F^3 Events was established in summer 2009 by Kimberley and her group of friends after traveling to warm weather “destination” races in previous winter months. It was 2009 so they decided to do a recession-proof race the following January. The first year she planned to have a dozen or so friends run a half marathon course already established in another race. They were going to meet at her home in Lake Shore East. Word traveled among her friends and friends of friends via Facebook and suddenly she found herself with 100 people involved. They had to move it out of her house and into a running store, where the very first (and very unofficial) F^3 Lake Half Marathon took place in January 2010. It was a roaring success!
In 2011 a company was created, called F3 Events LLC. January 2012 saw the first (official) F^3 Lake Half Marathon. The race sold out with over a month until the event at 1,200 participants and race day was without question the best day of the winter.
In 2015, we moved the F^3 Lake Half Marathon to Soldier Field! After the brutal winter of 2013/2014, we have been beyond excited about being able to use the United Club for indoor gear check and race preparation.
In 2019, we proudly introduced the H^3 Halloween Half and 5k at Arvey Field in Grant Park!
In the 2020 the race took place before the pandemic, and was the largest race in the state of Illinois. We pivoted to a series of regional satellite races based out of our partner running store locations for the 12th edition of F^3 in 2021.