I might be biased as I PR’d, but with the great course and great running weather at that time of year, its a race I highly recommend.

The course is large enough to accommodate the volume of runners (even prior to the half marathon split), runs around some nice neighborhoods and interesting sights, and allows for you to see landmarks near the finish from a good distance so you can visually see when you are in the final mile. The other runners were friendly, and a few bands play music to cheer you on so running the course is pleasant. Also helps that it is pretty darn flat.

The race management is very good. At the last minute, President Trump decided to stay at a hotel within a block of the finish line on race day and information regarding additional street closures and updates were professionally and promptly dispersed to runners.

The race t-shirt was printed in the colors of the Indianapolis flag & in my opinion was a bit ugly & gaudy. The beanie cap they hand out at the finish line was nice & they had a lot of nice race swag for sale at the expo.

Packet Pick Up: There is no expo. The pick-up is hosted at a local running store, and this year the hours were only 11 am - 6 pm on Wednesday & Thursday for this Saturday race. They also allowed you to pick up your packet starting at 6 am on the day of the race. This appears to be what all 4,000 participants chose to do (myself included), so there were long lines and not enough volunteers. Very slow process.
Bag Check: It was 20 degrees (F) outside so basically everyone needed to check something. They had like 1-2 volunteers working the bag check tent so the line was extremely long and slow.
Race Start: There were 3 corrals for 4,000 people. My friend in the last corral only started 10 minutes after I started in the first corral. They did not space people out at all. Additionally, one of the course leader bicyclists showed up 20 minutes late. So the race started 20 minutes late! They claimed this was also to allow the ridiculously long line at the bag check to get to the start.
Course: This race had a new course in 2018. I liked some of the changes, however, the course map on the website did not designate these changes. So, I was running blind as I had no idea where it would be going and they only had small signs indicating turns. Naturally, there are always people to follow, but I like to know what to expect before starting running & normally that is not too much to ask. The 10k followed the same course at the half marathon for the first 5k. Then, the 10k runners did a u-turn and ran back along the lake front path in the opposing direction of the huge mass of runners. There were simply too many runners on the course, so the 10k runners did not hardly have space on the path to run the second half of their race.
Finish Line: They gave you a medal & a boxed water in the finish chute. Then, you could walk 300 m to some tents to get grapes, a granola bar, and Portillos Italian beef or a hot dog. The beer offered was Bud Light despite Lagunitas being advertised. There was a band playing, photo backdrops, and a few vendors at the finish line party.
Swag: I do really like the blue quarter zips they gave this year. They are a bit thin, but a nice synthetic material that will be nice to run in.
The race has potential, but unfortunately All Community Events really messed up on the management of this one.

Pros: 1) course has good views of city
2) nice wide course to accomodate number of runners
3) pleasant runners who are out for a good time
4) nice large number of corrals
5) great post race snacks

Cons: 1) chilly weather due to time of year
2) large race = large crowds
3) easy to get to by public transportation, not so easy by car/parking is expensive

Beautiful course and nice number of water stops, especially the last few miles of the marathon. Its fairly hilly the first 5 miles and in mile 19 (compared to the rest of pancake flat Illinois) but overall was a pretty fast course. Lots of shade trees which was great as it was an unseasonably warm day in 2017 (in thr mid 80s)
Only drawback is due to small number of runners there are very few spectators.

The race start, finish, & post race party all take place at Chicago's Grant park. This beautiful downtown location comes with the perk of nice views, convenient access by public transportation, but does mean expensive parking. I highly recommend carpooling if you are driving to the event.

The majority of the race takes place on the lakefront path. This can be a bit narrow for the size of the crowd, but luckily the first mile or so is on closed city streets with a wider girth. The lakefront path cannot be closed for events, so there is the chance for outside walkers, joggers, and bikers to share the space, but this was not a problem for me. If you are going to be at the back of the pack, this may be more frustrating as it will be less obvious for external users of the trail that a race is ongoing.

This race has beautiful views of the city skyline when you are about 4 miles from the finish line, but overall the course scenery is nothing to write home about. You can appreciate the lake on one side and some views of the city, but overall there is not much change. The course is flat, had nice volunteers at the aid stations.

The finish line party was nice. They have a local grocery store cater a brunch with breakfast tacos, sausage, french toast sticks and more (in 2017) and each participant over 21 received one Lagunitas beer. They had a free flower station where you could take home a plant.

The registration process was easy enough, the packet pickup went smoothly (but it is not an expo, only a brief pickup at a sporting goods store), and the t-shirt was a fine quality technical fabric short sleeve t-shirt.

Overall, I recommend this race.