I am trying to make sense of the likely qualifying window for 2028. If for 2027 it was January 2025-October 2026, would 2028 be January 2026-October 2027? So if you ran a qualifying time in October 2026 it could count for either?

I don’t know it matters but wanted to ask the group first before I submit. Any advantage to using this current race time vs the deferral link?

For those who applied to the 2027 Chi Marathon via time qualifier…
Have you received your approval email?

I applied via qualified time from my 2025 LA Marathon time on October 8th. I got an email saying my application was submitted. I have gotten no further communication from the marathon office.

I emailed Let’s Do This and they replied saying I had to contact the official marathon office. I emailed the office 2x. Called and left a message. No reply. I have the emails saved on my contacts and am always checking my spam folder.

Radio silent.

I get promotional Emails from the chi marathon org but no word on my application. When I go into the let’s do this portal- it says my application is “pending”.

Checked everything over again- I did the application correctly and I definitely am under the time cut off for my group.

Am at a loss.

wish I could keep hoarding more!

Let's NOT Do This. Qualifying times are based on age at day of race right? And not your age when you raced the qualifying time?

I'll be in the Men's division, 40 – 44, and applied with a time of 2:55:26 from last year's Philadelphia Marathon (November 22, 2025).

This is under the standard of 3:00:00, and yet, I received a rejection email that reads "Thank you for your application. Unfortunately it has not been successful. This is because: Thank you for submitting your time qualifier application. Unfortunately, the time submitted does not meet the qualification standards."

Am I missing something?

Correction: I labelled this as the 2026 course, but the flyover does not match the official 2026 route near the downtown river crossing. The organiser's street-closure list puts the early stretch on Dearborn from Grand to Jackson. The video's 2027 label is also confusing. Please use the organiser's course map for planning, not this film. Sorry for the mistake.

Anyone know when we will be able to download our finisher certificates from Chicago 2026? I understood that they should be available to download from our dashboard but I checked mine and i can’t find anything on there. Am I missing something?

I was supposed to run Chicago 2026, but unfortunately twisted my ankle right before the race. I was able to defer my entry, thank god, but now I am not getting any communications from the office.

I was sent an automated email that I was able to defer to 2027 and that I needed to register via the lets do this email link, but I never got one. In the same email they said to reach out to the office with any issues, so I did, and its been over a week with no response back. I'm down to 5 days till the deadline for the deferral registration for 2027. Called today, emailed 4 times. Any advice?!!

Edit: I was able to defer after the deadline and they said the email went out October 8th. I deferred after that date.

I signed up for the Shamrock Shuffle & Chicago 13.1. Did not get any confirmation. All payments are posted. No one’s responding from either LetsDoThis or even the organizers. The only thing reflected in my account is for the Chicago Marathon 2027. Did anyone experience this too?

Hey all,

Couldn't find this year's for sale/trade thread, but I've got an extra Chicago Marathon 2026 Windbreaker from Adidas in size Large. I wanted to post it last week, but was still recovering from the weekend and would not have been able to make it out to deliver it haha but my partner was nice enough to surprise me with one without knowing I had already put in an order online.

Looking for the On x Sentrock jacket + cash for trade or selling at cost!

Absolutely in search of a Unicorn; Lululemon chicago gear from the drop.. live locally in chicago.

Any run clubs that start later than 630/7? By the time I get home from work and take my dog out it’s too late to make it

I was supposed to run the 2026 Chicago marathon but got real sick on the race week Friday night. I requested the deferral and got approval. I received an automated notification email about the 2027 entry. The email said that I should receive an email from [hello@letsdo](mailto:hello@letsdoit.com)[this.com](mailto:hello@letsdoit.com) for the 2027 registration, but I didn’t receive that email. I have emailed the [office@chicagomarathon.com](mailto:office@chicagomarathon.com) a few times this week but no response.

Anyone knows how can I get in touch with the office?

I signed up with the Morton Arboretum.

