Chicago Marathon, Chicago, USA. October 2018.
We ran across historical railway bridges in downtown Chicago and alongside Lake Michigan for the Chicago Marathon. It was a very rainy day, with thousands of residents facing the bad weather to cheer the runners, while heavy clouds hugged the skyscrapers high above.
TLDR; “too long, didn’t read”
- I just want to run! Take me to RACE.
- Running is my excuse for travelling. Take me to TRIP.
- Running is my excuse for eating. Take me to CARBOLOADING.
- I only have 1 minute. Take me to USEFUL INFORMATION.
- I want to know what to read in the plane. Take me to ONE BOOK.
🌍 The trip 📷
We arrived to the “Windy City” on a Friday afternoon, on a direct flight from London. In the O’Hare airport we had to queue for a very long time, but it added to the excitement of running a Marathon Major: we were surrounded by a lot of runners.
I like to spot them when we are going on races: they (or should I say, “we”?) are usually dressed in jackets and t-shirts of other running events. We saw a lot of unicorns of the Boston Athletic Association and a few Berlin, London and NYC finishers shirts.
We were almost the last ones to pass customs, and our passports were checked by a very friendly customs officer, who was singing a motivational song, customizing it with our names as he asked us if we had come to run the marathon:
Me: “Of course!”
The motivated customs officer: “Go, Marta, go! Go, Roger!”
Stamp sound, stamp sound.
Outside it was not so nice: it was pouring down with rain, and we could hear a lot of thunder. It was NOT looking like an easy marathon, if the weather persisted in being terrible. I reminded Roger of my previous time in the city, a few years back. I still remember that day as the coldest one I had experienced in my life 🥶!
And, to add to the bad omens, Roger’s nose started bleeding 🥴 Luckily it was nothing serious, probably a broken capillary due to the difference of pressure in the plane.
The Medical District
We took a taxi to our hotel, which was located in the very famous “Medical District”, amongst super big hospitals.
At the end of the day, well known medical series like “ER” and “Chicago med” were set in this city 😎! The drawback was that we kept hearing the loud sound of ambulances all night long.
It was still raining, and the weatherman on TV was feeling sorry for “all the marathon runners who will have to run in the rain”.
We could witness how Chicago is very serious about its Marathon. It is said that during “Marathon Sunday”, Chicago is not just other city in the States, but “the very best!”
📅 The Marathon Expo 🎽
Saturday was dedicated to visit the Marathon Fair, obviously, and we also took the time to visit Chinatown, but the rest of the tourism we left for after the marathon.
The Fair was held in McCormick Place (the biggest convention facility in all America!) very close to the spot where the day after the marathon was to start, next to Lake Michigan.
We took the metro, which to me looked very… “real”: a big metal clunky thing, noisy and smelly, with giant american flags and people looking very tired (and very angry) in it.
The ads inside had a distinctive target audience, with messages to “erase your criminal record” or “find out early if you are pregnant and give your baby in adoption”, many of them in Spanish.
It is drastically different to London’s modern DLR, which we used to take when living there.
Thousands of motivated runners fled to the expo, competing with each other with the most complete “marathon finisher” attire. Most of them had coffee from Starbucks in their hands.
I love marathon fairs, because of the sense of excitement that vibrates in the air. Here you find like-minded people who have trained for months, or years.
In this one, the most popular stand was one with a giant treadmill set to run at Eliud Kipchoge’s pace when he established the world record, in Berlin, a month before >> read here about that marathon, which we ran <<. People could attempt to run at his pace for like 200 meters, and very few accomplished it. Others almost injured themselves trying!
In the official merchandise store, Nike’s, the queue was extremely long: but we were not deterred and bought a couple of long-sleeved jackets that proved super useful. We still use them to this day, >> see here the 2023 post about our Tunis trip to run the COMAR Tunish marathon, where we sport the jackets !! <<
🍜 Carboloading and Protein Recovery 🍝: What to eat
In the States the size of the dishes are normally much bigger than in the rest of the world, and there are normally plenty of options for carbo loading, and even more options for recovery.
🍕The Chicago Pizza, the super famous Deep-Dish Pizza is, obviously, rich in carbohydrates (want a recipe? here).
But is also super fatty 😋so watch out! We ordered one after Marathon Sunday, and we carried it for days on our Route-66 trip… as it was so big, we were unable to finish it! To give you an idea: just one slice of an “Old Chicago Deep Dish Pizza” with meat, contains 45g carbs out of 640 calories.
And a Hamburger 🍔 (America’s national dish?) is good for animal-based protein! Although they are also high on saturated fat and cholesterol, so it is better to eat them without the free refills of coke or soda and the gigantic French fries. Its origin dates back to 1895 when a restaurant owner in Connecticut served steak sandwiches to workers, but as he hated to waste any extra beef, he ground it up, grilled it, and served it between bread.
Once in Chicago, the best option for carbo loading is Little Italy (also known as University Village). Eat some pasta!! 🍝🍝🍝!! We did that, just not going there, but ordering food to be delivered to our hotel room!
And, of course, there is always the option to eat in Chinatown!
🏃♀️ The marathon🏃♂️
We woke up at 5:30am to have breakfast and check the weather forecast: “intermittent showers and some tail wind” (hum, really? 🤔).
