Bank of America Chicago Marathon

This was my 3rd World Marathon Major having already completed New York City and Berlin. I’m going to give my own thoughts and perspectives on this race but I highly highly recommend the article on this site “Racing and Spectating the Chicago Marathon” https://raceraves.com/chicago-marathon-course-tips/. It gave lots of great insight on the course and also gave very good tips to help my family maximize their ability to see me on the course. The only thing I would add to their advice is it is easy to see your runner at mile 1 as well then just walk a few blocks east. My family utilized the L train to see me 6-7 times on the course.

I’m sure I see this race through a bit of rose colored glasses due to a hugely improved PR and getting my first Boston Qualifying time, but I feel confident that this race would have stood out regardless of how well my personal race day turned out.

Rather than comparing this race to other smaller local races which this of course blows out of the water, I’m going to compare it to the other Marathon Majors which is more apt comparison.

EXPO/PACKET PICK UP:
Getting to the Expo was very easy. It was held at the McCormick event center south of Grant Park/The Loop. The bus system can drop you off at the door of the building but most of the “L” Trains will get you about 2-3 blocks away and it is a very short walk to get there. There was a long but fast moving line to get into the expo for participants when I got there right when it opened Friday morning but 75 minutes later when I was leaving that line was completely gone. When you get past security/bag check runners have to go to one of the abundant ipad/tablet check in stations and type in your info, you are then sent to your race bib/bag pick up area. This whole process took less than 5 minutes. You can then enter the expo proper. This was in one of several gigantic airplane hanger size rooms at the event center. It had your standard expo fare just in a much more scaled up capacity. I would say it was only slightly smaller than NYC but much bigger than Berlin. Every running vendor you could imagine was selling gear, food and gadgets and giving out freebees. At the very back was the 2nd runners booth where you could pick up your participant shirt, again, this took mere moments, all you had to do was show them your bib. I don’t usually spend much money at expo’s but I always go big on gear at Majors. This year I still did but almost none of my gear says “Chicago Marathon”, that phrase was owned by the official gear sponser, Nike. Nike makes good products (although way overpriced), their apparel selection this year however was terrible, truly terrible. I always like to get a hoodie for the race, they didn’t make any. Lots of people like to get a marathon windbreaker type jacket, they were sold out before the event. I like to get several T-shirts that promote the race, especially one with the course map on the back. They didn’t even make a normal T-shirt. Only Tech shirts and race singlets (all about $60). I’m not sure I have ever seen a worse apparel selection at any race I have been to. Thankfully, Nike was not the only gear vendor there though, sadly nobody else can use the phrase “Chicago Marathon” so all the gear says “Run Chicago” or “Run 26.2 Chicago”, this came from both Aesics and Under Armor. These guys were doing business like crazy, their prices were half that of Nike and they actually made hoodies, and normal cotton T-shirts, and my personal favorite shirt with a course map on the back. I had literally dozens of people ask me where I got those items while I was carrying them around. If you look online before the race and don’t like the official gear then make sure you get to the expo as early as possible before your size is picked over at the smaller gear vendors. The expo vibe though at any major is electric and full of worldwide excitement, sign your name on the giant banners, take pictures in front of course maps, enjoy.

Parking/Access: Either get a hotel near the start/finish (Grant Park-very expensive) or take the L-Train(Subway). Don’t drive there. Getting into the start area was a breeze with your bib, zero line and very easy. The start area is Grant Park (Really big park). This meant tons and tons of room to warm up and stretch with nobody around. My personal advice is to get an air b&b along the blue line. Most people stay along the red line, however the blue line has the advantage of still taking you straight to downtown and it is the only train line that goes to O’hare airport so you will save lots of transport time.

T-Shirts/SWAG: Continuing my bashing on Nike I was really displeased with the material of the participant shirt, it honestly reminded me of an old 80s/90s football jersey, rough material with the large holes in it. I like to race in the participant shirt and I had to wear another softer shirt underneath to prevent chaffing. The shirt design was fine, black with a green Chicago Marathon logo on the front (see picture). The medal seems to follow a similar look each year, silver with city scenery on it (see photo). I really liked the medal this year and I think the ribbon on it looks sharp as well. Looking at past years the medal can be a bit hit and miss in my opinion but this year they got it right, although not sure how you can cover a medal in Chicago landmarks and not put the bean/cloud gate on it.

Now that I am done talking about gear it is time to start covering how the Chicago Marathon race day experience and logistics knocks it out of the park it every single aspect.

