The 43rd annual Chicago Marathon took place yesterday after being cancelled in 2020 from the pandemic. Runners were excited to be out in the streets again. Here’s reporter Angelina Campanile with a look at the race.
For New Yorker Katie Curley, Sunday morning means a long run through Central Park with her best friend. This past Sunday, though, the two traveled over 700 miles for a change of scenery.
CURLEY: Our ears keep popping so that we can’t catch our breath. It’s weird.
Curley was one of 33,000 people who ran the Chicago Marathon yesterday.
CURLEY: It was rough, and nothing went according to plan, but I got through it.
The race returns after the coronavirus forced runners to postpone their 26.2-mile circuit through the windy city.
Curley’s best friend Christina Gilmartin says–
CHRISTINA GILMARTIN: Having done New York, it’s a nice break from the hills.
After a year of virtual racing, spectators came back with double the excitement.
GILMARTIN: The crowds, the neighborhoods were fun and exciting. There wasn’t really a lull throughout the race, which was nice as a runner.
The marathon was canceled last year for just the second time in its history. Participants deferred their entries to 2021, 2022 or 2023. Curley says another year of training was good news.
CURLEY: With COVID still being in existence and working from home, it was easier than past training, because my schedule is a little bit more flexible. So, if I didn’t get up at the first thing in the morning, I could sometimes squeeze in a run during the day if I didn’t have meeting.
CAMPANILE: Do you have a specific racing strategy at all?
CURLEY: Finish. My strategy is to finish, whatever it takes.
This year runners had to provide either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to participate. But one hurdle marathoners didn’t expect to run into was the heat.
CURLEY: It was super hot and humid. And I just like couldn’t get into a groove. But I just was like, just take it one step at a time and get through it mile by mile.
The event’s alert level turned red during the race after temperatures reached 80 degrees–well above the average for October in Chicago. According to the Chicago Tribune, just about a dozen runners experienced heat-related health issues, including heat stroke.
The high temperatures didn’t stop 12-year-old Julianna Gilmartin from making the most out of her first trip to Chicago. She took 10 subways and walked seven miles to cheer on Katie and her mother Christina throughout the race.
JULIANNA GILMARTIN: Probably the best thing I’ve seen. Or like the funniest thing I seen was the drag queen cheerleaders in that little town. That was really fun.
Gilmartin says it was rewarding to see her mom and Katie run after watching them train together the past year.
GILMARTIN: They would either wake up about like six in the morning, maybe probably about like three or four times a week and run from maybe three miles to like 10 miles. And then at some points, like on the weekends, like they would run together for probably like 15 miles or so.
Chicago marked Curley’s seventh completed marathon.
CURLEY: It’s really good for me to like help get rid of my anxiety to run…to like, get that out of your system and clear your head. And then face whatever it is you have to face.
She faced the heat and crossed the finish line.
Her first thought?
CURLEY: Oh my god, I did it.
Curley says all she wants now is to–
CURLEY: Sit, stretch, shower, and drink lots of fluids.
In Chicago for WNUR News, I’m Angelina Campanile.
