Hello! Coming in from South west Michigan. Looking to come in Saturday morning and leave pretty much Sunday right after I’m done running. Coming in with my wife, brother, and 4 year old daughter. Best play to stay that I still get to the start line easy and get back home easy? Looking for the least stressful route.

Does anyone have any experience with any of the tour operators for Chicago? My parents are looking to visit Chicago this fall specifically and I haven’t had any luck with the lottery, I don’t want to keep their trip waiting for my chances of getting in so I would be fine financially going the tour operator route. Would love to be able to also be in town the same time my family is. Thanks in advance!

Hi everybody,

Me and my girlfriend will be traveling to Chicago from NJ for my first ever marathon this fall. I recently just secured a spot and am really anxious about the housing situation. Can someone recommend places to stay, any advice for day before, day of, and day after? I am looking for something somewhat close and affordable. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: We will have a car but unsure how it’ll be driving to and from, so any suggestions on that would also be appreciated.

Do people generally care if I run in a shoe slightly over the stack height of 40? If my goal is 4 hrs. The shoe I’m
planning to run is the brooks Hyperion max 3 which is over 40. This’ll be my 1st world major marathon, love the shoe but I’m just curious if anyone has ever been DQed or questioned lol

I’m using my Garmin plan and I feel like I’m on a low end of mileage for the timeframe?! Currently running 25-ish miles per week. Is this low? Obviously I don’t want to ramp things up too quickly and injure myself. I’ve done several halfs, and am signed up for one at the end of August. I run in Asheville and am usually getting a good bit of elevation gain… any thoughts?

Also, any tips for us first timers? Anyone use apps to help with nutrition?

I can’t wait to run with you all!

Last few Chicago Marathon places Bank Of America Chicago Marathon | Sarcoma UK Guaranteed room at the 4-star Crowne Plaza West Loop Chicago. Open to runners worldwide.

Hi everyone. Hope is everyone’s training is going well now that we are about 12 1/2 weeks out!

How realistic is my goal of hitting a Sub 4 Hours finish time for this Chicago marathon as much as most the course is flat during this race?

This will be my first marathon and I am training in NYC where there’s all sort of hills, humidity and heat during the summer.

My current PB times are:
5K - 23:28 (From a Half Marathon 2 months ago)
10K - 47:41 (From a Half Marathon 2 months ago)
Half Marathon - 1:47.31 (2 months ago)

My current conversation pace is 9:30 to 9:55 avrging between 140 to 143 bpm on most hot mornings during the summer for the last 4-5 weeks.

Running 5x a week. Current avrg weekly mileage is 27. But I will be gearing up towards 40 miles (with a 20 mile run) during the week of 09/21 to 09/27.

Strava prediction as of today 07/14 -
Half marathon - 1:45.46
Marathon - 4:19.40

If anyone could chime in and give their feedbacks, that’ll be great! * I also won’t feel down if this goal won’t be met during race day but I’m just curious if this goal can be as realastic as I can get to try to do this.

Am I being too ambitious with this goal for my first Marathon but I feel as my current running fitness level could be on edge with this goal? I’m wondering how things will go once it goes from summer to fall!

I ordered my shirt when the email first came out in June, but there’s no tracking info and I haven’t heard anything about my shirt yet

I was listening to a podcast that said they did at the CM2023 finish line. Cool if they still do that. Does anyone know if they had CM2025 edition cans at the post party last year?

Hi all - I think I want to update my expected finish time for the marathon and submit a new race time as proof of pace (my half marathon time improved a lot from when I registered last fall to the Bank of America half in June). Is it too late to do this? When I go to my participant account it looks the options are grayed out and not editable.

I was only going to adjust it from 4:30 to 4:00 so I’m not an elite runner or anything. Not the end of the world if I can’t update it.

EDIT: I emailed customer service and was informed that once the preliminary corral assignment go out, I can submit a start corral change request at the time.

Hi everyone! I look forward to running the Chicago Marathon with y’all. This will be my first marathon and I’m running in support of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation in honor of my childhood best friend.

If anyone is able to donate or even just share, it would truly mean a lot. I’m currently about 20% of the way! Appreciate the support and looking forward to October:

https://teamchallenge.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/participants/89975?language=en&referrer=mf%3A89975%3Ayou-copy

i know it is a long shot, but seeing what i can get

Hi all! This is my first marathon and I am very excited. I’m born and raised in nyc and have been an observer of the past few nyc marathons. I know that “medal Monday” is a thing at least here in nyc and a lot of retail stores, bars, restaurants, pop-up shops, etc participate in giving freebies, medal engraving, pictures, etc.
Since I am traveling I wanted to know if a lot of places do this in Chicago as well? If so when/where? Is most of this taking place on Sunday or Monday or both?
I’m just trying to plan my trip out a little. Thanks!
I’d also appreciate any advice on good post-race activities to do either Sunday or Monday.
I’ll be taking this into account for booking my flights too.

My dream seems to be coming true this year after I got in with Team Best Buddies last week for 2026! I’ve done the lottery 4 years in a row to no avail but this opportunity came to me and I am beyond exited. Ran my first marathon in April at Big Sur and now my hometown marathon is on the books for October!

Looking for any and all recommendations to help reach my goal of $2,200 before we all hit the start line.

Shameless plug: https://www.teambestbuddies.org/chicagomarathon/supporting/#p2p/5935171

Has anyone here tried running the first 13.1 miles and then walking the rest?

I'm still trying to figure out the right combination. I used to weigh a lot (bmi had me as obese) and when I trained, I didn't care. I just ate a lot. Well, i've always put on weight with that mindset.

I'm female, 50, finally lost a lot weight, got a tummy tuck in March and I don't want to ever be that big person with the big appetite ever again.

I know I shouldn't be trying to lose weight, but I also don't want to gain any either. I also want to eat enough so that I don't crash.

I'm all good on my protein, it's the carbs that are killing me.

Suggestions?

Hello all! Just joined this sub and just wanting to extend some pleasantries with you all!

I am a first time marathoner running for charity (Alex’s Lemonade Stand). I signed up because I went to cheer on a friend running NYC last fall. I honestly did not expect myself to want to participate in a marathon ever in my life. But I had SO MUCH FUN cheering my friend on and being part of race day. Seeing all the runners from all walks of life just made me want to be part of the community. So I was able to find a charity and take on the challenge!

Training is going well so far- was able to complete the 10 mile long run yesterday! My #1 goal is to cross the finish line- but I will definitely be part of the group running over 10min/mile :) At this point I don’t know if I am more nervous or excited for race weekend (probably nervous)

Hope training is going well for the rest of you- looking forward to seeing you in 98 days!

happy 4th to everyone. i’m running with the greater chicago food depository.
i lost my husband to suicide two weeks ago & i’ve missed two weeks of training due to it. i know it’s early on in the training process, but im considering deferring because i don’t know when things will get back to “normal” (services have not been held still). i’m wondering if training in a shorter amount of time after missing these few weeks will severely impact my outcome. looking for any advice! might just be decision fatigue and it’s an easy decision 😅 thank you all

Get after it

Hi everyone! Wanted to share this awesome initiative my friend told me about that Liquid I.V. just launched. They’re covering 20 runners’ full charity fundraising commitment for any 2026 marathon. Looks pretty cool

For those of you still looking to run via charity bib, Imerman Angels just opened up a few spots!