Registration: Available online and at the expo. In the price range of $100. Included with your fees were a Brooks short sleeve tech tee, timing chip, finishers medal & post race beer.

Expo: The expo was held at the McCormick Center. Parking was pricey, but you could also get there by bus. It would be quite a walk from downtown. The expo was held near the back of the center, lot of walking just to get to it. It was the usual, lots of vendors, free samples, pushy sales people & photo opportunities. It was also easy to pick up your bib and get your shirt, there was even a shirt exchange for the half.

Pre-race: The race had about 17,000 runners, so there were a lot of people milling about Columbus St. There were port-o-potties and if you signed up for the $120 VIP package you could use special bathrooms. The gear check was easy, organized by race number, but any bag was permissible, which could be a security concern. Parking would have been available near downtown Chicago, which is pricey. There were 36 corrals, the bib numbers reflected your placement, no one was checking bibs, many people in wrong corrals. The 5k also started with the half. The National Anthem was sung live and then the corrals were started, about 2 minutes between each.

Race / Course: The race was run through downtown Chicago and along Lake Michigan. It started by snaking through downtown, the streets were paved or asphalt, many in need of repair, or a man hole cover could have tripped a runner up. There were a lot of people, but beyond the start is was never too crowded, the streets were wide enough for everyone to have space. In fact maybe too wide as the 5k timing mat could have been missed as it didn't stretch across the entire street. There were spectators, many with signs, but there were also long boring stretches with no spectators.No bands were on the course until between mile 5 & 6, there was a stage near mile 2 with some performers. Word on the street is the city didn't want the bands down town. However when there was a band, each of them were rocking! There was a DJ near mile 10, he was the party, had speakers stretched out, so you could hear him for a while.Each mile was marked. Water & lemon lime Gatorade stations, all in paper cups. Water was always in the white cup, Gatorade in a green Gatorade cup. Some of the aid stations were behind on keeping the cups filled, or they were lacking in adult supervision. One Gu stop, but no food on the course. There was a misting station and a wet sponge station, but I didn't see any other advertised cooling stations. The course was flat, there were bridge overpass incline & declines, but nothing steep. The last 3 miles were near the lake front path which was narrow. Also to get to this point had to cross a grass section, if it were raining it would have been a muddy mess. Also had to run through the "tunnel" at the McCormick center, it was dark and the surface was uneven, easy to trip. Marathonfoto was on course taking pictures. The finish was easy to spot with a clock and giant arch.

Post - Race: Medals were handed to you. A tub of bottled water was first available and a wet towel. There were bottles of gatorade, chocolate milk, bananas, bags of granola, pretzels & powerbars. Off to the side sat a tent with boxes of covered bagels, which no one handed out. Encouraged to move along and go to the post race party / family reunion area. En route to this area there were vendors with free samples. Once to the party area there was a stage with a band performing, the beer tent (Michelob Ultra was the post race beer), medal engraving and many more sponsors with samples. Not many areas with shade.

Overall: I would only recommend this race if you want to get the medal for your collection. It was organized fine, but it was pricey and there was nothing too special about it.

You can get my personal journey at www.marathang.wordpress.com

Online registration. Easy to access contact through email if you had any questions. I believe it was in the $25-$20 range. Could sign up for this as part of the re-run, and run the 13.1 or 10k the next day.

Expo was huge, conference center full of vendors. Thursday & Friday before races. No Saturday expo or packet pickup. Included with registration was a bib with your name, timing chip on bib, back pack, race booklet, Chipotle coupons for KC area.

There was parking available in area ramps, and tickets were validated. never had to pay to park.

Evening race. About 75 ish degrees and sunny. Race start was organized by kid pacers, told to line up in "corrals" according to pace.

Race started on time after some announcements and the National Anthem.

Course had lots of hills, nothing steep. Run on the streets of Kansas City. Mostly asphalt, so it was hot! There was one water stop at the half way point with paper cups. Each mile was marked. There were spectators, cheering mostly for family members. One spectator had a hose set up to cool people off.

The finish was marked with the timing clock and an arch. A medal was handed to finishers, along with a cool towel. As you walked through the chute, there were bananas, granola bars, water, chocolate milk, & peanut butter crackers. There was a beer area to redeem the beer tag on the bib. There was also a BBQ sandwich tag to redeem. Plenty of room to hang out post race, friendly atmosphere.

Overall, great race, great organization, tough course.

Run 4 Troops Marathon, Marathon Relay Run / Walk. Heritage Trail - Dyersville, IA - Dubuque, IA. Saturday, June 28, 2014. Humid 70-80 degrees, cloud cover.

Military Style race. Hydration was only thing advertised on course, at each relay exchange; carry anything else you needed with you.

Registration: Available online for $75 or through mail entry form. Relay teams could have 2-12 members for $35 / person. Included with registration was the trail fee, race bib, shirt (unisex tech), timing chip bracelet.

Packet Pick Up / Pre-race: You could pick up your packet the Friday before the race or race day morning. The race is point to point, there was a shuttle from Dubuque (finish) to Dyersville (start). You could also make arrangements as parking was available at the start and finish. There were plenty of port-o-potties at the start. The National Anthem was sung live after lots of announcements.

Race / Course: Entire course is run on the Heritage trail, which is crushed limestone & flat. However there were paved sections and inclines /declines near major road intersections. The majority of the trail was shaded. There were 6 legs & 5 exchanges for the relays, this is where the water & Gatorade stops were. Liquids were in a variety of cups from paper to plastic. Some of the stops had pretzels. Each mile was marked with a sign. There were volunteers at the road crossings. One road crossing had a sprinkler set up. There were port - o- potties, but you had to keep an eye out for them. The spectators were in the form of relay teams at each exchange, there were also family members. If you wanted a time split, you could slide your chip across a box at each exchange. The legs were not even, 6.6, 4.4, 3.6, 4.5, 3.4, and 3.7 miles.

Post Race: After crossing the finish line, & sliding the timing chip across the box a volunteer handed you a dog tag medal and a bottle of water (powerade or chocolate milk.) There was an announcer reading names as runners came in. The finishing area was spread out, there was one small tent with apples, bananas, and grapes. By the time I finished there were empty pizza boxes and 20 ish cookies.

Overall: Decent price, flat course, and the time of year are the major factors in deciding whether I would run it again.