May 7, 2024
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Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.7 
Organization 4.9 
Spectators 4.6
Number of comments: 92 [displaying comments 81 to 85]
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Luke Inman from Indiana
(9/17/2014)
 "Very well organized and structured." (about: 2014)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I can't think of one negative comment to say about the Last Chance Boston Qualifer-Chicagoland. From the directors, to the volunteers, to the spectators, and to the city, it was an all around class act. Super friendly people willing to help you with anything you might need. It provided me with memories I will never forget. I recommend this marathon to anyone who wants to have an unbelievable experience. 5 out of 5 stars. | |
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Norman Heiser from Princeville, Illinois
(9/15/2014)
"One of the best of 49 marathons I have run." (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The organization of this last-chance marathon is second to none. Craig Bixler and crew did a fantastic job of having everything a runner could want. The water stops were wonderful with even the volunteers there cheering on each runner every time we passed them. The course is flat and fast!!! Tech shirts and really neat medals along with the chance to qualify for Boston really is the 'capper.' Wonderful pace group provided by Dick Pond. Can't say enough about this race. If you ever need a last chance to qualify for Boston, this is THE RACE. | |
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A. J. from Illinois
(9/15/2014)
"Great race, optimized for qualifying for Boston." (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Very well organized, volunteers were great, and pacers right on track. 8 x 3.25 mile laps made it easy for spectators. Almost perfectly flat. Beautiful area, so I didn't mind the 8 laps at all. By the 8th loop, I knew exactly what to expect. | |
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K. O. from New York, NY
(9/14/2014)
 "Great Fall BQ Option!" (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I write this review with some hesitation (I don't want this race to be too popular). This marathon was scheduled on a day where one can qualify for Boston in both 2015 and 2016. Nearly everyone who registered was gunning to BQ (I qualified with nearly 3 minutes to spare, with my last BQ in 2004). Here's why I loved this race: 1. Small. Approximately 300 runners. 2. Flat beautiful loop course. Course never got boring despite the repeat loops. One noticeable uphill of 20 feet and a corresponding downhill. Eight loops of 3.4 miles. 3. Enthusiastic volunteers and fans supporting all runners. 4. Nice extras. You have a fluid table to leave your own water bottle. There are pacers for each qualifying group. Gels and food are provided at 2 aid stations that you hit a total of 16 times. 5. Comprehensive and easy to understand race instructions. 6. Weather and start time. At the start it was in the low 40s and we started at 6:30am. 7. Results. By my estimation half of the finishers BQed. There is some self-selection bias here but it is an indicator of the race's quality. Since these results count for both Boston 2015 and 2016, I won't need to run it next year, but I would definitely be interested in coming back and recommend it to anyone! | |
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C. C. from Illinois
(9/14/2014)
"A neat concept and fun event" (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Last Chance BQ.2 Chicagoland Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 The Last Chance BQ.2 marathon is designed to maximize your chance of qualifying for Boston, and for the most part the inaugural version of this race did a very good job. The course is easy and flat, consisting of eight 3.25 mile loops. One of the best features was a row of water bottle tables, where you could leave your own bottles, drop them a bit later, and pick them up again each time around. It was well executed and allowed me to bring custom sports drink. The bottles were easy to grab and there was plenty of time to get a good drink in before the drop. Loved that! There also were several well stocked aid stations with supportive volunteers. The spectators were not abundant, but those that were there were very supportive. I only have one complaint. The pacers I had experience with left a lot to be desired. In the first group I ran with, the pacer arrived about 20 seconds before the gun went off, never said a word, and took off about 30 seconds too fast. That portion was downhill, so I figured it would level off and the pacer would settle in. The pacer did so for a bit and then sped up again, causing me give up on the idea of having a pacer and dropping back. A friend of mine in that group stuck with them for quite a awhile and reported that the pace was inconsistent and often stayed too fast-as much as 20+ seconds at times. After I dropped back, to my surprise, the next pace group quickly caught up with me while I was running a good 15 seconds faster than their pace. This group, which should have been rather large had only a few people and the pacer was consistently doing a pace 15-20 seconds faster than they were supposed to be doing. I came across a person later who originally was in that group and was upset about how the pacer was far to fast. In a race such as this, where the pacers are already going for 4 minutes under the qualifying time, accuracy is essential. I would suggest more careful selection of pacers in future years and also consider perhaps changing the goal to 3 minutes under, which is still plenty of time to guarantee Boston registration and would be a few seconds more forgiving if pacers go out too fast. I don't expect perfect pacing, which is quite difficult, especially given that GPS data can vary among devices as well, but the deviations I saw should not have been as large as they were. Otherwise, I loved this race and would happily do it again. I hope they hold it again next year. |
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