Christmas in July Half Marathon & 5K Chicago
Elk Grove Village, IL
- Half Marathon, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Ho Ho Ho, Oh What Fun it is to Run in the Sun (and Shade) and Earn Some Chillin’ Summer Xmas Swag! The Christmas in July Half Marathon & 5K is super fun with some excellent swag: – Very Cool Sublimated Xmas Ultra-Lightweight Tech Shirt or Ladies Ultra-Lightweight Tech Shirt– Real Blinking Lights … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Jul 18):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 79 | 74 | 78 | 89 | 81 |
| L (°F) | 59 | 62 | 62 | 67 | 64 |
Find Nearby Lodging (hotel, rental, etc.):
Great view of park lake, woods, shade
Fairly flat course with only 2-3 hills but near the end of the half marathon. Swag was pretty good with drawstring bag, shirt, medal, and option to buy wicking running … MORE
Fairly flat course with only 2-3 hills but near the end of the half marathon. Swag was pretty good with drawstring bag, shirt, medal, and option to buy wicking running hat and glasses for additional $10. Post-race drinks, icees, and food were pretty good. Crowd support was good in some parts about every 3-4 miles. Course was marked fairly well. Location was great to run through a beautiful park if your prefer not running lakeside or in downtown Chicago.
Running a half marathon in summer was better due to the woods, tree shade, and the weather that cooperated. Mostly cloudy throughout the race with wind but you can’t count on that every year. I think starting the race 30 minutes earlier would have been better so that it would help with the temperature. Loved that there were plenty of hydration stations. Also there is a chance to earn small prizes by carrying Santa to the next hydration station, but have to remember to take a picture with Santa to earn the prize.
The race was pretty well coordinated and organized fairly well but seemed a little lean on volunteers. Person that did packet pickup was the same person giving the prizes. She seemed like she was being asked for help with multiple questions from the other volunteers. The time for packet pickup is limited for the day ending at 4 pm especially if coming from out of town, but appreciated the race morning pickup as an option or even having the option to ship the race packet. No real expo / limited vendors but expected since this is a smaller race. Did like that there were other activities (lawn jenga and other games) for the families and for people that wanted to hang out. Tents with benches were appreciated. I’m glad I did this race since it fit with my plan to visit Chicago, so if you are looking for a summer half marathon you can consider this as a fun run.
Love the theme! Awesome race and swag!
Awesome race! The course was great and had just the right amount of water stops along the way. Distance was accurate as well as the timing. Definitely looking forward to … MORE
Awesome race! The course was great and had just the right amount of water stops along the way. Distance was accurate as well as the timing. Definitely looking forward to next year!
Fun Race!
Start line has snow flakes in July! Great Christmas Swag! Shaded course. Water available at almost every mile. Cold wash clothes at the finish line. Live there blinking lights finisher … MORE
Start line has snow flakes in July!
Great Christmas Swag!
Shaded course. Water available at almost every mile. Cold wash clothes at the finish line. Live there blinking lights finisher medals!
Great race, awesome theme and swag
Great race, awesome theme and swag! Awesome weather, accurate course, accurate timing. Had a great time at this event and will definitely be back MORE
Great race, awesome theme and swag! Awesome weather, accurate course, accurate timing. Had a great time at this event and will definitely be back
Great race with snow and fun!
Lots of "little things" Snow, flashing-light medals, sublimated shirts, 12 water stops, lots of post-race snacks. All in a beautiful pretty-shaded park MORE
Lots of “little things” Snow, flashing-light medals, sublimated shirts, 12 water stops, lots of post-race snacks. All in a beautiful pretty-shaded park
Disappointing at best!
Overall, the race organization was recommended to me based on their Indianapolis races, so my expectations were for an overall positive experience, at a minimum. It did NOT deliver. Although … MORE
Overall, the race organization was recommended to me based on their Indianapolis races, so my expectations were for an overall positive experience, at a minimum. It did NOT deliver. Although the course was flat and not difficult, the scenery was pretty boring. They did have ample water stops, but of the final five stops 3 were out of cups and the last one was out of water. The volunteers improvised and filled the cups with ice, A great idea! As for the medals, they ran out before I finished. The one redeeming point is that they had awesome technical sleeveless shirts…….worth doing the race…….almost.
Can be a lot better
The organizers just couldn't manage this race properly. First, they said there’s going to be snow machine to cool things off throughout the course. Then they changed that to having … MORE
The organizers just couldn’t manage this race properly. First, they said there’s going to be snow machine to cool things off throughout the course. Then they changed that to having finish line snow machine. Eventually, they completely missed out on having one!
Water stations ran out of cups, and they ran out of medals at the end. It was super hot, so water stations runnig dry is very poor. There were no mile markers after 3 miles. For $85 per person, the runners deserved a LOT more than what was meted to them.
The photographer vanished after 2 hours, so no finish line pictures for anyone who completed the race after 2 hours.
This race has so much potential. If organizers take note of these changes, they can turn this around fairly nicely. Busse woods is a great location to have such events in. Too bad it wasnt managed well.
Very Poor Organization
I rarely review anything including races, but I feel like this race needs a "buyer beware" warning. From the very poorly organized packet pick up to the fact that the … MORE
I rarely review anything including races, but I feel like this race needs a “buyer beware” warning. From the very poorly organized packet pick up to the fact that the race organizers ran out of water, water cups, and medals this race was a disaster. I’ve completed over 50 half marathons over the years and this was by far the worst. In addition to poor organization, the course was open to cyclists and other runners/walkers making it a hazardous experience for all. Upsides, beautiful place to run and really wonderful race day volunteers.