Featured Running Event - Shamrock Shuffle Experience

Race : Shamrock Shuffle
Distance : 8k
Location : Starts in Grant Park, circles the streets of downtown Chicago, Ends in Grant Park

Going to take a different approach to this entry - diary style-ish

Before the sun comes up, 10s of thousands (literally), Chicagoans and Suburbanites get up and start to get ready to run.
Before THAT, the volunteers have already left their houses
Gear Check opens before the sun rises
Automated announcements can be heard throughout Grant Park as the sun comes up
People start arriving
Many head to the post-race area to get amazing pictures of the sun rising over beautiful Lake Michigan
Starting as early at 7:00am, runners get to their start corrals
Many others continue to walk around Grant Park as a method of stretching
At some point after 8:00am, many get their "Over 21 Wristbands" to avoid the crowd later
By 8:30am the first wave (about 10,000 runners) takes off
By 9:00am the next wave (about 10,000 runners) takes off
And around 9:30am, the walkers begin their 2-mile lakefront walk
At each of these intervals a sea of green takes over the streets, people dressed as leprechauns, as pots of gold, just all in green, and even in kilts, take off running
At some point between sunrise and 8:30am, hundreds and hundreds of volunteers have staffed aid stations and intersections and whatnot
Also, at some point, thousands (yes, for real) spectators, fans, relatives, friends have lined the streets to cheer somebody - or anybody - on
The race heads north and almost immediately does a classic Chicago thing - goes underground - as runners go under Wacker Drive and under some buildings
As runners go underground - fans standing on Randolph look down and cheer the runners as they disappear
Runners emerge and go over the recently green-dyed river and enter River North - another classic Chicago icon
Runners then cross the river again - in case anybody missed seeing the green river even more green than normal
The race then heads south into Da Loop (or The Loop) with spectators all over the place
The race turns West on Jackson (part of Historic Route 66)
And then turns again at the iconic Chicago Board of Trade and heads north on the "Financial Valley" (a term for LaSalle Street as it feels like a valley)
Eventually the race turns West again and then South on Franklin
And then - runners get to see another great icon - The Sears Tower - as they run towards it, and then past it
Runners then go under an expressway (or the ending of one at least - Congress Parkway) and turn back East
Runners then head south on another well known Chicago street - Michigan Avenue
And then, just to make runners miserable (ha) - they go uphill on Roosevelt Road, and then head downhill to the finish line.
It's like an tourists ultimate tour of sights - an architectural tour of epic portions - all while running 4.97 miles (or even more if you don't run the tangents)
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL
Then comes the after party
Runners grab their gear and head to Buckingham Fountain (still turned off for the season)
Once there they get a free beer
But even better - there is a live band, that plays from 9:30am until 12:30pm.  The stage is set up on the East end of the Fountain area (facing West)
This means, while the band plays, beautiful Lake Michigan is the backdrop
And, the panoramic view includes the Adler Planetarium, Navy Pier, Sears Tower, Prudential Building, Historic Michigan Avenue, and the ENTIRE Chicago Skyline!
While the rock band takes a break, the world famous Shannon Rovers Marching Pipe Band marches out to the front of the stage
There they play traditional Irish / Scottish songs on bagpipes, and also on drums
They finish by dedicating their final song to the Chicago PD and FD and all the Military - and they deliver a rendition of Amazing Grace than had grown men in tears!
Then the rock band returns and all the crowd sings and dances

There are so many stories within the stories to tell, like the guy yelling Freebird between Pipe Band songs, and someone replying with KevHeads Rule!  Or people from 21-71 years of age singing every word to every 80s song played on stage.  On, on track, the runners who stopped when a spectators child fell out of the stroller while clapping, to immediately assist the child and to block her from being run over/into.  To the never ending amazing outfits that people RAN in.  To the amazingly polite volunteers at so many areas - and all of the EMTs and Chicago PD that were throughout the course. 

All of this, by the way, happened before 12 Noon - and guess what, it was 27 degrees with a 35 mph wind coming off the Lake - and that bothered NOBODY!!!

This IS by far (not counting the Chicago Marathon), Chicago's best running event - period, hands down.  The most scenic route, the best post-race party, the best volunteers, and simply - the most fun!!!

And I'm sure I left out about 100 other really awesome details!!!!