2026 CHICAGO MARATHON PREVIEW

People have been glued to the forecast for the last couple days.

Um, as of today, I was looking at the temperature a couple hours ago 'cause I started writing my preview.

Maybe I should've checked right before we started recording, but Sunday's outlook is looking like it's gonna be 59 degrees at the start, with a dew point of 54 at 7:00 AM, and it's gonna rise to about 64 with a dew point of 57, which sounds better than, like, there were some forecasts, maybe, like, 24 or 48 hours ago, that were starting to look like it was gonna get to the 70s.

Um, but that, this looks manageable.

It's a little bit warmer than ideal for folks who wanna chase records, uh, because the moist air and the rising temperatures will obviously make it a little bit tougher.

But I would still say for, on the men's side, those who wanna chase the American record could still be in play, but there's just less room for, there's less of a margin for error there.

But sounds like good racing conditions, right? Well, you don't know w- what Fahrenheit is.

[laughs]

[laughs] No, I did look this up earlier, and there's obviously a bit of debate online as to some people saying it's a little too warm, and some people saying that's, that's not too bad.

And I think, uh, uh, it feels quite similar to the weather we had in London earlier in the year, but, 'cause it was, it did get warmer as the day, day went on in London as well.

Um, but yeah, it, it, so I, I, I hope it's, it's about right.

Um, w- obviously, a little cooler might have been nice, but, you know, obviously, everyone always wants, like, a nice 45, 50 degree kind of temperature.

But, um, yeah, uh, hopefully this is, this is not too bad.

Plus, I remember the year that Ruth Chepngetich broke the world record, which we will say with an asterisk.

Um, that year, there was American record talk on the women's side going into that race, and then they all said it was too hot, but then after, [laughs] but then at the front of the race, yes, Ruth Ch- Chepngetich broke the world record, but we all know under some sketchy circumstances.

Um- So you never know really, like, what's hot for some people may be ideal for some others.

But, um, I think both these races are shaping up to be pretty interesting.

We've contributed a lot to the men's hype.

Uh, there's several episodes on our podcast feed with the likes of Clayton Young, Charles Hicks, Vinnie Mowry, Galen Rupp, and we did have an episode with Emma Grace Hurley, and we're slated to chat with Sharon Lokedi later this week, and she'll be on Off the Rails.

But I did wanna start this podcast by looking at the women's race.

We've spent a lot of time on the men's race on this feed for a bit, so let's go over to the women's side first, and then of course, we'll yap our way through the men's race.

People have been glued to the forecast for the last couple days.

Um, as of today, I was looking at the temperature a couple hours ago 'cause I started writing my preview.

Maybe I should've checked right before we started recording, but Sunday's outlook is looking like it's gonna be 59 degrees at the start, with a dew point of 54 at 7:00 AM, and it's gonna rise to about 64 with a dew point of 57, which sounds better than, like, there were some forecasts, maybe, like, 24 or 48 hours ago, that were starting to look like it was gonna get to the 70s.

Um, but that, this looks manageable.

It's a little bit warmer than ideal for folks who wanna chase records, uh, because the moist air and the rising temperatures will obviously make it a little bit tougher.

But I would still say for, on the men's side, those who wanna chase the American record could still be in play, but there's just less room for, there's less of a margin for error there.

But sounds like good racing conditions, right? Well, you don't know w- what Fahrenheit is.

[laughs]

[laughs] No, I did look this up earlier, and there's obviously a bit of debate online as to some people saying it's a little too warm, and some people saying that's, that's not too bad.

And I think, uh, uh, it feels quite similar to the weather we had in London earlier in the year, but, 'cause it was, it did get warmer as the day, day went on in London as well.

Um, but yeah, it, it, so I, I, I hope it's, it's about right.

Um, w- obviously, a little cooler might have been nice, but, you know, obviously, everyone always wants, like, a nice 45, 50 degree kind of temperature.

But, um, yeah, uh, hopefully this is, this is not too bad.

Plus, I remember the year that Ruth Chepngetich broke the world record, which we will say with an asterisk.

Um, that year, there was American record talk on the women's side going into that race, and then they all said it was too hot, but then after, [laughs] but then at the front of the race, yes, Ruth Ch- Chepngetich broke the world record, but we all know under some sketchy circumstances.

Um- So you never know really, like, what's hot for some people may be ideal for some others.

But, um, I think both these races are shaping up to be pretty interesting.

We've contributed a lot to the men's hype.

Uh, there's several episodes on our podcast feed with the likes of Clayton Young, Charles Hicks, Vinnie Mowry, Galen Rupp, and we did have an episode with Emma Grace Hurley, and we're slated to chat with Sharon Lokedi later this week, and she'll be on Off the Rails.

But I did wanna start this podcast by looking at the women's race.

We've spent a lot of time on the men's race on this feed for a bit, so let's go over to the women's side first, and then of course, we'll yap our way through the men's race.