It was still raining and the temperature was between 50-60 F. We asked in the hotel reception for some big garbage plastic bags to act as raincoats, and they worked well.
📝 Runner's Tip: Bring some from home so you can leave them at the starting line. Also you might want to bring some old clothes for warmth (that you also will need to leave behind).
We took the underground to get to Millennium Park.
Unlike other cities, the underground was not free for runners. Two tickets costed us 6$.
We got off at Congress Street and arrived at the entrance to our Wave, F. Everybody was taking selfies and videos of themselves, but we had not taken our phone so we looked for one of the professional photographers that were around: super convenient! Because, a I saw written in one runner’s shirt: “Pain is temporary, Instagram is forever”.
We finally started running 10 minutes after 8am. Go!
The first kilometers are in downtown Chicago, amongst super tall skyscrapers: it is very cool but our GPS got crazy, so it was marking 6 kms when we just arrived at kilometer 5: what a let down!!!
We saw a couple of signs to “trust Jesus”, and a lot of Mexicans with their flag colors all over their equipment. A bunch of people running for “Team Paws”, an animal shelter 😻, overtook us, but what surprised me the most was how many runners were thanking the police officers who were protecting the streets: “Thanks to every one of you!”
First half
We ran the first 10k in 58 mins, but our legs felt heavy. And at kilometer 10, it started raining cats and dogs!
But we almost welcomed it, as it felt refreshing. We crossed famous railroad bridges, like the Kinzie Street railroad bridge. The bridges were covered with a kind of tapestry so we could run on it. And I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that a runner next to us had “Do epic shit!” printed in his shirt: very suiting 👍
As we passed Koreatown, a bunch of very enthusiastic residents dressed in white played “Gangnam Style” and drummed to oblivion. We also heard music from the 90s, “What is love?”… and, of course, “Despacito”. But what we found funnier was when a spectator cheered on Roger shouting “You are doing well, random stranger!”.
Second half
We struggled at the end, despite the course being fast, because we had not trained extensively for this marathon, and we had run Berlin a few weeks before, so we took it really easy.
We took an energy gel every 8 kms and drank in every supply station religiously.
The last part is nice, as you finish in the Park next to Lake Michigan, and the remaining distance has very frequent marks:
1 mile to go, 400m… with people shouting “I believe in you!” or the strangely motivating? “My mascara runs faster than you!” 😂
We finished together, looking as epic as we could for the photocall, our heavy medals hanging from our necks:
Happy to have run this magnificent “Windy city”!
Post race: What to see in Chicago in one or two days 📷
After the marathon we visited the Sears Tower, now called Willis.
After this mandatory visit, we ate the typical Dish-deep pizza at Giordano’s (see the part below about eating). Giordano’s is what I wanted it to be: super American, with its walls covered with Chicago-themed posters, Italian tiles, and a lot, a lot of grease. They have been serving delicious Chicago-style pizza since before I was born!
We also wandered around the streets – although our legs ached a lot -, seeing the legendary Chicago Theater and the old XIX century street clocks, that we had seen the day before while running.
And the Millenial Park, where the marathon starts and ends: we saw it in a very different way.:
And we took endless pictures with the “Cloud gate”, the famous Anish Kapoor sculpture, like other runners with their medals.
The day after turned out to be sunny and excellent (how ironic!) and we also went to the big, big Marina, full of american flags and a pier that made the Brighton one look tiny.
📝Important Tip:
Never do tourism before the marathon, not even for a couple of hours; your legs will suffer and you will pay the price during the race! Leave tourism for the day(s) after!!! We even chose to do our carbo loading in our hotel room: we found an Italian restaurant which delivered to our hotel room.
Useful information
🏆 Chicago Marathon (42K). First edition: 1977.
🌐 Website: https://www.chicagomarathon.com/
🏃 Number of runners: around 40.000.
🗓️ Sunday before the second Monday in October in Chicago, USA – America.
👟 Urban: bring shoes for asphalt.
✅ Super cool atmosphere and a flat, fast course in the heart of Chicago and next to Lake Michigan.
✅ Perfect organization, and one of the Abbott Marathon Majors
❌The weather can be quite unpredictable
Map
One book
“The Time Traveler’s Wife”, by Audrey Niffenegger
I am a sucker for romances, and this one is epic: it includes also a science fiction part which I also enjoyed. And, obviously, it is set in Chicago! The book was made into a Hollywood blockbuster in 2005 and recently another movie version has been filmed.
Summary: This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry, who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry was thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare’s struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
| 📖 “The Chicago Marathon” by Andrew Suozzo 📖 “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America”, by Erik Larson 🎬 “The Breakfast Club”, 1985 🎬 “The Untouchables”, 1987 🎬 “Some like it hot”, 1959 🎬 “The Sting”, 1973 🎬 “The Blues Brothers”, 1980 🎬 “Airplane!”, 1980 |
Chicago is the inspiration for many books and home to many excellent writers. Apart from my selected book (see above), I include here a book about the Marathon itself, and a true-crime book.
The “Windy City” is also the location for so many famous movies that it is difficult to select a few. So, I decided to pick the ones that made more of an impression on me, movies from the 80s, or a couple of ‘oldies’ that I have always liked. You will never convince me that “Airplane!” is NOT a gem, and here some of its best moments to prove it.
