There were more than plenty aid stations and hydration along the route, I am glad i did this race as far as experience goes The expo was PHENOMENAL!! Picking up the packet was seamless and smooth. the weather is a tricky thing this time of year in Chicago, neither here nor there though. For me this was a bucket list race, and more than likely won't go back to try again.

Do this race every year, and if you are big into doing the challenges this one offers a lot of bang for your buck! not too much elevation if any, and it will warm up if you are towards the back of the pack with the sun coming up over bayshore but the view is so nice! As far as spectators go cheering you on, this doesn't draw a HUGE crowd but it does draw plenty of locals.

The 5k is a quick out and back on bay shore, and it caters to walkers and runners a like. I would say the one downfall to the race is the time it starts, it is later in the day because they stack the races. This means it can be very warm, and the sun can really beat down on you. They have water out there even for the 5k though, because of this. It is nice to see a lot of families out there participating.

It was extremely windy the entire time, but that never took away from the experience! Man oh Man!! I loved every second of it, to try to describe this race won't do it justice. It is imperative to pace yourself the first mile(all uphill) and then the second (downhill) Recommend training with hills!! The crowd carries you through almost the entire course, turn the volume down if you run with music, and take it all in! I opted for the no bag check and got the nice lined poncho, was so grateful for it, as it cooled down significantly by the time I finished.

Weather was perfect, most of the race was on the streets on Anaheim/LA. The streets themselves were not in great condition, many people tripped and fell. It was a very neat experience to run into the Angel stadium, and have all the scouts cheering for us. When running in the parks the course was extremely narrow, almost dangerously so. There were points where you could walk as fast as some people were "running because we were so packed in. All in all though it was a fun experience like all our Disney races have been :)