All These People Were Psyched To Be Running The Chicago Marathon This Morning

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Oct 8, 2017 6:09PM

We admit it, we were fast asleep this morning when close to 45,000 runners from around Chicago and the world lined up for the 2017 Bank of America Chicago Marathon this morning.

The Oct. 8 marathon celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, sending runners on a 26.2 mile course around Grant Park, up to Wrigley Field, south to Bronzeville and out west to Greektown. Our photographer was along the course to capture dozens of happy faces of people who were clearly stoked to be running the marathon—including a man dressed up as the Nintendo character Mario and plenty of people with motivational signs celebrating both the race and their Chicago pride. See for yourself, in the gallery, above.

As for the competitive race: Galen Rupp became the first American man to win the Chicago Marathon since 2002, when Khlaid Khannouchi won it. Rupp,a three-time Olympian runner, finished in just 2 hours and 9 minutes and 20 seconds. Rupp also finished second in the Boston Marathon back in April, in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 58 seconds.

Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopa won the women's race, finishing in 2 hours, 18 minutes and 31 seconds.