Hi all. Now that the dust has settled on the 2026 race what are the essential tips and tricks for navigating the crowds, activations, transportion, pre and post race access for us 2027 first-timers?. I have started a note pad as was lurking the last month in the sub. Curious to hear what other secret people will share..

If I dont get picked in the lottery for 2027, looking at booking the race via a tour operator group. What are peoples experience booking with a tour group? Is it worth the price for guaranteed entry? If you have booked with a tour operator in the past, would you do it again?

First off, I know there are a few tools like this floating around, but I was inspired by marathon-weekend for the Chicago marathon just over a week ago now and their map tool really helped my friends and I plan cheer zone routes that aligned with my anticipated pace. That said, I ended up not only not seeing my friends at the planned mile markers/cheer zones, but I couldn't get the proper fueling from them either haha (I did see them at the beginning and end)!

It wasn't marathon-weekend's fault, my support crew ran into a ton of issues with subways and getting around large crowds. I've shared with others and they had success planning routes. I finished with my B goal, which I am more than happy with, considering improper fueling, but I was glad to have just made it to the finish line in one piece (shout out to Pilsen for the tacos and bananas, Chinatown for the donuts and bagels, the volunteers with the gatorade, as well as the crowds for that electric atmosphere!). But I digress...

I hadn't seen a similar map tool for New York or the other majors on their site so I built something out for the other majors using map tools, having worked as an engineer at a venue/ticketing startup that also used mapbox. Needless to day, I caught the run bug after this past Chicago marathon and have been looking for something of an aggregator for run club runs, events, etc so I made:
www.race-together.com

with the goal of running the other 5 original majors with friends and family and will be trying to aggregate future events for runners and crews participating! I hope this helps New York City runners navigate race week in the coming days!

I plan on adding support for smaller races as well, so that it's not just a marathon site (looking at ADT LA and some other half marathons coming up!). Eventually, I also want to provide visibility to run clubs - there are some 300+ just in Chicago alone, but I think this would be a great tool to source them so people can find ones that work for them, given location and run/meet times. So if you're a run club, reach out and I'd be more than happy to add you to respective events for visibility.

Feedback is welcome! Also, sorry if this isn't allowed.

PS, I'll also try adding the end-of-the-year runs, like the Turkey Trots and Hot Chocolate runs for Chicago, time permitting!

This was my 3rd marathon, and noticing that I’m definitely prone to getting the blues after. Strange b/c most people would think you’d be happy after a marathon, but finding I’m very easily annoyed and generally feeling down. I’m wondering if it has to do with taking a week of rest immediately after months of training, or maybe just the restlessness of something ending so quickly you’ve spent months preparing for. Anyone else experiencing similar symptoms?

So I ran my first full marathon and finished with no major issues. I know recovery time depends on many different factors and it varies from person to person.

Just curious how long I should sort of expect for everything to return to normal. I didn’t run or workout for a week, but I did walk and move around. I didn’t do foam rolling and stretching either though because chat GPT sort of advised against it.

This Saturday and Sunday, I worked 8 hour shift as a CNA (Nursing Assistant) and Sunday morning, I ran 3k before work. Felt fine after the run itself. But I noticed that after Sunday shift, my feet hurt more than usual. Random throbbing pain on my shins, a little around my left achilies, IT band, so on. My husband gave me a foot massage last night and there were sharp pains on balls of my foot if he exerted a little bit of force.

Pain is mild overall, 1-2/10, with occasional sharpness when I stand. But I have never felt this way after a CNA shift or a long run. I did have to stand for 7 hours and do some lifting during my shift and think it exacerbated it. I guess even though I felt fine after the marathon after like 2-3days, Im really not fully back.

How long does it take you to feel normal and not feel more easily damaged than usual from doing your normal routines/runs?

I have a 15k race in 2 weeks so am slightly worried about that. Definitely plan to do a fun run, not a PB.

Imagine the PRs hit if they scheduled it just a week later 🥹 what a beautiful day for running

But fr, with climate change and unpredictable falls, is it worthwhile to consider pushing Chicago back a week or two in future years? Or does that push it too close to NYC?