We had our biggest-ever crew of Chicago Marathoners racing in the Windy City this year, with Coaches Kaitlin, Katie, and Amy there to cheer and support. What a day for our team!

Big PRs

Hope Singas: 3:22
Hope, coached by Coach Amy, had a stellar day with an 18 minute personal best - yes, you read that right! Hope had an amazing build up to Chicago where it was clear she was building fitness left and right. The best part of this build up was that she didn't do anything wild - in fact, she ran less mileage than she did in her previous marathon build, while this year doubling down on the “little things” that we know make a BIG difference: sleep, fueling, hydration, and strength. A summer of consistent training had Hope and Amy dreaming big about what Chicago could bring, and Hope ran a fantastic race en route to her first, long-awaited BQ and a huge PR!

Jamie Ashton: 3:30
Jamie, coached by Coach Jen, ran an 8 minute personal best in Chicago and her first BQ! Jamie’s training block was disrupted by an Achilles flare up that luckily she got under control; she and Jen made modifications and were patient and nimble in her training. Jamie got to the starting line healthy and was able to achieve our 3:30 goal right on the nose! While we hoped she might be able to find some gears later in the race to dip under 3:30 for a BQ buffer, we’re so proud of her and the mental fortitude she showed to get back to fighting shape after missing some key workouts and long runs due to her Achilles. We’re excited about this breakthrough and we’ll take another shot her A goal in Houston in January!

Teammates Stephanie Miles and Julia Brownell share some early miles together at the Chicago Marathon

Annie McMahon: 3:17
Annie, coached by Coach Jen, notched a shiny new PR and just snuck under the 3:18 barrier with an official time of 3:17:59! Her previous PR of 3:22 was crushed with a strong showing in Chi-town. Her build up was not without hiccups, but overall very few quality efforts were missed and Annie was able to check the box on the big efforts needed for a great race day. She also managed to escape getting sick in the last couple weeks leading up to the race (as parents of young kiddos know, this is no small feat!!) and she was diligent in doing all that she could to stay healthy. She had a great day, cheered on by her sister Liz (also coached by Jen!) who was there to celebrate with her!

Julia Brownell: 3:11
Julia, coached by Coach Kaitlin, ran a 2 minute PR of 3:11, improving on her 3:13 PR from CIM almost a year ago. Chicago was almost 20 years to the day since Julia ran her first marathon, a 4:24 - how far she’s come in 2 decades of marathoning!! In this training cycle, Julia focusing on building belief and conquering self-doubt, and she tackled every workout and long run with new-found confidence. Her belief in herself carried her to a huge negative split, closing her final 4 miles at a blazing 6:58 pace to secure a new personal best (and a joyful marathon!).

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Anna Kenig-Zeisler: 2:35
Anna, coached by Coach Kaitlin, led the way for our team with a top 20 finish, finishing 18th overall for women and as the 9th American, an amazing feat at a World Major Marathon. We could not be more proud of Anna, who put together an absolutely stellar buildup, winning the Redmond Harvest Half in a recording-setting 1:13 half in September en route to a 2.5 minute PR in Chicago, running 2:35:25. Would you believe that Anna has only been running competitively for 3 years?! She was a star soccer player in college who ran XC and track at the end of her college career, and then turned to marathons. She’s gone from 2:43 to 2:35 in less than 3 years and we can’t wait to see where the next 3 years take her!!

Running Joyfully Elite

Krystyna Rytel: 2:44 and Annelise Gill-Wiehl: 2:47
Running Joyfully Elite members Krystyna and Annelise, coached by Coach Kaitlin, both ran significant personal bests and had breakthrough days in Chicago! Krystyna has dropped 14 minutes off her marathon time in the last year, improving on her 2:54 in Boston this spring to run 2:44 in Chicago, good for a top 60 finish. And we’re pretty sure she was the top med student finisher too! Krystyna began medical school at Columbia this fall, but you wouldn’t know it from her stellar training log, fitting in big miles in between classes. Meanwhile, Annelise took 8 minutes off her PR, running the most joyful 2:47 out there (you should have seen how much fun she was having!) to finish in 80th overall. Annelise fit in her training while traveling to conduct post-doc fieldwork in Ghana, fitting in big miles wherever her work took her. More big things to come from both of these fast ladies, on the roads and in their careers!

First-time Marathoners!

Laurie Kent: 5:00
At age 52, Laurie, coached by Coach Sarah, conquered her first marathon at the Chicago Marathon! From early mornings on the treadmill to long runs manaing a cranky foot, Laurie showed up, stayed committed, and never stopped believing in her ability to finish her first marathon. Her 5-hour finish is a testament to what consistency, courage, and determination can do. Every step of this journey was earned. Huge congratulations, Laurie - welcome to the marathon club!

McKenna Hixon, 3:41
McKenna trained for last year's Chicago Marathon and devastatingly sustained a stress fracture 1 month before the race. With this history of a bone stress injury, she put in the work of rehabbing, strength training, and correcting her imbalances, and then decided to work with Coach Kacy to help guide her to this year’s Chicago. What started as a "make it to the start line" training cycle turned into "how fast can she go!?" build up! Mckenna crushed all the workouts Kacy had for her and ran a very strong 3:41 debut marathon. Most importantly, she stayed healthy throughout the training block! We can’t wait to see what she does next!

