Chicago Marathon, 13th October 2024
Well done to Jim Crinion for finishing the Chicago Marathon in a fantastic time of 3:23:32. Now that he has had a bit of time to recover, he sends this report of his trip:
“On route to the airport, on the Thursday morning, a quick check of the weather conditions in Chicago led to some worries that the flight might be cancelled. The 391 mph winds that the BBC weather app were forecasting, luckily turned out to be a glitch rather than Hurricane Milton suddenly tracking unexpectedly North.
On arrival in Chicago the weather was worryingly hot for the time of year, sunny weather had Friday temperatures in the high twenty degrees Celsius. Anyone thinking of running the Chicago marathon, or just visiting the city, should pack for a range of possible weather conditions. During my stay there was the sunshine and hot weather mentioned, hailstones and everything in-between. Luckily the weather on race day was somewhere in the middle of these extremes, although warmer than ideal running temperatures, 14-17 degrees Celsius during my run time but warmer later on for those, including my girlfriend who was still recovering from a torn calf muscle, starting in later waves.
The course itself was mostly flat with lots of long straight stretches, the only slight hills I noticed were up and over the many bridges crossed. Several of the bridges constructed with metal grates for the crossing surface, made slightly less uncomfortable if running over the carpet cover lay out across a section of each bridge. The steepest and longest hill was during the last kilometre but my legs had been struggling for a few miles prior to then.
Having not attempted a marathon during my first 50 years, Chicago was my third in just over a year and I think I’m starting to get the hang of them with another PB. What’s next for me… a break from marathon running!”
