The Great Western Half Marathon is held on a converted railroad trail, the majority of the course is crushed limestone, with about 20% of it on paved trail, it finishes on a road for the last mile and a half or so. The race happens in the beginning of May, right when the weather is changing from the winter, which offers perfect racing temps. Point to point course, starting at Sycamore Speedway and ending at Leroy Oaks Forest Preserve, more on that later.

Pros:
+Packet pick is a breeze, held at Dick Pond Athletics in St. Charles, walk-in, find your bib number and grab your packet. With it held at DPA, its perfect to pick up any last minute racing needs
+Parking is at St. Charles North High School, which has a large lot. You get bussed (roughly a 20 min ride) to the starting line at Sycamore Speedway. I thought I wouldn't like this, but it was nice to not have to worry about getting to the start line and finding parking.
+Start was a wave start, which helped to spread things out appropriately
+Pacers for the important finish times. I didn't use them so this is all I can say here
+Point to point course is mostly flat, just a couple of rollers where you run over a bridge, just the perfect change in elevation to mix things up for your legs. One larger hill at mile 12 can be rough, but once that one's done, you know you're on the home stretch to the finish. This used to be an out and back, which I'm glad they switched to point to point as the trail wasn't really big enough to handle runners in both directions
+Course scenery is absolute beautiful, you're in a tunnel of trees for 90% of the race
+Spectators are abundant, because the trail follows along a major road (which you don't even notice while running) so it allows easy access for them to drive along and see their runners along multiple points on the course
+Aid stations were plentiful, for a cool May day, it was perfect for me. The volunteers staffing the stations were awesome with their energy level
+Finish line party is full of energy, with post race massages and plenty of food to choose from
+the medal is absolutely beautiful. This was the 20th anniversary and the medal was a big "20"

Cons:
-Start line is a bit tricky to line up, theres not a lot of space and theres no markings aside from the pacers indicating where your pace lines up at. Can create congestion since this is a popular first half marathon for people, so many don't line up where they should.
-No beer at the finish :( really not a true con but I enjoy my post race carb re-fuel. There are plenty of bars around the area so a lot of my friends and I head out to celebrate afterwards

If you're looking for a great 1st half marathon or a PR, this is your race! I've ran it 4 times and will continue to do so!