The 2017 Chicago Marathon was my first marathon. As a Chicago native, I was familiar with the race route and race logistics (e.g. expo location, major landmarks, etc.) which made running the race easy, logistically. The race was very, very hot this year - abnormally hot for Chicago in October.

EXPO: The Expo is located at the McCormick Center, which is a very large convention center in the South Loop of Chicago. It is notoriously complicated and hard to access - I highly recommend you take public transportation or Lyft/Uber, as driving/parking to get there can be frustrating. The expo itself is nice and there are many booths/vendors to connect with, as with other major large races. Packet pick-up directions are clear and I was actually able to change my corral pretty easily. The t-shirt is a nice Nike t-shirt each year; I wear the t-shirt regularlly still, it is always good quality.

RACE: The race route itself is beautiful, and takes you through the major neighborhoods of Chicago. The crowd support is great through the first 3/4 of the race - as you get further south into Chinatown and Bronzeville, crowd support wanes, which is tough because this is when you will be feeling your worst, mileage wise. However, those that ARE out there cheering are amazing, as well as the race volunteers. I found the gatorage/water/bathroom support to be ample and found no issues with accessing anything during the race. The race start/finish is in Grant Park, which is a fantastic, beautiful finish. "Mount Roosevelt", as it's referred to, is the small hill you must climb up Roosevelt as you finish the last half mile of the race. It's not ideal at the very end, but the crowd support here is amazing.

Overall, I would recommend the race for any marathoner looking to complete all of the major races!