On 12th October, I took part in the Chicago Marathon. This was my third time running the Chicago Marathon and would be my 20th marathon overall since 2017. Coming from a guy who was once asked to race 1,500m in high school but refused, saying, “I can’t run 1,500m, that’s too far!” to now be racing my 20th marathon, plus also clocking up 4 virtual marathons during the 2020 lockdowns and another 4 marathon-distance runs as part of Ironman triathlons, I think high school me would be proud to have made it past 1,500m.

Back to 2025, this year hasn’t been what I would have liked in terms of running. After running the 2024 Chicago Marathon on 13th Oct 24, I then didn’t run again until the day before the 2025 Brooklyn Half Marathon on 17th May. 216 days of no running thanks to 2 ankle ligament tears, 1 stress fracture of a bone in the foot (can’t remember the technical name for it, clearly too long for my simple brain) and insertional achilles tendinopathy. I really have no idea how I managed to run the Chicago marathon with all those issues, but it’s no wonder I struggled so much in the second half last year.

Thankfully, the bone healed quite quickly, the ligaments took around 4 months to heal, but the tendinopathy has been more stubborn. The worst of the pain has cleared, and the swelling has decreased, but it still isn’t 100% pain free. I can’t run on consecutive days and have had to build the weekly mileage back up gradually throughout the last 4 months. I’m not where I was 12 months ago in terms of fitness, endurance or strength, but I am a lot better than I was at the beginning of the year when I wasn’t running at all.

My goal for 2025 has been to make the start line in Chicago, and here I am, mission accomplished, start line ready.

As with my two previous trips to Chicago, I flew in from Manchester, UK, on Friday, hit the expo straight off the plane and ran the Peloton Shakeout Run on Friday night, followed by the Lululemon Shakeout Run on Saturday morning.

I did the traditional flat lay to make sure I had all my race day gear ready to go, bib pinned on, so I can get up and out as quick as possible, knowing I have it all planned out ahead of time. Anything to reduce the race day stress and worries ahead of time.

On paper, I was registered in Corral C based on my 2:57 qualifying time from the 2024 London Marathon, but fitness-wise, I certainly won’t be running at sub-3 pace. I made the decision to drop back from Corral C into Corral E and run with the 3hr 25min pacer. Two reasons for that, firstly, I didn’t want to get in the way of those actually running sub-3 pace in Corral C. I’ve been there, and it is frustrating when you set off at your race pace only to find you are blocked by people running much slower despite being in the same corral. Secondly, I know if I am around others running 6:50/mi pace, I will end up getting dragged along and end up running much faster than I know I am capable of right now.

Corral E with the 3:25 pace group feels more sensible, although I was concerned that 3:25 might be too much for me right now, too, but figured I could roll with it for as long as possible.

My go-to pre-race evening meal is and always will be a pizza, and being in Chicago, it’s just a no-brainer, right? Last year and in 2018, I had a pizza pie, which was a bit much. This year, I opted for a more traditional pizza base.

Walk To Grant Park

This year I was staying in the Gold Coast area, which is further out than previous years, but you’re talking a 30min walk down to Grant Park or a 5min trip down on the metro. So I took the metro to “save the legs”, it was busy as you would imagine with 56,000 runners plus spectators heading in that direction but there is something about the buzz and pre-race nerviousness felt on those early morning trips to the start line, something that I had missed and longed for during those 216 days out injured and being honest, I did wonder whether I would get back to being able to run marathons again.

Start Area

Once in the start area in Grant Park, we were treated to this stunning sunrise over the lake and reflecting off the tall skyscrapers of downtown Chicago.

Chicago Marathon 2025 – 3:17:36

Lining up in Corral E felt a little deflating; this Corral is off on a side street, not in the main row of corrals down the centre of the park. Wave 1 runs A-E with Corral F starting wave 2 on the main row of corrals again, E feeds into the main row into the back of Corral D as they move forward toward the start line. Where we were, we couldn’t see any of the race build up, and there were no speakers nearby to hear any of the music, the national anthem or any race announcements. It felt flat and dull.

Then suddenly we began moving forward, turning right and heading to the start line. I’d say it took us around 20 minutes before we got going, although I don’t know exactly when the race actually started.

 Mile 1 – 7: 7:15, 7:39, 7:33, 7:22, 7:33, 8:03, 6:58

Here we go, crossing the start line to run a marathon, a marathon major, another big city marathon after 216 dark, lonely days at home, injured. Now running alongside 56,000 other runners in front of 1.5 million people cheering us on.

My time goal, albeit one that felt optimistic at the start, 3 hours and 25mins. I was lined up right next to the 3:25 pace group and had my plan of running 7:49/mi pace, which would be bang on 3:25. I knew the first 3-4 miles would be difficult to get an accurate pace reading given all of the tall buildings and tunnels but as you can see from the pacing above, miles 1 -5 were never close to 7:49.

Mile 6 was slower because I stopped for a toilet break at the 10k marker (in an actual toilet, not up for 10k sign), then mile 7 was faster because I wanted to catch back up to the pacers.

