Strollers in the Front 5K, Chicago

A group of stroller-pushers completes their 5K while the festival area teems with finished (and famished) racers.

I've covered plenty of races...but I've never seen one like this before.

The Strollers in the Front 5K is exactly what it sounds like: a race where people pushing strollers automatically start at the front of the pack, and strollerless runners have to begin in the back. The event was organized by the Neighborhood Parent Network and Event360 on a cool but gusty morning during Halloween weekend at Chicago's Montrose Beach, and hundreds of parents of infants and toddlers came out for a "stroller derby."

The pre- and post-race festival included youth soccer...

...and face-painting.

Four-wide groups like this may have been hard to maneuver around...

...but Dan "Mr. Incredible" Cushman managed to. Seen here near the end of the starting pack, Cushman beat every other runner to the finish. 

The kiddie races had plenty of exciting finishes...

...but Danny Shuck did not think the awards ceremony was much to look at.

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Seth, Alice and the secret identity

Seth and Alice told me that the journey of their first pregnancy has been a pleasure, even as they go through it.

"We're laughing a lot during the pregnancy," Seth told me — a story that his wife corroborated. "As much as your nerves get the best of you, the baby's made us laugh a lot."

The couple know their child's gender and have a name picked out, but aren't announcing either. Both said that autumn is their favorite time of year, and that they are feeling a multitude of emotions as the fall day when their lives will be permanently changed approaches.

"Words that would describe the feeling include 'excited,' 'scared,' 'determined'..." Seth began, "...and 'faithful.'"

I photographed them on the campus of Concordia University, where Alice studied.

(They asked for outdoor shots around the campus — and a nice soft cloud provided some wonderfully diffuse sunlight — but as we walked through the main hall, I had to pose them in the beautiful lobby)

Seth attended the University of Illinois, and met Alice in 2000.

"She became my best friend first," he recalled. "After that...that was it."

Although they are keeping the baby's identity undercover — and although they are enjoying the ups and downs of a first pregnancy — Seth and Alice said they are looking forward to the day when they will have some big news to share with their loved ones.

"And what could be bigger," Alice said, "than sharing a child with the world?"

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