Chicago Marathon 2023 Event Recap and Review

The 2023 edition of the Chicago Marathon took place on October 8. Originally, I was supposed to do this race back in 2020 but it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, so I kept having to defer my entry. I qualified for the Chicago Marathon at the Berlin Marathon in 2019. Therefore, running the Chicago Marathon has been on my list of things to do for quite a while.

If I didn’t run it this year, I would have had to forfeit my entry. This was the entry that I earned in 2019 and paid for. I worked hard to qualify for Chicago after being injured in early 2016 and taking a lot of time off running (especially marathons). Back then, I had no idea that my injury was nothing compared to the disastrous health challenges I would face in late 2022.

Getting to the start line of this year’s Chicago Marathon was nothing short of a miracle. Getting to the finish was even more so.

On the way back to my hotel room after the Chicago Marathon

Here’s a list of the symptoms I experienced in late 2022:

Inability to feel my extremities (i.e. my feet and hands)
Numbness, tingling and burning sensation in my hands and legs
Dizziness upon standing up
Amenorrhea
Brain fog
Resting heart rate above 110 or even 120 sometimes
Blood pressure all over the place
Lightheadedness when I tried to walk
Frequent headaches
Nausea
Indigestion
Dropping to 94 lbs. because my stomach didn’t digest food properly so I stopped eating much
Sensitivity to light, heat, cold, noise
Hair loss
Random nosebleeds that would sometimes last over 1 hour
Frequent night-time urination (almost every hour, so I couldn’t sleep at all)
Insomnia that lasted for 3 months and caused a brief psychotic episode
Depression as a result of not being able to do my usual activities.

I was depressed because I went from running 30 marathons in 30 days, qualifying for the Boston Marathon multiple times, working all the overtime, and traveling to run marathons all over the world to lying in bed wondering if I’m going to make it to my next birthday.

In late 2022, I took 3 months off work and 4 months off running. I only started feeling better in early January 2023. At that time, I was only able to walk 3 miles so I had no idea how I was going to complete a marathon in under four hours before the end of this year.

However, I was already signed up for the Chicago Marathon. Therefore, I booked my hotel (Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk) and flights. At that time, I went solely on hope and prayer that I would be able to do this.

Training for this year’s Chicago Marathon was definitely challenging. When I was able to run, I ran slow. This year, I was happy whenever I ran a 10k under 50 minutes (my 10k personal best was 40:56 back in 2014) and broke 2 hours in the half marathon (my personal best was 1:28 back in 2015). My long runs were difficult and I questioned whether I could complete the Chicago Marathon under 4 hours.

As I got closer to the event, I began to notice that running was getting a bit easier compared to earlier in the year. However, I felt that finishing under 4 hours would be a long shot this time.

I flew to Chicago on October 5th to give myself a couple of days to walk around the city, pick up my race package and rest up for the race. I met up with my friend Jeff at the Chicago Marathon expo. We got to catch up as I haven’t seen him since Berlin.

Catching up with Jeff at the Chicago Marathon expo 2023.

The next thing I knew, it was race day. I was in Wave 1 corral “E”. On race morning, I walked from my hotel to the start line. It was slightly longer than a mile of walking.

Here’s a list of my race day essentials for this year’s Chicago Marathon:

Saucony Ride running shoes (I’ve been wearing them for the past 10 + years and they are the best shoes I’ve ever had)
Maurten gels
Dream Nation Apparel Sports Bra and Leggings
A throwaway jacket to stay warm while waiting in the starting corral

When the race started, I stopped being nervous and started fairly slow. I wanted to average sub 9 minutes per mile to ensure that I hit my 4 hour time goal for this event.

I was thrilled that I crossed the halfway point in 1:55:35, which means that I could slow down a little bit and still hit my 4 hour goal. I kept my pace relatively even throughout the run. However, at 35k, I got a little bit worried since I slowed down a bit more than I wanted. At that point, I hoped that averaging sub 9-minute miles for so long in the race would produce a sub 4-hour finish.

I kept doing math in my head to see how close I would be to the 4 hour mark at the finish. When I saw the sign that said, “one mile to go”, I got excited.

Crossing the finish line was a special moment for me this time given what I went through to get there and what I had to overcome. I gained a newfound appreciation for my body and what it can do. I used to be upset with myself if I finished a marathon slower than 3:30. However, that day, I was happy to finish the Chicago Marathon in 3:55:46. I walked back to my hotel room feeling very satisfied about how the day went.

My splits from the Chicago Marathon. Kept it fairly even until the last 7k, where I slowed down a bit more than I wanted to.

Back in late 2022, I never thought that I would be getting my Fourth World Marathon Majors Star. I’m so grateful that I can continue to pursue my goal of finishing all 6 of the World Marathon Majors and adding the beautiful 6 Star Medal to my collection. So far, I’ve completed Boston in 2015, New York in 2018, Berlin in 2019 and now Chicago.