Running mile 7 at what would have been my more normal 6:50/mi marathon pace felt good; I felt strong and not out of breath. I did worry that this burst may come back to bite me later on, but for now, I went with it and caught the group just before mile 8.

Mile 8 – 14: 7:34, 7:36, 7:32, 7:33, 7:33, 7:37, 7:01

The first quarter of the race had felt really good. I felt in control, not pushing too hard, not out of breath, my heart rate was relatively low, and I kept pulling ahead of the pace group without feeling like I was pushing it. I was conscious that this was only mile 8, so let’s not get carried away just yet. I told myself to stay consistent, hold back and keep ticking the miles off. See how it feels when I get to mile 20, if I felt ok, then drop the hammer and go for it.

Looking at the mile splits above for 8-14 and seeing them all within a 5sec range is so pleasing and makes me feel proud that I listened to myself and held back, even the 7:01 mile 14 is probably more likely around a similar range. By mile 14, you are back in the city again, which throws GPS off slightly.

Mile 15 – 21: 7:24, 7:30, 7:28, 7:25, 7:26, 7:20, 7:14

I always find mile 15 tough going for some reason. It’s not hilly (none of Chicago is hilly), but the crowds thin out a little here, and after heading away from the city in mile 14, you do a 180 and head back toward the city again in mile 15. Seeing the tall buildings ahead and a feeling of running back to the finish only to realise you still actually have another 11 miles to go can be mentally challenging. In previous years, I have slowed or even walked during this mile.

This year was different. I still felt strong and running controlled. I set myself the goal of not walking this mile and smashed it. It was at mile 16 when I checked my elapsed time and did the runner’s maths to work out that I was on pace to run 3:15 and if I picked up the pace a little, run a BQ. That math turned out to be wrong. I wasn’t on for a 3:15, looking at it now, I don’t know how I came up with that, but that’s the fog of war for you.

BQ or not, I did pick up the pace from that point on. Also, it is worth mentioning that 3:25 pace group was long gone by this point. I had dropped them and run away from them even whilst holding my pace steady. I can now see, looking at my pace, that the 3:25 pacers must have gone out too fast if I was with them for the first 10 miles, despite comfortably running under the 7:49/mi pace. My best guess is they slowed the pace to either 7:49 or slower from mile 1,0 and whilst I continued at the same pace, I pulled ahead.

I didn’t massively increase my pace, just 5-10sec per mile to start with, then each mile gradually faster than the last from mile 16 all the way to 23.

Mile 22 – 26.2: 7:07, 7:14, 7:26, 7:29, 7:18, 6:53

the gradually slowing trend continued from mile 23, 24 and 25 which I wasn’t too concerned by, it wasn’t a huge drop in pace and still comfortably inside that original 7:49/mi ambitious pace goal I had set myself. In fact, the only time I ran a mile over 7:39/mi was mile 6 when I took the toilet stop. Clearly, I must have underestimated where my fitness was at but on the flip side, had I gone out at 7:20/mi I would most likely have bonked at some stage.

Once in mile 26 I was able to pick up the pace again and finished with a strong sprint, if you can call it a sprint but with 26.1 miles in the legs, anything over death march feels like the olympic 100m final.

Brief roundup:

Coming into the taper for Chicago I was thinking that a sub 4 hour marathon could have been a challenge. I ran 4 small interval sessions during the taper which contains a longer block and some 3 and 4 minute intervals at 3:30 marathon pace, these gave me hope and a timely confidence boost.

When it came to seeding myself in a lower Corral, I came into this weekend planning to run with the 3:30 pace group but saw that they were in Corral F in wave 2 which started 30mins after wave 1. I didn’t want to wait around an extra 30mins so put myself in Corral E and planned to run with the 3:25 pace group. That is where that ambitious pace goal came from. It evolved from 4 hours, to 3:30 to 3:25. All with the knowledge that I ran a 2:57 last April and 3:23 12 months ago in Chicago.

I finished up with a 3:17, dropping the 3:25 pace group, catching and passing 3:20 in the last 2 miles. To come back 12 months on and run the marathon where I came away with some many long term injuries in my foot was the goal. I endured 216 days of not running, I came back to run 10k’s and two half marathons this year but the shining light at the end of that injury tunnel was always the marathon start line and to make that start line where all those troubles began felt like a very fitting end to my achilles injury era. To top it all off, I actually came back and ran over 5 minutes faster than last year!

For anyone considering registering for the Chicago Marathon in the future, please take that plunge, sign up and you will not regret it. The city is fantastic, I love Chicago and how small and compact it is but what tops this race weekend for me is the crowds, I have been blessed with two sunny mild weekends in 2024 and 2025 which meant Chicago showed up in their numbers. Each neighbour bringing different vibes, my favourite was the Mexican area, they were so loud and energetic, it gave me goosebumps running through there and coming around 21 miles into the race, its right when you need that lift to bring you home.