard to really use this as a PR type experience but instead, dial it down a bit and have fun.

I was in Sydney for work and figured, why not run the Sydney marathon as a pre-race for the Chicago marathon in 2016. Overall it was a decent marathon, but coming from a US marathon, it's a letdown.

Expo bib pickup was ok. They sent you a text message with your bib number, which they had to see (you couldn't just tell them.) Typical race swag by Asics but it was in a small area. You also got a plastic bag for bag drop. Nothing special.

Course: All of the distances for the Sydney Blackmores Running Festival (half, full, fun runs) went over the Harbour Bridge, which is almost worth the price of admission alone. From there, we meandered towards Sydney Olympic Park and worked out way back to Darling Harbour and finished at the Sydney Opera House. Terrain was rolling but not too challenging. Distance markers were well-posted.

Crowd support: Virtually none. I don't know if it was the weather or not, but if we had 50 supporters out there I would be surprised. Locals looked at us like we're insane. After talking with locals, they seemed completely unaware of the marathon taking place, and don't really care for crowd support.

Aid stations: Typical water/sports drink every few km. Gels were given away at one station.

Finish: Finishing at the Opera House was amazing. You did get a finisher's shirt, however, the sizes were all way too small and I took the largest one available. You'd think they would ask for shirt sizes during signup so they could make sure you get one that fits up-front, but I guess not. They did have post-race beers and sausages for sale after, which was nice. The medal was kind of small, but it had the Harbour Bridge on it, and that's all that really matters.

Logistics: Free train service to the start (Milsons Point), which helped. It was also nice to be on the same train as other runners and head to Luna Park together. For the finish, you're sort of stuck at the Opera House unless you hike back to Circular Quay (about a km away, but you're walking back towards the race and after running all that distance, it just seems way too far.) For those chumps like me who did gear check, it was further afield and you had to cut through the Botanical Gardens (which are uphill both ways). After I grabbed an uber to a bar, since everything restaurant-wise within a few blocks of Circular Quay was closed since it was Sunday.

Other: These guys weren't kidding when they mentioned a 6 hour hard cutoff for the race. The sag wagon kept folding in runners so you did pass the same people 4-5 times (which, on a cold rainy day, screwed with your mind.) Also, gear claim was about 1km away because a truck broke down or some nonsense and I had to walk uphill to get my bag, which just seemed downright cruel.

I'm torn. I liked the scenery and that it's an IAAF Gold race and finishing at the Opera House is one of the best running moments I'll probably ever have. And I knew to have lowered expectations about crowd support but this just blew my mind on how quiet it was. If circumstances allow it, I'd run it again but I wouldn't fly to Sydney just to do this race.