Aid Stations: Aid Stations in this race were the best and longest that I have experienced. There were 20, yes 20 aid stations on the course, every one of them well stocked with Gatorade and water, some with Bananas or energy gels. This meant you had an aid station around every 1-1.5 miles. The next thing to know about the aid stations is that they are long, really long. I estimate 30 people spaced 5 feet apart on each side of the road giving out Gatorade, then another 30 people on each side giving out water. Aid stations are something like 300 feet long. It is normally a good idea to skip the first person at an aid station to avoid congestion, in Chicago you can skip the first 20 and still be fine. I also applaud them for trying to reduce waste.
In Berlin they use plastic cups that can be recycled to reduce trash, but plastic cups cant be squeezed to create a smaller opening that is easier to drink from. Chicago uses paper cups which are easy to use and apparently are all made from some 100% easily biodegradable material that fully dissolves in less than 2 years.

Course Scenery/Elevation Difficulty: There is a reason the Women’s World record was set on this course. It is really really flat. The scenery is pretty bland though. Lake Michigan is on on your right for part of the first quarter of the race and it was cool to run through Chinatown but you are mostly just running through a city, not past the sites. The start and finish area are pretty but other than that this course was made for speed not sightseeing.
That being said the support on the course is constant and incredible. You won’t really notice the lack of a view because you will be too busy looking at the hundereds of thousands of people cheering you on. The shortest route blue line was well marked and easy to follow and most of the course was kept clear of spectators crowding the runners. The streets were very wide and I never felt crowded, except for the first half when I was tucked behind the pacers I was following, once I eased in front of them the course felt full but never crowded. In several areas people would cross when there were no barriers but I didn’t see any collisions.

Weather: This race is held in early to mid October so the weather could be anything from 35-85 during the race. In my case we got upper 40’s changing into high 50s to low 60’s during the race. This was perfect running weather. This even led to a new American Women’s record being set. This perfect weather helped me to a new 8 minute PR. But of course the weather is luck, 3 of the 4 years before my race the temperatures were in the upper 70’s to mid 80’s and was getting dangerous for people.

Race Management: I’m not sure I can find much to really criticize about the race. Communication was frequent but not overwhelming from the race and really every single thing about the race day experience felt well thought out. The Chicago Marathon App was really easy to use and my family used it extensively to track me and another family friend. I always had plenty of room to do everything I needed or wanted to do on race day, before, after, and during the race.

The bathroom situation was actually quite reasonable. There were maps everywhere showing you where they were (also easy to pull up on your phone). The shortest lines are at the bathrooms right after you get through the initial bag search security, make use of them. There are more bathrooms past the 2nd layer of security where you have to show your bib but these were getting more crowded as people funneled there. Unlike NYC and Berlin gear check was free and easy. Look for the banners with your bib color and find your #. Tie your gear tag to your bag (you can only use the clear plastic one they give you at the expo) and turn it in. Tons of volunteers and easy to drop off and pick up.

The start corrals were guarded to make sure you were in your proper area. These close 10 minutes before your wave starts, zero exceptions or you start at the very back of your wave which could be 15 minutes later and behind much slower people. There were not exceptions to this. They had tons of security and 6 foot fences making sure people did not get through. When they closed the corrals I saw lots of people sprinting up to the entrances and they were all turned away. Finish your bathroom breaks early and get to your corral on time, they don’t mess around in Chicago. They had fun pump up music and an MC getting people pumped up before introducing the elites on video boards they had throughout the start area. They did a good job making it feel like an epic event in the start area. Each group starts in a 2 minute gap, with roughly 5-6 groups per wave. This means that the metered start takes well over 30 minutes.

The finish area was easy to navigate, was extremely spacious and just a straight shot back to the start area where you can pick up your gear. The family meet up area is near the start line and bean/cloud gate where you will of course want to snap a picture. Very well organized and it wasn’t overly long. Once you got out of the immediate finish area and back into the start village you had all the room in the world to relax or lay down. They also were giving out free beer at the finish from a local brewery if you can manage alcohol on a dehydrated empty stomach.

Pictures for the event if you pre-order are reasonable $40 for a full digital download of all of your pictures. I ended up with 126 pictures with me in them (some very similar). There was an official photographer after the finish where you could take your picture with your medal as well. Once you finish I would also grab your own camera/cell phone from your gear check and snap a few pictures around the start area of the fountain and the city skyline in general behind you.

Overall this race isn’t the biggest, run through the most amazing scenery or the most elite compared to other majors but it is still epic and the actual race day experience and logistics might be the best. I would highly recommend it as part of both your 6 star journey and just a race that you do as you travel the country/world.