Zach Runs Chicago

Last year I really enjoyed the Chinatown 5K (and even called it the Best Neighborhood 5K in Newcity's "Best of" issue), so I was excited to run it again this year. Race directors made it especially enticing when they offered the race for only $17 on Groupon, which is a steal for a 5K these days. Because of the Red Line being down south of Roosevelt, I was worried it would take me longer than usual to get to Chinatown... which translated to me getting to Chinatown an hour before the race started - I don't know how quick it is to get farther south than Chinatown but the buses running between Roosevelt and Chinatown Square were super fast and convenient.

I ran the Chinatown Centennial 5K this morning (typically just called the Chinatown 5K - but it's the 100 year anniversary of Chicago Chinatown so they changed the name for this year). It started on Archer next to Chinatown Square which was really sweet because Archer Avenue was completely blocked off:   Before the race there was a great pre-race party going on in Chinatown Square, with free chiropractor consultation from National University of Health Sciences (they were stretching runners out before the race) and a really great lion dance with a green lion and a white lion represented by two guys inside a costume: The race went down Wentworth (under the "Welcome to Chinatown" arches) and all the way to 31st street before turning around. My full review is at Newcity.com but basically it was a great race. I was surprised that there were only about 600 runners at this race considering how well organized it was and how great the course was (seriously, you...