Just a fantastic race and I'd do it again given the chance. As with other majors, it's a 'bucket list' event for many and it certainly lives up to its reputation.

The pre-race organisation (registration, emails, expo) are all superb. I'd recommend doing the 5K event before the day, to sample the city atmosphere and acclimatise to the windy corridors between some of the buidings! It was an early start on the day, and the bag drop was quite a crowded affair (my only real gripe...before and after). There was plenty of water and free gels on offer for those that needed them.

The views of the city are outstanding on the route and the crowd support is tremendous almost every mile of the way. The aid stations were frequent and the marshals did a great job, and the medal and t-shirt provided at the end are nice too. All in all, a great experience.

I was honoured to be invited to join the official pace team for the 2019 Chicago marathon and was asked to lead one of the sub 4hr30 groups alongside Suman who I had paced with at London this year.

This event is amazing, it is one of the World marathon majors and it lived up to all expectations. 

The marathon expo is held on Friday and Saturday to collect your number and necessary kit ahead of an early 7.30am race start on Sunday.

Logistics are very simple with the start and finish being very close together in Millenium and Grant Parks in the centre of Chicago, a short walk from all of the central hotels. The route takes in huge parts of the city and crosses through over 20 different boroughs, the weather was cold but dry and meant there was an excellent support on the course. Just one or two slightly quieter areas. Aid stations were very frequent with a mixture of drinks available.

The finishers medal is beautiful and the technical ‘competitor’ t-shirt from Nike is high quality.

We had a great group running with us with many of them staying with us right through to the final mile before we sent them on ahead for a strong finish. I crossed the finish line in 4hrs 29 and 42 seconds which I was very happy with, lots of high fives, pictures and happy runners at the end.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this race to anyone who enjoys major city races. Yes it was busy in places but the very wide open roads meant no hold ups on the course. The city of Chicago was lovely to run through amongst the modern sky scrapers and the variety of boroughs and parks. The organisation and logistics were superb. I hope to run this race again in the future and highly recommend it.

Well what a race.  Another major done and dusted. Bring on Boston!

what a day. 
Another early start, 5:30am meet up, does get very busy very quickly. 
baggage drop was the worst I have ever experienced, no sticky label on bags just a number you thread onto the strap then they put bags in boxes and you then have to wait ages to collect once finished, the worst part from me. Wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't in the Windy City.  
the race started on time, but was cold so glad I bought spare joggers and hoodie to discard. 
The race was a really flat route apart from the mountain climb before the finish, did not need that! 
plenty of aid stations every couple of miles.  Best I have experienced so far.  
the crowds were awesome, not as good as London but I'm sure the cold weather put everyone off.  
I really enjoyed the race, some great sights, loverly people    
loverly beer after a can of 26.2, only gripe is that the can was opened for you, I wanted to take mine home!

happy as hell with my time of 2:59

The race village after was fab, free massage that was great just what I needed.

live music being belted out, more free beer if you wanted, a really well organised after party   
highly recommend you run this race  it is a memory I will never forget

  Thank you Chicago 🇺🇸 🖤💚 #visorhair #visorontour