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Race Reports for Chicago Marathon

[26]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability:

  • Comments: I have nothing else to compare it to, but I've done it twice and for a ginormous race, it's pretty smooth with minor glitches here and there. The course is truly a sightseeing bonanza if you can enjoy it. A lot of people try to qual for Boston here, but I am not sure this is the best race for it...it's flat, yes, but the course is so clobbered with people that unless you are in the A or B corrals, you are going to be severely hindered for at least the first 6-8 miles or so. You have been warned.
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[27]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: All things considered this was another good Chicago Marathon. However nothing will compare to running it two years ago in 3:41 and qualifying for Boston! :-)
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[28]
Reported by:
Race rating (3)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?No

  • Post race activities?
  • Overall course based on my ability:

  • Comments: I thought that aid stations were weirdly spaced out. Sometimes they were less than a mile apart, sometimes they were 2 miles apart. I was VERY glad that I carried fluids with me.
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[29]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Very well orgainzed. The race was very crowded but a ton of fun
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[30]
Reported by:
Race rating (2)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities?
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Would not run this one again
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[31]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: It's a good race. Lives up to its reputation.
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[32]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: My kidney stone development took three weeks out of my training schedule during the time I would have been ramping up my mileage. The setback took me out of my goal time. I think I had a real good 1st half. I was right on pace and I felt good. I really started to hurt about mile 15 though and I never recovered. My mental game was right on though. I never hit the mental wall that made me want to quit. I think part of this was due to the fact that I was running for a cause. I couldn't let the ACS and the thousands of cancer victims down. My pain was nothing compared to theirs and I realized that and it kept me going. The race conditions started out reall good for this race, however, they turned south during the race. We went to race environmental condition red when I was passing about mile 20. I was told that the race directors almost stopped the race due to rising temperatures. The temp at race start was about 62 degrees and we were pushing 87 when I finished. Reports were
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[33]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Amazing race. Will do this one every single year if I'm in town :)
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[34]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Enjoyed the day. One complaint I do have is there was no water/gatorade availiable outside the finish area and once you left you could not go back in to get more.
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[35]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Awesome crowd support! Need to work on my training program for next year.
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[36]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities?
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Besides the heat, I really really enjoyed the experience. The crowds were great, the course was great (if it would have been 45* anyways). Lots of volunteers. GREAT weather for sightseeing the city. Getting to/from the expo was kinda a pain. The entrance to the seeded corral was a cluster f^&k though. Based on 3 out the past 4 years being in the 80s, I would probably never plan on doing this one again even though it was a great place for marathon.
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[37]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Proud to have finished my first marathon. Hope to complete more and lower my PR.
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[38]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: For an event designed to host and process 45,000 runners plus all of the needs that can come along with that - this was a pretty well oiled machine. The volunteers, as always, were awesome. They are everywhere. Probably the best thing is that before the race they are scattered throughout Grant Park and on the streets. Their sole existence is to be there just in case you have a question and/or get lost and might be a mile away from where you need to be.
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[39]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?No
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Below average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Chicago is a lovely city to run a marathon in. Lots of crowd support, very flat, quality field, you're never alone. The course is nice too with some good variety of park, highway, downtown, suburbs etc. Well marked with miles and kilos. But the overall organisation of the race left something to be desired. The corral system definitely needs to be reviewed, especially the bathroom situation. I saw a guy dropping the kids off in the A corral, actually in the corral! And from the finish line it was at least a half mile walk to anywhere you could sit down, which was painful. I don't blame them for the weather though. In 2007 it was in the 90s, last year in the 30s, you play the hand you're dealt..
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[40]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Not sure it can get any better. Boston, Chicago...next up...New York!
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[41]
Reported by:
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities?
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: I have nothing to compare it to but it seemed very well run. I have seen much smaller races that were more disorganized than this. The Tribune's sunny "Heat didn't impact Marathon" really pissed me off. I ran the last 6 with my husband last year and I certainly didn't see any of the following: A woman holding her stomach like she had been shot, another woman lying straight out on the pavement, with her friend yelling at her, "JUST STAY AWAKE!!!", two dudes just rolling on the ground in agony less than 400m from the finish, another dude weaving and projectile vomiting 50m from the finish. I seriously may need counseling for PTSD. Sheesh.
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[42]
Reported by:
User photo
  • Organised?
  • Events on time?

  • Lots of volunteers to help?
  • Plenty of drink stations?

  • Post race activities?
  • Overall course based on my ability:

  • Comments: Chicago puts on a great marathon. It was cool to see the changes that have been made since the disaster in 2007. They had cups of water stacked and ready, which was great, but also meant that it was warm. The color code race conditions that started the day at green or safe and ended up at red (one below cancelling the race again).
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[43]
Reported by:
Race rating (3)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Overall I call this a "successful failure". I finished 10 minutes faster than last year but had much higher expectations and feel my run was highjacked by premature wheel failure.
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[44]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Love this race. Will be volunteering next year since IMMOO is only 1 month before allowing for too little recovery time. But I will be back. And I will finish with a 4 in the front of my time. One day....
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[45]
Reported by:
User photo
  • Organised?
  • Events on time?

  • Lots of volunteers to help?
  • Plenty of drink stations?

  • Post race activities?
  • Overall course based on my ability:

  • Comments: Highly recommend Chicago Marathon to anyone. Awesome experience with 35000 runners and spectators and, since 07, support. Only bad news was how they routed runners out after the race. Think there was at least another mile or so walking after finish line to get out and back to charity tents. then another mile or so to car! Otherwise perfect.
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[46]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities?
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: All of the spectators and volunteers were amazing at this race. It was a ton of fun, despite it being sub-arctic temperatures (okay, not really, but I HATE cold weather). Only thing that puzzled me were the occasional aid stations placed about half a mile away from each other. But I was always able to find water when I needed it so it wasn't a big deal...just confusing.
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[47]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Once again, Chicago puts on an amazing race and the volunteers are the best.
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[48]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: For having 45,000 runners this was very well organized. They let somebody else get your packet for you which was nice. In addition they learned from the past and had more than enough aid stations that were full staffed with 100's of people at each one. In fact I skipped 2 of them as it wasn't needed with the cooler temps.
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[49]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: I was going to give the race a 5, but they didn't have gels at the water/gatorade stations until about 15 or so and I think there were only two in total. I was freaking out cuz I dropped on of mine and was planning on having enough til the aid station. Lucky for me, the good spectators were dolling out pretzels, candy and water. Someone was even handing out beers!! Passed on that.
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[50]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: This race is incredible, going to make it tough to decide between this and/or the Marine Corps Marathon in 2010.. I really enjoyed it, however want to come back for another shot.
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