I might know that person Chicago was a brilliant experience. Went with my brother and arrived in Chicago a week before the race so had some time for exploring. Stayed just north of the city itself for the first week and then moved to a hotel in the city for the weekend of the race...this wasn't really necessary (and costly) as public transport is more than sufficient to get in and out of the city. I found Chicago to be a very clean, organised city, with loads to do and see and would gladly travel there again. Caught a school bus - free, with a number of pick up points all around the city- to the race expo on the Friday. With over 40000 runners the expo was very busy but number and shirt collection was a breeze. The Nike race merchandise store on the other hand involved standing in a long queue to pay for any race merchandise. For those complaining about Comrades clothing a Nike hoodie at Chicago = $112 and a tshirt = +-$38. As a SA comparison I would say the Comrades expo has more on offer in terms of retailers etc. Race day dawned. Any gear required for post run is placed in a clear bag provided by the organisers and left at gear check areas, again quick and easy. Start is in 2 waves each comprising batches which are generally based on previous 42/21k times or on predicted finishing times. Everyone is rather relaxed and there is no pushing or shoving as in SA races to get to the front - probably because timing is "mat to mat", or perhaps it's just a 1st world mentality? Crowds along the route were massive (I think the crowds are small for the elites/first few runners but everyone comes out for the masses) and very festive with loads of cheering, clapping, bell ringing, etc. as a result I probably got a bit carried away for a good few km's and it hurt later on. I decided to take a chance and run around 1h30ish through 21km as I initially thought around 3h05 was possible. I ran through 21 in 1h32 and was then hoping for a sub 3h10 but from around 30kms I started fading and was battling to run sub 5min kms It got fairly warm in the last stretch and a combination of poor hydration and minimal food intake throughout the race meant it was a struggle despite the huge encouragement from the crowd. Ended up finishing in 3h16 which I'm fairly chuffed with actually as my previous PB was 3h38. It also made me realize that with more structured training and better pacing during a race I can shave off a good few minutes from that time. And to add- I found the flat course super tough! Post race included lying down in the park amongst all the other runners for a few hours then a slow walk back to the hotel and recovering from a dehydrated/sun stroke type of day. The following day was made up of Chicagos finest deep dish pizza and watching everyone walking around with their medals One aspect which is done well (generally) in SA is water tables. Although the number of tables at Chicago is more than sufficient all that's on offer is water or Gatorade. There is no Coke and only a few served bananas or energy chews. Everything is served out of cups which are a pain in comparison to the sachets we are used to. SA also seems to have brilliant pace setters/bus drivers for the various time goals compared to the ones I saw at Chicago. The experience and ability of our SA "bus drivers" to keep the bus together as a unit is something we can be proud of in SA. Very happy that I participated in my first World Marathon major and am hoping to take part in more from the series in the next few years.
