Another great Rock N Roll Chicago! I really love this race - it's always well managed with great course support and a killer post race party. This year was no exception, and my experience overall was very good.

Good - All the must haves are in place - great course support, on-time starts, easy registration and packet pick up, solid expo, competitive field (with Shalane running this year!), great medals, free beer and post race party. Love it. My favorite part of this race - chocolate milk at the finish line!! WHY, why! don't all races have this. It's such a nice perk and really puts you on track to recover quickly. This course is pretty damn flat too, so if you're looking for a fast time, give this race a try.

Only complaint was the probably out of the race's hands, and that was that there weren't any bands in the first 5 miles! That's a lot of empty miles for a Rock n Roll race, but rumor was that the city wouldn't let them have bands in the first few miles. Honestly though, I didn't really care - my mind was quickly distracted by how early I was getting tired. :)

Overall, a VERY good race and one I'd definitely recommend.

This was my first 10K, and it was really a great event. I tend to really enjoy Fleet Feet Chicago races, and this was no exception. Packet pickup was at the store and was a breeze. Getting to the race was a snap for me (Divvy!), but one of my friends drove and parked at Soldier Field and parking was super easy.

PROS
Swag - they didn't have my shirt size (S - not sure if this is just because I signed up late), so I gave away my shirt, but it looked nice and had cool Big Ten Network branding. Best swag - Big Ten team trucker hats! This was a very unique and super cool piece of swag that I loved. Plus, the finisher area looked super cool afterward because EVERYONE was wearing a white-faced trucker hat with their team name and colors. Loved this.

Post race - Um, no other race even comes close on the post race party. Huge area with a free beer and free chicken sausage, games like bags, 40-yard dash, slip 'n slide, huge stage with all the Big Ten team mascots dancing around, and great music. Big Ten 10K post race pretty much blows everything else away.

Cost - Last minute sign up was $48, and for what you get, this is a great value. Some people might think it's pricey for a 10K, but you definitely get what you pay for here. Marquee event for a totally reasonable price tag.

Aid stations - well manned, paper cups, gatorade then water, often. Check, check, check.

CONS (minor)
Course - If I had to pick a con, it'd be the course, but even that was totally fine. It's a pretty straightforward out and back. There were some extreme turns at the end - a U-turn toward the finish line, then another u-turn back down the finishing shoot - which weren't ideal. And one thing I didn't like and heard every single runner that I talked to mention was, inside the finisher's area was a 40-yard dash game. Very cool idea, but the sign for the 40-yard dash looked just like the race finish line. So you think you're done with the race but you actually have about 1K to go. I pushed hard to the "mirage" finish only to realize I had a ways to go and was pretty much out of gas :). So not a big deal, but that was one thing I didn't love and I heard lots of people mention. But like me, the people who did mention it didn't really care THAT much.

HIGHLY recommend this race. Solid value, unique experience in a time when unique races are hard to come by, fantastic atmosphere and outstanding management. Fleet Feet just puts on good races, simple as that.

Truth be told, I never really wanted to do a Ragnar race. The idea of being trapped in a van with a bunch of people over a 24 hour period just sounded terrible. But when I was asked to join the Fleet Feet Chicago team, who was going for the OVERALL win with a co-ed team, I quickly changed my mind.

So glad I did! Overall, this race was outstanding. I had an incredibly good time, put out some hard runs, and made some new friends. All things considered, I couldn't have been much happier. Here's what I learned.
- Obvious point, but your van mates will make or break your Ragnar experience. I knew two of the guys in my van really well, so no concern there. I'd met the three females in my van at some of our team meetings, but didn't really know them well. They turned out to be great van mates and badass runners! I couldn't have asked for a better situation, and if I had to do it again, I'd want the same van. Our team captain was also extremely well-prepared, so that was a huge advantage too.
- My teammate, Andrew, made a great point that all Ragnar runners should remember. And that is "don't freak out if you don't see a directional sign for a while." I thought the course was extremely well marked, and I don't think any of us got lost (though we know other teams did. I think that says more about those teams than it says about the course marking). But there are gaps where you won't see a sign for a little while, and when that happens, just relax and keep running. If it's been a REALLY long time since you've seen a sign, then you can start worrying.
- Bring your own caffeine! We were all jonesing for some coffee but only found some in one place on the course, and the volunteers had no chance of keeping up with the demand. If you like your morning coffee, either have a bunch of thermoses, or bring caffeinated gels (I had two double espresso gels and they saved me - I recommend bringing at least a half dozen. Bring more to hand out and you'll be a freaking king.

Overall I thought it was a very well-managed race, and like I said, we felt pretty clear on driving and running directions. Safety requirements and gear were well spelled out and easy to follow.

- T-shirts were nice, pretty standard tech T.
- Medals were awesome - different design but very solid and cool looking.
- On-course support is virtually nil. Be prepared to bring all of your own everything :)
- Parking in Chicago is kind of annoying because you have to park north of the finish and take a shuttle down to the finish line (unless you are the last runner, obviously). Being right in the city, I don't fault the race for this - not sure there's a better way. Just something you need to put up with.
- Post race party was great! Papa Johns sponsored two free pizzas to each team, and Sierra Nevada sponsored a free beer to each runner. Pizza and beer is EXACTLY what the doctor ordered after being awake and running for 20+ hours.

I definitely recommend this race - just be sure to get organized and stack your van with cool people who want to take the race as seriously (or casually) as you do!

