It’s race weekend once again, the final race of 2024 and it’s a big one. The 2024 Chicago Marathon. This is the race I had been training all summer for, gone through the highs and many lows of this training block but I am here.

I flew out on Friday 11th Oct from Manchester via Dublin with Aer Lingus arriving into O’Hare at 2pm. Having already cleared US Customs in Dublin it was a breeze getting out of the airport so I decided to take the L straight to the Expo before heading to the hotel. Transport from O’Hare to the city centre is easy, just take the Blue Line, it’s a fairly slow and long journey, it was 17 stops to get to Cermak – McCormick Place station. The Expo hall is about 15min walk East from there.

Bib Pick Up:

Bib pick and the expo when I ran the 2018 Chicago Marathon was so simple and fast, I arrived just as the expo opened on the Friday morning that year. I was a little concerned that arriving at 5pm on the Friday this time, it would be really busy.

The walk from the street to the actual hall where bib pick up and the expo did take another 10mins and there were crowds but everyone was flowing in the same direction at a similar pace so it was fine.

As I had my suitcase and backpack from the flight still with me, I was able to drop off the suitcase at bag check. This was a quick process. Bags are left behind the table but there were plenty of people on hand to keep an eye on them so it seemed secure enough. My backpack was fine to take in, they just searched it once through the Welcome arch.

Once in, you have your QR code scanned and show your ID. I thought this was to just check you are a runner but they then tell you wish numbered desk to go to next.

When I got to desk 6, they already had my race packet containing the bib ready for me when I got over to them, it was so quick and seamless. I had forgotten about this from 2018 and was pleasantly surprised. It does make me wonder why the other Majors and big races don’t do something similar.

You then have to head to Bag Drop and T-Shirt pick up to collect these ahead of the race, which was located right at the very back end of the expo hall, through all of the stands. Again though, no lines, plenty of desks for each of the t-shirt sizes so no queuing.

I was impressed with the race packet pick up process at the Chicago Marathon. Even arriving late evening on the Friday, there were no queues, everything was on hand ready to collect as soon as I got to each of the counters. Really impressed. This put me in a good mood for the expo.

Expo:

That good mood from the bib pick up meant that I spent longer in the expo than I typically do. Normally I grab my race packet and head straight out but tonight I stayed around and had a look around at some of the booths.

Nike are the main sponsor and merchandise supplier for Chicago, I had a look around the Nike store at the expo but wasn’t blown away by the gear this year. The jacket just feels bland and boring to me, maybe I am spoilt by the 2018 jacket. Needless to say, I came out empty handed.

I had a look around the Abbott World Marathon Major booth as always and checked to make sure my name is still on the Six Star Finisher Hall of Fame, it was!

I have had my eye on this WMM Coin display / holder for a number of months, I almost ordered it at home but the delivery costs where almost as much as the holder itself. Frustratingly I also missed the deadline for pick up at the Chicago expo so for now, I look on in lust. I brought the 6 coins at the 2023 Boston Marathon expo and for the past 18 months, they have sat in the bottom of a drawer. They need to be out on show!

After that I had a wander around some other stalls, Biofreeze, Maurten, Sports Tours, the pace team etc. I didn’t buy anything and was starting to feel the long travel day so I headed out and to the hotel to check-in.