Overcoming Obstacles

Andy Bingenheimer: 3:22
Andy, coached by Coach Steph, had a tremendous training cycle in preparation for Chicago. While achieving a PR is often the goal, Andy also has a deep appreciation for the process and enjoyed the journey of the training cycle en route to the Windy City. His race started strong, with a massive PR pace, before some GI issues forced a reset. Despite the challenges, Andy loved the Chicago experience and ran his second fastest marathon ever. Imagine how smooth and strong his next endeavor will be!

Betty Yung: 3:28
What started out as a build to go for a PR was derailed due to a freak accident that caused Betty to miss a few weeks of key training right towards the end of her build. Once Betty was cleared to train again, she and Coach Katie calibrated how much she could do and shifted goals away from a PR attempt, focusing instead on getting under the 3:30 BQ time she needs to maintain her Boston Marathon streak. While Betty still had high hopes for running closer to 3:26, we truly feel she got the most out of herself on the day given the unfortunate gaps in training as a result of her accident. She turned lemons into lemonade and still had a great day out there!

Lauren Jesse: 3:41
Lauren had big goals for this race, and with meaning too - she raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization near and dear to her heart. Lauren works as a nurse on the bone marrow transport unit at UCSF and works incredibly grueling hours, so running for the LLS gave a lot of meaning to her miles. This was the best training cycle she and Coach Kacy have put together and she was both fit and healthy on the start line. Despite not hitting her 3:30 goal, this was a huge step forward for Lauren and we are excited for her to nail it the next time.

TerryAnn Cuozzo: 3:24
TerryAnn's journey to Chicago was a little different than originally planned. Between some calf issues during the summer months and a busy travel and family schedule (and school-age-kiddo illnesses!), TerryAnn, coached by Coach Steph, diligently stacked bricks for her second World Major of the year. Is she ready for a big PR race? Heck yes! While the stars didn't align for a PR day in Chicago, we're so proud of TerryAnn for making it to the start line when it could have been "easier" to sit this one out. Fitness stacks and we’re excited for her to put these good months of training to use toward another goal soon!

Lindsay Hazard: 3:48
Lindsay had big goals for Chicago after a big half marathon PR in Houston in January; but unfortunately her Chicago buildup was derailed by some ankle pain that caused her to miss some key weeks of training. Lindsay, coached by Coach Kaitlin, never shied away from the work, logging many hours on the Peloton in the hopes of holding onto her Chicago time goals, but we just ran out of time. While this time in Chicago wasn’t what she hoped for, we are proud of the resilience she showed and that she was able to make to the start (and finish!) line.

Stephanie Miles: 3:34
Stephanie, coached by Coach Kaitlin, had a tremendous training block and was ready for a big PR, but some race day GI issues and multiple bathroom stops forced her to adjust her time goals. She shared early miles with her Running Joyfully teammate Julia, with whom she’s shared her last 3 marathons, and those miles together were joyful! Steph remained relentlessly positive despite the porta potty stops she was forced to make. We know that this run doesn’t reflect her fitness and we’re excited to see what she does next when she can show off all the hard work she put in this summer!

Inspired Runs

Alex Macchi: 2:55
Alex took a big swing on a big PR - and we’re proud of him for going for it! Together with Coach Katie, Alex took a more balanced approach to training this cycle after experiencing some fatigue and injuries in earlier cycles; and it paid off with some big fitness gains and being healthy! Alex went out right on goal pace, but once he wasn't feeling great, he took his foot off the gas and decided to enJOY his time running through Chicago. While it wasn’t a PR day, it was far from his worst and still a strong sub-3 finish. The biggest takeaways for Alex are putting together a healthy, energized training cycle while starting a new job and being a dad - and showing his kids to run brave and not be afraid to tackle big goals.

Rachel Stone: 3:16
Rachel’s approach to Chicago Marathon was different than her training for marathons past - because this fall, she is doing the Chicago Marathon/JFK 50 Miler double! Rachel, coached by Coach Kaitlin, logged more miles than ever this summer and fall in preparation for her first ultra, and has been so consistent with volume, intensity, strength, and fueling. We’d hoped her legs would be fresh enough for the marathon PR we know she has in her, but we are SO excited for what she’s going to do in November at JFK!

Sasha Pang: 3:58
Sasha’s build to Chicago was filled with more obstacles than any person should ever face. Some health challenges earlier in the year meant significant time off in May, and Sasha only began walk-running in June. Together with Coach Kaitlin, Sasha rebuilt her run fitness, supplemented with lots of biking and Barry’s Bootcamps. Sasha made the most of EVERY day of the training cycle, finding a way to fit in double-digit long runs while traveling for work and solo parenting for long stretches. She showed incredible grit and resilience in this training cycle, which served her well on race day when the heat threatened her finish. But Sasha made it across that finish line in sub-4, against so many odds - and we remain in awe of her attitude, perspective, and perseverance.

We are SO proud of every one of our athletes who competed in Chicago and we are inspired by everyone’s grit and ability to grind! Congrats to each of our teammates!! We celebrate you!