Chicago Half Marathons

[Wuzup101]

A friend of mine who lives in Chicago has completed her first 5k and is looking to do a half marathon in 2015. I saw her over the holidays and we discussed running it together (because the best races are the ones where you can crash somewhere for free lol). That being said, at the time I thought the Chicago marathon (the one in early October) was a half/full race. After doing some research, I see that it's not, and that there are at least 3 major halfs in Chicago for 2015 and a few smaller ones (not counting 2 in January and one trail run). I've included the dates (and even links) below, but I was wondering if anyone had done any (or ideally multiple) of these races. Are any of them better than others? I'm strongly considering recommending doing the "Chicago Half Marathon" in Sept as I think it would give her plenty of time to train for it so she could ramp up slowly without injury and it's a large field. I've never done a RnR race before (on my list). Are they worth it?

Chi-Town // Sat Apr 4th:
http://www.allcommunityevents.com/chi_town_half_marathon/chi_town_half_mar_home.html

Chicago // Spring Sun May 17th:
http://www.halfmarathons.net/illinois-chicago-spring-13-1-10k/

Volation // Sat June 6th:
http://www.imathlete.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?fEID=22327

Rock n Roll // Sun Jul 19th:
http://www.halfmarathons.net/illinois-rock-roll-chicago-half-marathon/

Biggest Loser // Sun Aug 3rd:
http://www.active.com/chicago-il/ru...09a3-f25e-4a07-9af1-8de7fd867c78&ltcmp=141770

Zooma // Sat Aug 9th:
http://www.active.com/chicago-il/ru...4efd-ba6e-4c53-9150-fc0c06a94909&ltcmp=141770

Chicago Women's Half // Sun Aug 31st:
http://www.halfmarathons.net/magnificent-mile-chicago-womens-half-marathon-5k/

Chicago Half // Sun Sept 7th:
http://www.halfmarathons.net/chicago-half-marathon-5k/

Monster Dash // Sat Oct 25th:
http://www.chicagomonster.org/

Edit: Just realized that some of the later dates (the ones from august on) are actually the 2014 dates instead of 2015 dates.

 

[Mursilis]

I haven't done any of those races, but I will say this: When choosing your race, think most about the temperatures. For a half, you're going to be out there for 1.5-2.5 hours, depending on your speed, so I'd avoid a summer race if I were you. I once did a half where it was 80+ at the start and only got hotter as the race went on, and it was MISERABLE. 40-60 degrees is ideal.