The popular mega-races long ago exceeded what I'm willing to pay and the size exceeded what I'm willing to cope with long before that. The only one I would even consider now due to those two factors is Boston.

The relatively quiet Chicago user group is here.

There is a more active group here:

The popular mega-races long ago exceeded what I'm willing to pay and the size exceeded what I'm willing to cope with long before that. The only one I would even consider now due to those two factors is Boston.

I found the following events scheduled in our area during the first quarter of 2013:

12 k ($6.00 no shirt)

7 miles ($6.00 no shirt)

1/2 mar ($6.00 no shirt)

15 k ($6.00 no shirt)

Marathon ($30.00 no shirt)(certified & BQ'r)

5 k ($10.00 includes shirt)

They do have shirts available and I usually decide to buy or not after I've seen the shirt.  Usually around $10-$15 for the shirt. 

So I could run all of these six of these for a total of $64.00.

I agree that it's expensive, but like someone said before, if you are travelling for the event, the cost of the race really is nothing compared to the other expenses. I mean, whether you pay $100 or $175, the $75 extra isn't going to break the bank. It's the hotel, food, transportation, etc... that eats you alive. But, if I had the choice between my hometown marathon at $175 and a marathon one hour away, in a small town, with 120 participants, for $70, I'd definitely pick the smaller race. Just because they are more fun for me, not because of the price. The price for closing streets in Chicago is much higher than closing streets in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia (population: 9562 people), I'm pretty sure.

I agree that it's expensive, but like someone said before, if you are travelling for the event, the cost of the race really is nothing compared to the other expenses. I mean, whether you pay $100 or $175, the $75 extra isn't going to break the bank. It's the hotel, food, transportation, etc... that eats you alive. But, if I had the choice between my hometown marathon at $175 and a marathon one hour away, in a small town, with 120 participants, for $70, I'd definitely pick the smaller race. Just because they are more fun for me, not because of the price. The price for closing streets in Chicago is much higher than closing streets in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia (population: 9562 people), I'm pretty sure.

I agree.  Plus it's not so high as compared to the races down here, so it's not that big of a stretch if you live in a big city.  I understand that the price might be high if you're used to races being cheap but it's not that high when your races already cost a bundle.

I am wondering what the price point is at which people say, "it's not worth it."  Given that the race fee is one of the smaller expenses for folks traveling to races, I'd think it's quite high.

 $175 a bit much. I'd like to run Chicago but a big expense for me when traveling from PA to get there. Still not as bad as NYCM at $285 so i guess it's a bargin at $175. I ran Harrisburg for $60 this fall and slept in my own bed.

Registration has always been on Feb 1.  Wonder why they changed it.

My guess is to avoid overlapping registration between the Shamrock Shuffle and the Marathon, since both are run by the same staff.  They moved the registration date for the Shuffle about two weeks earlier, and moved the Marathon registration date about two weeks later.  Both are huge races, and it was probably a hassle to deal with two simultaneous registrations.

I ran it in 1999 and paid something like $80 or so, which was the going price for most big races.  Hotel, food, plane, etc. was about a 600-700 weekend.  I now prefer the smaller, local races, although the big races are a blast.