* 40,000 people running through the streets of Chicago is a pretty impressive sight. (Only 32, 247 runners actually participated in the race, but 40,000 registered and thousands of people lined the streets to watch.)
* Eighty degree weather in early April is a little too hot for runners who haven't had the chance to train in warmer temperatures. The weather for past two years' races has been cold/rainy/snowy, so organizers can be forgiven for not being able to anticipate that today would be the warmest day of the year so far.
* The running population is made up of all ages, races, genders, shapes and sizes.
* The people who look like they would be the fittest are not actually the best runners. I saw people who looked like they couldn't climb a flight of stairs without an oxygen mask motoring along while lean and toned runners were struggling to keep going.
* Runners have a sense of humor. I observed many costumed participants -- lots of leprechauns, men and women wearing green ballet tutus, people in full body paint (green of course), Thing 1 and Thing 2 (in green for the occasion instead of their normal red and blue) and a banana. There were also a number of people who wanted to get in to the spirit of the race without committing to a full-blown costume, so I also saw tons of runners wearing all sorts of green clothing and accessories -- tee shirts, running shorts and tights, socks, Afro wigs, hats, and neckties (many of which featured shamrock designs).
* Costumes aside, some runners should have taken an objective look in the mirror before they headed out to the race and perhaps considered whether a more modest running outfit was in order. Yikes! Sadly this observation applied to men equally as much as to women.
* Most runners are careful to not spit or blow their nose on spectators. Some, but not all, runners are also careful to not spit or blow their nose on their fellow runners.
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