This is my hometown race, and have ran the marathon 3x! This race is in the Fox Valley Area, which is in the suburbs of Chicago. This course is primarily fast and flat, however there is one fairly steep hill in the beginning of the race...but it's over in about 90 seconds. This is an out and back course that runs right along the Fox River, which is a peaceful and beautiful path. There are designated "spectator points", however this race does not have a lot of spectator support dispersed throughout the course due to it being a bike trail. Every year I have ran, it has been quite warm, but there are PLENTY of well stocked aid stations along the way. Swag includes a long sleeve tech shirt and a sweet medal with a fox on it! This race also has half marathon and 20 miler options as well. I appreciated the massage tent and refreshments at the end of this race. I would definitely recommend the FV Marathon!

I think this is the coldest race I've ever ran, but that is what I signed up when I picked a winter race along the Chicago lakefront. This was an out-and-back course, completely along the lake. I picked up my packet the morning of, which I am thankful for since many races don't allow that option. We had to pay for parking, but this is to be expected with city racing. The swag was pretty sweet. A super nice, high quality quarter zip tech shirt and fun medal. This run definitely was a prime example of how crazy we runners are, voluntarily choosing to run in 11 degree weather plus windchill coming off the lake....various body parts were going numb, my face burned, etc. But I'm not complaining! Part of the fun of racing is the elements and the memorable experiences....and I don't think I'll forget this race! I was honestly impressed there were aid stations at all who were so supportive...not sure how they weren't freezing their buns off! All in all, it was a great race. If you're not afraid to freeze a little bit and get some pretty sweet views of the Chicago lakefront, I would totally recommend this race !

Disclaimer: I am a disney freak, so my views may be a bit biased. Everything about these races were magical from race expo, to running the 10k and half, and to proudly wearing my run Disney swag around the parks. The race expo was extremely organized, and had lots of vendors and cute run disney gear. I may have spent a little bit too much money at the expo....
I ran the 10k and the half marathon, and each morning was a 3:30 am wake up call. We were staying off property, so my family dropped me off 45 minutes before start time, which thankfully gave us no trouble. There were costumes, sparkles, tutus, dresses EVERYWHERE! There was a giant screen with entertainment to keep us occupied while we waited for the start. The start line was quite a walk from the security/bathroom area. There were fireworks at the start line and BOOM we were off! The half had excellent character stops..I think I stopped and took pictures with 11 of them. For the 10K we ran through Epcot in the dark with all the countries lit up and disney music blaring from the speakers. For the half marathon, we ran down Main Street USA, through Cinderella's castle, through a good chunk of the magic kingdom, and the front half of Epcot. It felt surreal and magical all at the same time.
The swag was amazing, I got three shirts and three medals: one for the 10K, one for the half, and one for completing the Glass Slipper Challenge aka running both races. The medals are excellent quality. I will always love this race weekend.
I will say, make sure to submit a proof of time in order to be placed in a corral that is consistent with your pace. If not, you are placed in the very last corral, which means longer lines for character stops and a more congested course running through the parks.
The races are expensive, and coming from the Midwest, is not something I could afford to do on a regular basis. However, I plan to be run Disney sometime in the future!!

I enjoyed this race...it was simple, fun, fairly priced, and country themed! I appreciated that we were able to pick up our packets the morning of, as we are not locals. I loved that this race was country themed...including live country music and a belt buckle medal at the finish! This was a loop course at Chicago's Montrose Harbor. It was pretty running by the lake and just North of the city. This course had lots of turns and swerves. At the finish we got eggs, biscuits, and gravy. We also got a zip up sweat shirt! I thought All Community Events did a great job with the event. I would run it again!

This run is an awesome on-foot tour of the beautiful city of Milwaukee! The challenge of this race is running up the Hoan Bridge (I would not recommend driving up this bridge the night before.) The view from the top of the Hoan Bridge is incredible and it feels awesome to summit the bridge after the massive climb. The lakefront area and quaint neighbors of Milwaukee made this run fly by. The medal was awesome, and we finished at the Summerfest grounds,..so you better believe there was live music! This was an awesome and rockin' half marathon :)