Wonderful running experience. The organization and volunteers were outstanding. This is a truly amazing race for every level of runner. This was my 12th marathon and PRed by 2:00.

Chicago was amazing this year...and FINALLY had some good weather to match the incredible quality of this race. I felt like they paid special attention on the second half of the course this year, where there were many cheer zones and some of them were LOUD. Awesome. Organization was fantastic in every respect (plentiful aid on the course, easy to find everything before and after, etc.) except one: they ran out of medals this year. Since Chicago attracts so many new marathoners, this really, really needs to be addressed for next year. Aside from that, amazing experience. Bravo, Chicago!

A bit crowded especially at the start and hard to keep a constant pace. But that goes with the size of the event....and its popularity.

This is my 15th Chicago marathon. God Bless the cool weather-great spectators, volunteers and drumming throughout. So well organized...as safe as you can get doing something fairly dangerous.

Very well organized. Awesome fan support. Flat course. Must sign up early or enter through a charity group.

I love this race, it is so motivating with the crowds and all the runners. However it seems to be a little warm and wish they would move the race back to late October or early November. The crowds, expo, and organization is great!!!! Not sure I will do again, simply because of the heat.

Big race! Weather was a tad on the warm side, but I have run in worse.

Organization: Expo was quite large with plenty of products no matter what you were looking for, nice to have the free buses. I walked about a mile from my hotel to the start line about two hours before race start and it took a while to figure out where I wanted to be to start, but if you give yourself plenty of time its OK.

Course: Decent, I love the sponges since it was so warm. All the spectators and excitement in the air as you run sure helps keep you going. But its so crowded, as I was dodging runners I remembered why I stick to more small town marathons, however you know that when you sign up, so no complaints.

Swag/Extras: The medal is decent, but I think the shirts design sucks. I assume they want you to buy their overpriced shirts that are for sale, out of 15 marathons this is my probably my least favorite shirt!

Overall, Chicago is such a great city to spend a weekend in, it does make a really good destination marathon.

For all the great things this marathon has to offer, there are some practical realities worth considering. To begin with, this race is crowded from start to finish, meaning middle pack runners will find it hard to get into a rhythm and must always be wary of the crowds around them.

Many sections of the course are too narrow for 40,000 runners which gets worse when spectators spill out into the streets because there are no barricades holding them back. Way too many spectators try and cross the street during the race putting themselves and runners in harms way. There is also a large number of first time marathoners. This contributes to an environment where people are stopping dead in their tracks at aid stations and lots of people are walking the last 6 miles due to poor pacing.

All in all, there are numerous hazards in this type of running environment that if nothing else can lead to frustration over the course of 26 miles. If you are into crowds, both on and off the course, then this is a great event for you. If you want a marathon experience where you can run at a reasonable pace, safely and efficiently negotiate aid stations, and generally have a less stressful environment for what by nature is a very stressful endeavor, then you may want to consider other marathons. There are numerous fall marathons within a few hours drive of Chicago to consider.

Finally, for some weird reason, the weather for this race always seems to be on the extremes. Over the last 4 years alone, 3 have been very hot and one extremely cold and windy. I have run 25 marathons with a goal of running the five majors (Boston, NY, Chicago, London and Berlin). Had it not been for that, I would have skipped this one.

I was looking forward to this race for a year. It was mostly flat, though a little hill at the end. The race organization was great - the expo was wonderful, spacious, and fun. the pre-race was easy, though the corrals were very tight and seemed to close a little too early. We paid for the Hospitality tent and it was money well spent. Though i didn't attend the main after race festivities, the hospitality tent was great - massages(no lines), beer, water, gatoraid, food, tables and cover from the heat. That was the biggest issue. It was in the mid 70's when i finished, way too hot for a marathon. Ant there were still plenty of folks on the course. It is dangerous to run a marathon in that heat. My only critism is that they could start the race ealier to avoid the heat.

This was my 20th marathon. My two sisters and three first time women marathoners also came with me & ran it. The weather was too warm for all of us, but I was pleased by the course changes and many tree lined streets and shaded areas. I loved the mile/kilometer markers and the meter markers at the end of the race and the fact that the last few hundred meters were downhill. I wish that access to the bleachers was more easy to get to from the runner area. I wanted to cheer my friends on at the end and had to walk a long way to get to the bleachers.