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☰
Chicago Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Chicago Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.7 
Organization 4.3 
Spectators 4.9
Number of comments: 949 [displaying comments 711 to 721]
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S. S. from USA
(10/12/2004)
"IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERSTATE THS EXPERIENCE" (about: 2004)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I lost my legs at the half, and the crowd carried me the rest of the way. I can't wait to run it again healthy. | |
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M. N. from Chicago, IL
(10/11/2004)
"The best 5 hours of running in my life!" (about: 2004)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This has been the best race and marathon I have run so far. This year (2004) the weather matched the organization and the crowd, nothing could have been done to top it! Thank you Chicago, La Salle Bank and everyone else involved in it! | |
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S. R. from Kalamazoo, MI
(10/11/2004)
"Great Experience" (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This race is a great experience for any marathoner, especially a first timer. The crowd support is phenomenal, 3 and 4 deep in some areas. Plus the crowd is energetic and encouraging, not passive and curious like other marathons I have run. Best sign I saw in the crowd: big, burly, overweight guy holding a sign that read, 'In my mind I'm a Kenyan'. You just had to laugh. The crowd support and support of the other runners definitely provides energy to carry you along. The course is great, a great tour of Chicago. Downtown, the parks, the ethnic neighborhoods, give you a real flavor of this great city. I found the organization to be excellent. I'm sure with 40,000 entrants some people are bound to be teed off about something, but obviously this marathon is put together by pros. Having said all that, I would also add that if you feed off the energy of crowds, then you've found the right marathon. I discovered it was all a bit crowded and congested for my own taste, and will probably go back to a mid-size or smaller marathon next fall. I'm glad I had the experience, though; the Chicago Marathon should definitely be on any marathoner's 'must do' list. | |
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C. K. from Lancaster, PA
(10/11/2004)
"Great first marathon!!" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Very well organized, very cool and flat, scenic marathon with gerat support and crowds. Beautiful course. Lots of runners, which was energizing. A small problem with the mailing of the confirmation, solved with an e-mail. | |
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M. E. from Lookout Mountain, GA
(10/11/2004)
"Great Race! Second half lacking." (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 My sixth marathon and my first in Chicago. I really enjoyed the race except for the second half of the course. The otherwise great fan support really drops off and the scenery is boring. They would do better to switch the direction we run the course. The army of volunteers were the best I've ever seen. I hope to be there again next year - running the opposite direction! | |
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Jim Skibo from Cedar Hill TX (Dallas)
(10/11/2004)
"It's a class act." (about: 2004)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 You owe it to yourself to run this. This was my 10th marathon and the largest I?ve ever run by a factor of ten. They said they cut it off at 40,000 but at packet pickup they had lines for bib numbers over 42,000 and I passed a few runners with bib numbers in the 42K range. But the numbers are the fun. THE FANS: Oh, wow. This is not just a race, it?s a major event. This was the first time I?ve seen yelling and screaming fans the entire 26.2 miles! Moreover, they got denser the longer the race went on. I think it must be an after-church thing... who knows. The video of the winner shows sparse crowds at the 2 hour point, but I know from running the same path at the 4 hour mark, there were screaming fans ten deep. My technical shirt has a store and city name on it and the fans hollered out the city throughout the race. These are some of the friendliest race supporters I?ve ever seen. (Dallas could take a few pointers!) SUPPORT: Flawless. All the water and all the Gatorade you?d want and well placed throughout the course. In many of the in-between places, the fans had set up water stations with their own plastic cups. The fans also had food, fruit and candy for runners throughout the course. I?m proud when I finish a marathon, so I wear the medal for a day or so. At every point throughout the city, complete strangers stopped us and congratulated us and asked how we did. Moreover, they were quite familiar with what respectable marathon times were. THE COURSE: If you are out to get a PR and are more than an 8 minute miler as am I, forget the PR! The course is basically flat... only 135 feet of ascent and descent and that?s from the occasional bridge. There is a slight hill right at the end... about miles 25.9... and it gets your attention. The course goes through several different ethnic parts of the city and that lends a nice diversity to the experience. I had practiced saying ?Thank You? in Chinese, Polish and Spanish and that came in handy as my give back for their kind support. THE WEATHER: Clear with starting temps a nice cool upper 40?s and finishing temps (noon for me) at about 55 or so. Clear day with some wind gusts but nothing to worry about. Actually got a bit chilly in the shadows of skyscrapers, but not something you?d dress for to compensate. THE MEDAL: OK, I like finisher?s medals and Chicago?s doesn?t disappoint. I saw one from a couple of years ago and it's kind of plain. The 2004 medal is the marathon logo executed in shiny brass with elaborate low-relief enameling. Dates and event names are prominent and well executed. OTHER: The expo was loaded with stuff and was an experience in itself. For hotels, we stayed in a very affordable 4-star hotels in Oak Brook that was 30 minutes by train away from downtown. There were plenty of $275 a night room downtown, so you?ve got choices. | |
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W. H. from Maryville, Tn
(10/11/2004)
"Fan support, organization great, too many runners" (about: 2004)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 For a race this big, the organization was great, the fans are unbelievable along the entire course, and you couldn't ask for more beautiful weather. The aid station helpers were extremely busy trying to keep up with all the runners and they all kept encouraging us. I gave the course 3 stars because I didn't like the number of runners, could barely even step onto the road where the race started and it took about 15 minutes to cross the start line from where I was. I came thinking I was going run a 'fast' race, because it was flat, but it took about 5 or 6 miles before the crowd spread out enough to really start running. By that time I was way off my pace and couldn't catch up without running too fast. So the race was disappointing in that sense. I don't know if I would run a race this big again or not. One bit of advice to spectators next year: stay on one side of the road and quit trying to cross over between runners. I saw this a few times and it is annoying and could get someone hurt. | |
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Nicholas Giebler from St. Louis
(10/11/2004)
"What a way to start!" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Chicago Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon. I couldn't have picked a better place to go. Yes, it was crowded, but the crowd, the volunteers, and the various neighborhoods make Chicago a MUST RUN, especially if this will be your first marathon! | |
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Doug Widowski from Belvidere, IL
(10/11/2004)
"Best Chicago Marathon" (about: 2004)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ Chicago Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 31st marathon and my 8th Chicago. The course gets better and the organization better. I ran it with a friend from work and this was his first. Thanks Chicago for a great race! Doug Widowski Belvidere, IL | |
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M. K. from Parchment, MI
(10/11/2004)
"Excellent Marathon " (about: 2004)
2 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This is my 2nd marathon and was by far the best marathon experience I've had. Great crowds, awesome support, couldn't ask for a better organized race. |
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