Final stats -
Our team finished in 20:12:27 (though we requested a time adjustment because one of our runners got stuck behind a train). 1st place co-ed team by about 4 hours, 2nd place team overall by about 45 minutes.
My legs were an average of 5:50, 5:35, and 5:49.

I have to start this review by saying that the race was canceled, so most of my review will cover pre race and race day leading up to the cancellation. I did end up running the half marathon course after the race was canceled (without a bib, so I was just a runner), so I can speak to that aspect as well.

Also, I have absolutely no problem with the race management company, Team Ortho’s, decision to cancel the race. It was raining and lightning like CRAZY the night before and morning of the race. They saw even more bad weather coming, and decided to cancel the race. That weather never really materialized, but you can’t fault them for weather being unpredictable. In the end, they were right to cancel the race.

But, I did have some very serious problems with the way they communicated to runners and the timing of the cancellation. In the end, it was a lot of examples of what NOT to do.

Originally, the race was supposed to start at 6:30am. At 4am participants received an email saying that the race was on schedule, but that they would be releasing another update at 5am to confirm. They said if we didn’t see an email, we should assume the race is still on. Fair enough.

5am passed and so did 5:15 and no word from Team Ortho. Predictably, the comments section of their Facebook page was blowing up with negative comments about the race not keeping the timeline it had established for itself. At 5:30am, many people were approaching their departure time to make the 6:30am start, and then the race announced a one hour delay. So they were tardy in announcing the delay, but still far enough out to work for most runners. (I watched a video with the race director after the race was canceled and they said the decision to delay the race was made at 5am and communicated through email and Facebook at that time, but it definitely took them 30 minutes to disseminate that message. That is a VERY long time to deliver a time-critical piece of info.)

They said they would be meeting again with the national weather service and Minneapolis police at 7am and would make a final announcement at that time.

7am rolled by and no word. Now we are 30 minutes until START time with no word from the race, and everyone knows that with parking (which cost $20 - more on that later), bag drop, porto-potty stops, and walking to the start, 30 minutes is no time. So everyone just assumed the race was on and made their way to the start.

7:15 - nothing. 7:30 (amended start time) - nothing. Finally, about 7:45 as I was toward the front of the pack of people waiting to start the race (in the rain), a woman from the race management team YELLED out to the field that the race was canceled due to severe weather and the threat of lightning strikes on the course (she had to yell with no mic because their generator wasn’t working). Everyone who had just paid $20 to park had to turn around and leave with no refund. Had they made the announcement to cancel at 7am, as they told us they would do, all of those people could have saved their money.

Clearly, at 7am they were faced with a bad and worsening situation weather-wise, but delayed cancelling the race. Instead of just canceling the race, they waited and waited - letting THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE pay for parking, walk in the rain and stand together under a bunch of trees while lightning was apparently striking the course.

I get that canceling a race is a very serious and difficult decision, but their delay put a lot of people at risk, cost people money, and really left everyone with a bad taste in their mouth regarding how the race communicated.

Like I said, I ran the course and saw the aid stations - I’m confident it could have been a great race. They violated one of my biggest pet peeves though with aid stations - PLASTIC CUPS!?? No! Plastic cups are not pinchable and should NEVER be used during a race. This is race management 101 and I can’t believe races still use plastic cups. Ugh.

Not a ton of scenery, but I think it would have been a nice race. Very flat for anyone looking to log a fast time.

T-shirts were really nice, though very large (as is typical), and they also provided a race jacket for marathon runners (originally what I signed up and paid for).

The race has been very quiet since cancelling the race, and their Facebook feed is a mess of negative comments, so I’m worried their silence has led to more ill-will and negativity. I think they need to SERIOUSLY reconsider their PR and overall outreach plans, and set up protocols to trigger faster decisions and faster communication.

Again, I totally support their decision to cancel the race, but not meeting their own timelines led to so much more confusion, and ultimately negativity. After seeing so many big misses on so many basics (like timely, effective communication), I probably wouldn’t do another Team Ortho event.

I've said for a long time that the Soldier Field 10 Miler is the best race in Chicago, and once again, they were an example of how races should be managed and executed. (I talked to one BibRave user at the start who drove down from Green Bay that morning to make it his 11th out of 11 SF 10 milers. If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is!)

PARKING: Free parking at Soldier Field is incredible. Yeah, it's a bit crowded, but it's a race in the city and it moved along very well. I LOVE that they offer free parking.

SWAG: I loved the medal this year. New design that was a bit different from your standard medal and I thought it looked great and fell nicely when worn. They've always had really nice medals, so I'd have been nervous about the change, but it was definitely an improvement. T-shirt was WAY better than last year. Nike dri-fit and honest sizing. Big fan.

COURSE: This course is unique for a few reasons. Out on a closed Lake Shore Drive is super cool, and back to the stadium along the lake is just beautiful. As that our weather was like a 9 out of 10 and this years race was just beautiful.

AID STATIONS: FF always gets great volunteers, and aid stations were professionally manned and managed. I was also with the lead woman most of the way, so had the pleasure of having a bike Marshall close by the whole time. This was key when one of the runners in front of me fell and ran off without his glasses. The bike marshall (Dan Kittaka) circled back and gave him his glasses, allowing him to keep running without stopping.

Finishing on the 50 yard line is always a blast, and the after party was so much fun.

Simply put, this race is as good as it gets and anyone who travels for this race will NOT be disappointed.

Finish time - PR of 57:54, 21st place overall