Living Social’s 5K Dance Party

This race had potential to be a 4 or 5 star race but it fell a bit flat for me. I think if they take a lot of feedback that they got on the Facebook event page and improve these areas next year, I would probably give it another shot.
It was rainy and dreary the night that we ran. Luckily, it did eventually stop however it pushed the race back awhile. I won’t blame them because they were trying to wait it out, but we did end up not starting until a lot later than we were supposed to.
Pros:
–Soldier field! I’ve never even been to a Bears game, so getting to walk on the field and see where the Bears play was pretty cool.
–It was at night, which I liked. We didn’t have to get up super early to make it there.
–It was an untimed race, so there was no pressure to hurry up or worry that you wouldn’t finish in time.
–Volunteers were all really friendly and encouraging.
–Glow tunnel. sooo cool and probably the best part. What’s not to love about jogging through a tunnel made of Christmas lights?
Cons:
–Since it practically flooded the day of the race, it was really slippery during certain parts of the race (namely when we ran underground at McCormick place.) I’m super uncoordinated, so I had to walk most of that and probably didn’t do as good as I could have.
–SWAG bags were a bit lacking. They promoted a «super awesome glow kit» but it was nothing more than two glow necklaces. That and a black drawstring bag were the only SWAG that we were given. I wish we would have got shirts for free instead, but you had to buy them.
–The «after party» was cool-​ish but you were stuck with stadium priced drinks and food. We got a hot dog, hamburger and bottle of water and ended up dishing out almost $ 20. I would have liked if we got a coupon for something free or even lower priced items.
–LOTS of walkers and it was hard to get around them sometimes. I wish they had separated runners and walkers or at least had the walkers start later.
I also read online that other cities were throwing washable paint at certain mile markers, but they didn’t do that at our race. I’m wondering if they had too many complaints about it and decided it against doing it anymore.
The race wasn’t horrible — in fact, we did enjoy ourselves — I just think that they could improve it if they decide to do another one.

To my knowledge, this was the first year this event took place in Chicago. This was a seriously fun 5K! It was held at night and started at around 8pm. There was a huge storm so it was delayed a bit. I was so excited that they waited the storm out and we were still able to run. They planned out this route really well. There was dance music at almost every single point in the race. Some races, you run and it’s totally quiet for an entire mile. With this race, it was a cool blend of light show, effects, glow in the dark and all out dance party. Then, after you finished, there was this crazy big rave-​like dance party in Soldier Field! I could not believe how much fun I actually had. Even though I’m an «old fogie» …I even managed to work my way up close to the stage, just to get the full effect. Ahhhh, I remember my club days. I highly recommend this event if it returns next year. Super fun time –I’m inviting a boat load of people!