One of the best fall races there is! It doesn't get much better than this…read more For a very reasonable registration fee ($30), the amenities are as follows: Rockin' goody bag. Actually the bag itself is one of those nylon drawstring backpacks with the Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) race logo on it, stuffed to the gills with fun, cool things. I love a fun goody bag! It sucks when they're filled only with boring coupons and fliers with info about hundreds of other races. My mom, a good friend of hers, and my husband did the 5k walk and so also recieved the same goody bag. We were all tickled. Good amount of parking on race morning - a huge plus. The pre-race atmosphere was awesome. Tons of volunteers, and tents offering lots of fun give-aways. There was the big Stewart's Coffee truck on site; much appreciated by spectators and participants alike on such a cool morning. (I myself, cannot partake of coffee before a run. I won't get into why. But the root word there is "run". Ok, enough of that.) The course itself is stunningly beautiful. As a sidebar, I'd like to thank Mother Nature, and any other participating powers that be for making a perfect day for it. Crisp, chill air. The fall colors. Sunny skies. Pair all of that with running through Oak Park and marveling at the beautiful homes and the equally beautiful architecture. It was marvelous. The course support was pretty unbeatable! It's so cool that SO many residents are out on their porches with flags and horns and groups of people singing and hollerin' to cheer you on. Sometimes you need all the motivation you can get! The post-race offerings were perfect. I stopped at a physical therapy tent to have my stupid, uncooperative, dumb old foot stretched out (plantar fascitis) and the gentleman who helped me easily took about 20 minutes to stretch it, assessed my shoes, and gave me tips and at home exercises. Dang! Very generous. Plus - awesome recovery food. I appreciate that very much. A long review, I know. But there are so many aspects that make this one of the best fall races of all time. See ya next year FLW!

Do not run this race. I have run the 5K for the past 4 years, and I used to love this race but now…read moreit has been taken over by small children. The past 2 years there have been so many children in the race that you might as well be racing the youth mile (that's right, they have their OWN RACE but they still race with the adults). Yesterday a small child was at the front on the start line and he dropped his ipod right when the gun went off. He then bent down to pick it up, impeding everyone behind him. I was hoping he would get trampled just so the morons in charge of this race would get the message: STOP ALLOWING CHILDREN IN THIS RACE. IT IS NOT SAFE. Someone is going to get hurt and you will be responsible. I am done with the FLW Races. Until the race director learns how to put on a race for grown-ups THIS RACE IS NOT SAFE.

This was a pretty cool race. I have to give them credit -it was super well-organized. We got there…read moreabout an hour early to park in the lot with a shuttle bus that takes you to the start. My parents came to watch and I didn't want them to have to walk very far and this was an excellent service. The other lot option required you to have to walk about a mile, which is too far from them. The only bummer -and this is probably for safety reasons -was that I thought the planes were going to be taking off and landing closer to us. You know how you drive on I-90 or Mannheim Road and the planes are literally 10 feet over your head? Yeah -call me foolish, but I thought that was going to happen as we ran. I just assumed that if they got that close to the major streets, they would just be taking off and landing close to the route. So, you will not be experiencing that -but as far as a unique experience -this was still a cool race. There is a big plane that you can pose next to for pictures and just overall an interesting event because you are accessing areas of the airport property that most people will never see. You are literally running on a runway they close for the event. The shirt was cotton -would like to see a "tech-T" in future years, as they tend to hold up better after multiple washings. After all, it is going to be a fun shirt to wear and a great conversation starter regarding our experience!

