If you have a good ferret around on the Marathon lists, you'll find this little gem. I believe there was a suggestion last year that they'd banned it, but it's still standing proud and firm.

A word of advice: the rear of the pack is usually pretty congested. But force your way through and you'll be cruising. Magnificent support, too: the course might be long and winding, but the fans certainly reach around it.

This was a terrific little event. Fantastic crowd support. For logistics and weather reasons, it was changed to a 3-times out-and-back course on Chicago's south side lakefront. I thought it was going to be boring until I realized that the relatively few supporters were sticking around for the whole thing. So I got to see the same wonderful people 6 times and make some fantastic new best friends!!

Though it was hot, I ran my 2nd best time.