Race Review: Des Plaines River Trail Races – Half Marathon

Race Review: Des Plaines River Trail Races – Half Marathon

Just over three weeks ago on Sunday, October 17, I ran my second in-person race since prior to the pandemic. The first was the Chicago Half (which I reviewed in 2018). At the beginning of 2020, I had planned that year to complete my 10th Marathon. Check. And my 50th Half Marathon. Five weeks after the marathon, the world shut down. Half Marathons 49 and 50 would have to wait.

Read more
Race Review: Hot Chocolate 15k/5k (Chicago)

Race Review: Hot Chocolate 15k/5k (Chicago)

I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in Chicago last Sunday. It was awesome! There was also a 5k and between both events there were over 32,000 finishers making it one of Chicago’s biggest races. Sponsored by Allstate, Hot Chocolate has become one of those kind of iconic races that everyone does. With Shamrock Shuffle which opens the Chicago race season in March, it serves as as a bookend to the season in November. Read more

Race Review: Race Against Hate

Race Review: Race Against Hate

I know four of my last six posts have been race reviews.  Can you stand another? Last weekend’s race was a great event for an even more important cause, so please bear with me another week.

We ran the 10k at the 20th Annual Ricky Birdsong Memorial Race Against Hate on Father’s Day. There were also 5k and Youth Mile and Half Mile races. Ricky Birdsong  was the men’s basketball coach for Northwestern, who, just about 20 years, ago was murdered by a white supremacist.  His killer went on a rampage that Independence Day weekend in 1999 that left 7 wounded and another dead. Read more

Race Review: Cinco de Miler

Race Review: Cinco de Miler

It was a beautiful, sunny morning last Saturday for Cinco de Miler, Chicago’s only 5-mile race.  Okay, I was a little chilly at the start and that put a bit of a zap on my head. My performance was less than stellar; actually, my time may have even been a personal worse for the distance. However, my own race experience didn’t diminish seeing all the wonderful things this event had to offer. Read more