My son ventured into running longer distances this year and this was his first official half…read moremarathon. As a loving and supportive dad, I made plans to be in town to cheer him on and somewhere between deciding to be there and actually arriving, I along with six of his friends were talked into running the 5K as our way of supporting him. Packet Pickup was at Navy Pier (on the Friday and Saturday before the Sunday morning run) and was well organized. The official packet consisted of a the bib and shirt (short sleeve shirt for the 5K and long sleeve for the half marathon). There were lots of vendors present giving out items, demonstrating products, etc. Overall, it was one of the nicer packet pickups that I've experienced. The official run starts and ends in Jackson Park and getting into the area on race day can be a bit of a hassle. If driving to the area, I recommend doing the VIP package as it includes parking in a lot that is a couple of blocks from the start area. Otherwise, you will be on your own to find parking. The option is to do like we did and take an Uber/Lyft and get dropped as close as possible to the start area. Bag drop-off and pickup was well organized as they had plenty of people working to ensure the wait was minimal. That area also contained many vendors and plenty of porta-potties along with several props for picture taking. Both the half marathon and the 5K start Jackson Park, heading south and ending up on Lake Shore Drive where both runs head north towards downtown and loop back returning to Jackson Park. There were plenty of water stations along way along with numerous spectators cheering everyone on. Upon arriving the finish area there are plenty of people passing out bottles of water, Gatorade and fruit. Post race activities included 'free' food and a beverage of choice. The food quality wasn't the best but after finishing a run it hit the spot. There was a band playing in the area which contributed to the festive, celebratory atmosphere. A big shout-out to Lifetime Fitness (official host of the run) and all the other vendors and volunteers who helped make this a success. Overall, it was a well executed run, and I would definitely participate again...5K only.

I would definitely run this again, and would like to do the Windy City Challenge next year!…read more The packet pickup was quick and easy at Navy Pier, so it was fun to make a day of it plus get discounted parking. It's nice to visit the touristy spots every now and again. We were dropped off by friends familiar with the Southside so that was also easy. The weather for 2013 was warm and muggy but overall not bad. They weren't regulating corrals - if that makes a difference to anyone. I started too far forward and for the first 6 miles EVERYONE was passing me. It was nice to see after the turn around and heading back southbound on Lake Shore that I wasn't last like I believed I was! There was a fair amount of spectators but it DID fall on the same day as the first Regular Season game for the Bears. I suppose we were competing for attention. Best part? Lou Malnati's at the end! Hit the spot! Maybe we finished early enough that things didn't run out. Personally I was pleased with this entire event. Awesome volunteers!

In order to get the full effects of this race ya might want to wear 70's race attire! Yep, thats…read moreright! Bring out the short colorful shorts or colorful spandex tights;bandanna's/sweatbands, long socks, and afro; if you don't have an afro already. Then once you show up in your gear ya might want to bring it, because this is "The Original 5k!" : ) I really enjoyed this race, and hope to make it out again to run it. The Original 5k brings excitement, and competition, and attracts some of our local fast runners, and also runners that just wanting to have fun. Two words! Bring it! Bring it, or stay at home and watch that episode of Golden Girls you love : )

With only 1,081 runners (2014), you're not going to have any bottle necks at this race…read more Super fun concept...Bring running back to before technology? What, who does that? Fleet Feet does! They have people at the mile markers holding signs, yelling spilt numbers, it's absolutely hysterical. At the end of the race, they printed the results and posted them on a piece of plywood. Love it! The goodie bag is a really good pair of tube socks. I love them and wear them all of the time. You'll also see some dudes sporting some super short shorts. (wolf whistle) They could have had a few more people manning the gear check...that's literally my only gripe about the race. I'm kinda bummed they are doing the race on a Thursday instead of a Saturday this year. I seriously loved this race!

This Race is the best. well organized, great location and plenty of parking. A+ outstandingread more

