THE 2024 BANK OF AMERICA CHICAGO MARATHON!!

 

I’m excited to be coming off of my Chicago Marathon build healthy and fit. I’m looking forward to capitalizing on that fitness on the streets of Chicago Sunday morning and celebrating my first World Marathon Major race appearance. – Lauren Hagans

My build-up was a successful one, I enjoyed the marathon-specific workouts and I’m just excited for my debut marathon in a World Major! I am ready to compete on Sunday on the streets of Chicago! – Alex Masai

WOMEN’S RACE PREVIEW: Every once in a while in this new “super shoe” era you see a stat that just would have blown your mind ten years ago. Here’s one; this year’s Chicago Marathon features nine women with PBs under 2:20:00 (including two Americans), and three of those women have run under 2:17:00. Wow. So it’s safe to say we’ll see another fast time on Sunday but it’s not quite as clear who’ll run the fast-est. Pressed for an answer one would probably call Ruth Chepngetich the favorite based on her two wins in Chicago in 2021 and 2022 and her runner-up in 2023. But Chepngetich usually goes out REALLY fast and tries to hang on. If she falters, there will be plenty of athletes looking to go right on by including compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei who has wins in both London (2021) and New York (2019). Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede, who took a gigantic chunk off of her personal best when she ran 2:15:55 in Tokyo earlier this year, should also be right there. Other contenders include Kenya’s Irine Cheptai as well as Ethiopians Degitu Azimeraw and Hiwot Gebrekidan.

The American contingent is deep and experienced and includes Emma Bates, Keira D’Amato, Lindsay Flanagan, Lauren Hagans, Sara Hall, Betsy Saina and Susana Sullivan…among others.

MORE ON LAUREN: Lauren has had an interesting path to the marathon distance, to say the least. Not many 800/1500 runners with PBs of 2:02 and 4:09 move all the way to the marathon. And fewer still do it successfully. Lauren, though, ran her first ever marathon in 2023, at the Grandma’s Marathon, and won the race in 2:25:55–the fourth-fastest American female debut…ever. That performance thrust her into contention for a spot on the 2024 Olympic Team, and rightly so as it turns out considering the athlete who finished second at Grandma’s was Dakotah Lindwurm–who did in fact make the Team. Lauren, however, suffered an injury at the Trials and was forced to drop out of the race. Not only was it emotionally difficult to deal with the DNF, but physically she didn’t recover for several months.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that she’s completely back now and has been for a while. Training has gone especially well since she finished sixth at the USATF 20k Championships on Labor Day. Her marathon-specific workouts have been longer and faster than ever before including a 14-miler on Lake Mary Road where she averaged well under 5:40 per mile. She’s also prepared for the Chicago course by doing a number of workouts on super flat roads including a 2 x 6-mile session two weeks out from the race. All told, this has been one of the best builds she’s had in a long time (for any race distance). Keep an eye not only on her own PB but also the NAZ team record (2:24:28 set by Kellyn Taylor in 2018).

Flagstaff Running News – Injuries Behind Her, NAZ Elite’s Lauren Hagans Will Remove the ‘Bubble Wrap’ and Tackle Sunday’s Chicago Marathon

MEN’S RACE PREVIEW: It is only right to start off a preview of this year’s Chicago Marathon men’s race by remembering last year’s champion, the late Kelvin Kiptum. Kiptum, who set the world record at this race just one year ago, died tragically in a car accident on February 11. He was just 24 years old. The race organizers and participants will honor Kiptum with a moment of silence before the start of Sunday’s event.

As far as this year’s field goes, it’s certainly deep but perhaps lacks the transcendent star power of year’s past when champions like Kiptum, Mo Farah, Khalid Khannouchi, or Eliud Kipchoge have toed the line. At one time, Birhanu Legese–who owns the fastest seed time at 2:02:48, seemed like he might be headed for that kind of fame after winning the Tokyo Marathon in 2019 and 2020 (and finishing second in Berlin in between). Since that time, however, his highest finish at a World Marathon Major is a fifth in London back in 2021.

That leaves the door open for a whole host of others who could begin their own march to marathon stardom with a win on Sunday. Though he only owns the seventh-fastest PB in the field at 2:05:01, we like the chances of John Korir. John, the brother of former Boston champ Wesley Korir, was third here in 2022 and fourth in 2024. He ran a PB of 58:50 over the half marathon in February and was fourth at the Boston Marathon in April. Then over the summer he absolutely torched very good fields at both the Boilermaker 15k and the Falmouth Road Race. Fellow Kenyan Daniel Ebenyo, who was runner-up in 2023 at both the 10,000 meters at the World Championships and the Half Marathon at the World Road Running Championships, should be considered a major contender as well. Other possible winners include Ethiopians Amdework Walelegn, Dawit Wolde, and Jemal Yimer as well as Kenyans Vincent Ngetich and Amos Kipruto.

U.S. fans will want to keep an eye on a group that will likely include Americans CJ Albertson, Nathan Martin, Zach Panning, and Brian Shrader as well as HOKA NAZ Elite’s Alex Masai (Kenya).

MORE ON ALEX: This is a day that everyone involved with HOKA NAZ Elite has been looking forward to for a long time. Alex’s progression since he joined the team has included personal bests at 3,000, 5,000, and 10,000 meters. He then made his debut in the half marathon earlier this year at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in 1:01:46. He’s also had a number of other outstanding performances on the roads including finishing second at the BOLDER Boulder 10k in 2023 and third at this year’s Cooper River Bridge Run 10k. Results aside though, Alex possesses nearly flawless form and it’s that efficiency that should make him very dangerous over 26.2 miles. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that four of his siblings were/are world class distance runners including his sister Linet who was the World Champion over 10,000 meters in 2009.

Speaking of flawless, Alex’s training for Chicago has gone as well as one could hope with zero hiccups (knock on wood) and some monster sessions at altitude in the closing weeks: 38k with the first 32k steady and the final 6k under 5:00 per mile, 15 miles at 5:00 pace, and 2 x 10k in 30:16 (4:52 per mile) and 29:59 (4:49 per mile). And there was plenty more as well. As with any race, it’s about the athlete getting as much out of themselves as possible on the day. But should that happen, good results usually follow. Keep an eye on the clock as one of the oldest NAZ records on the books, Scott Fauble’s 2:09:09 set at the 2019 Boston Marathon, could be in jeopardy on Sunday morning.