Held in March or April each year, the Shamrock Shuffle launches the Chicago racing season. With 30,115 finishers in 2014, it's a great way to familiarize yourself with what a big-city marathon feels like, including getting to your corrals on time, which is very important. The Expo at Navy Pier is very efficient, and the gender-specific Nike tech shirts are always among my favorites of the year. My only criticism this year is that I did not see any green carpet over the grate crossings on the bridges, and only about five minutes into the race, the guy next to me caught his toe and took a terrible fall on the steel. I have run the Shamrock every year since 2011 and I think this is the first time we haven't had the carpet, but it's possible that I'm thinking about the Chicago Marathon when I remember the carpet, because the start of the race covers the same course. Other than that glitch, it's a very well managed event from start to finish, and I highly recommend it to locals and out-of-towners, novices and elite runners.