This race was OK…read more The pricing was average at $30 before tax and fees. I was able to sign up a few days in advance but unfortunately wasn't able to find any discount codes; however, if you registered via SignMeUp instead of Active then you had the option to waive a commemorative shirt for $1 less and I think the overall fees were slightly less money, so it did save me a couple bucks total. They had a few days that you could pick up packets at the Roselle Park District Fitness Center and there was on-site packet pick-up at Lake Park High School West Campus outside of the Field House. The race was set to start at 8am and I showed up around 7:40am and was able to get my stuff without too much trouble. The only issues I had at the beginning were that they at first couldn't locate my information by last name and I had to spell it a few times before it seemed to sink in. The volunteers at sign-in and packet pick-up appeared to be younger high school students and not all with it. They couldn't find me by last name and then when I gave my first name we discovered that I had been assigned 2 different numbers, neither of which the packet pick-up people could locate. So I had to sign up for a new number and the girls at that table seemed to have issues with the spelling of my name, so I had to correct that before I could finally get my bib and event bag. Even then I wasn't given pins and when I came back to the table, the girl looked at me grabbing pins and goes, "Oh, yeah... there's pins... there." The race started on time and the course wasn't that impressive. It is run on the paved streets of Roselle and there were a lot of indentations and potholes along the way. It wasn't treacherous but it wasn't a smooth run either. There's a lot of small inclines that make this race harder than I had anticipated, so I finished with a time of 31:50, which was about a minute slower than my last race and I could feel it. The finishing area is not the same as the starting line. It's set back and off to the side of the high school. I grabbed a bunch of bananas, handed the gross cookies to my Husband, and stocked up on granola bars. They had some pizza and hot dogs offered, which we took advantage of. I had to go to the Race Results tent to finish giving my information to the people there so they could properly record it since my bib number differed from the number I'd been assigned. It took a couple tries and some time, but they figured it out in the end. I don't know if I'd run this race again, but it was something nice in between my previous race and my next race to get an idea of how my training is coming along.

This is an excellent 5k Turkey Trot on the far Northwest side of the city. The start and finish…read moreare right in the main area of Edison Park near all the restaurants. There were 7,000 runners this year so the start was very tight. After the 1st mile of so it opened up and you can run comfortably. The course is flat and winds you through the neighborhoods and back to the finish. For $25 or so you get a shirt and bib, no chip. There are clocks at each mile and a water station near St. Adalbert's. There are lots of cops around to keep everything civil. This is a fun way to get a little activity before your turkey dinner!

This is a fun Thanksgiving morning run. Registration is very reasonable (~$20) and registration…read morecomes with a long sleeve cotton t-shirt. Race is not chip timed, but they do have time checks at a few points along the way. Course is flat as a pancake (as you expect in Chicago). There is an enormous amount of runners, so if you are looking to run hard / fast make sure you make your way to the front at the starting gate. A lot of crowd participation along the course. Jogging strollers are allowed. Need to find on street parking for the event in the neighborhood if you are driving, so allow yourself a little extra time for that. Fun little kids race proceeds the 5K. Local businesses (pubs) open up early for folks to grab a beer after the race.

I actually had a real ball with my pups. I didn't realize so many people would be part of this…read moreawesome experience and it made my heart skip a beat to know that so many love their pets as much as I do. We got there fairly early so we were able to look around at all the cool outfits some of this pups had. The race was really well done and the route was good also. I didn't like that fact that some of the people with bigger dogs didn't realize that some of us have Chihuahuas and their big dogs intimidate them so they should hold them vs letting them try to sniff on the little ones. Freaked one of my dogs out but the other went into attack mode to protect his brother. Still all in all it was a pleasant walk and the pups were wore out afterwards. The only thing I do have to say is that the actual run was good but they had a big area for VIPS and so some of the pups couldn't get inside due to so many crowding and not worrying if pups had water or not. I was really happy with all the free things given out and my pups racked up on treats and such. That made me really happy. Also, they did have a contest for the best dressed dog, but of course bigger dogs get the attention but still, I think it was fair. Security was good too, although you have some rif raf who still think they can act any type of way and get away with it. Messing with dogs and such is not a good thing, especially when the owner (me) will die for his pups. I say this because some teenagers were messing with peoples dogs to make them growl but when it came to my pups, ummm that's a no no because I don't let anyone mess with my babies. Besides that I think it was a success and I would definitely do it again!

This race was done VERY well...my only complaint is that there was no water at the finish line. You…read morehad to walk clear across a large field to get water. That's a huge no-no when it comes to a running event. From packet pickup to gear check to the vendors at the end...you can tell that this is a very well thought out race (except for the water debacle). No bottle necks on the course. The walkers go the opposite way of the runners (genius!!!). Lot's of puppies. Awe.

Course is the same as almost all weeknight 5Ks in the city. Start at Soldier and run down the…read morelakeshore trail and loop back. Somehow, because the run was affiliated with the Bears, starting at Soldier, felt appropriate. Well organized event. Event was run in waves to limit the amount of congestion on the course. Descent post party activity, with post race beers. Nice Bears branded tech t-shirt.