How Extraordinary Runners Finished This Year’s Chicago Marathon

Brian Reynolds lost both his legs after a childhood battle meningococcemia, a bacterial bloodstream infection. In 2014, he ran his first marathon in 4:30. Though he fell short of meeting his goal of becoming the first double amputee to break three hours today, he inched a step closer, running 3:03:22 to beat his previous time of 3:03:35 earlier this year in Los Angeles.

Women’s running pioneer Joan Benoit Samuelson, 61, is best known for winning the first-ever women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984. She also won the Chicago Marathon in 1985—her time of 2:21:21 was an American record at the time and still ranks as the fifth fastest ever among U.S. women. Her past two attempts at setting records here, in 2015 and 2017, have been thwarted by illness and injury.

Though she fell short of this year’s goal of 3:01:30, the world record for women 60 to 64, she finished strong in 3:12:13—just behind her daughter Abby Samuelson, who crossed the line in 3:11:20.

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Fourteen months after a rare autoimmune disease called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, or CIDP, temporarily paralyzed her, brain researcher Lynn Rogers had two goals for today. Her first was to raise funds for research and treatment of the disease that still threatens her movement; that one’s ongoing. But she cruised through her second—completing her 17th marathon in a time faster than her slowest, a 5:10—with a 4:18 time today.

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Chicago running coach Denise Sauriol used to strive only for fast times. After being struck by a car on the way to the starting line of the New York City half marathon in 2009, she began guiding others in the sport she loved. Now, she’s coached hundreds of marathoners to their own personal victories.

This year she started near the back of the race, megaphone in hand, to cheer on her 190 runners (nearly half of them first-timers). “I like working with beginners because you get them to that first finish line, where they had doubt, and it ignites something within them,” she said. After connecting with as many of them as possible, she crossed the line herself with a 4:52:39.

After an apartment fire burned more than 60 percent of his body two years ago, Beau Zanca, 25, spent three months in a coma; afterward, he vowed not to lose any more time. He relearned to walk, then run, and finished a 5K seven months after his injuries.

Now, he’s a marathoner, with a 5:30:12 finish time at this year’s race, and he has no plans to slow down anytime soon—he aims to run more marathons, and progress to ultras, even as he finishes his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. The same mental toughness that helped him heal also powered him through training and racing, he told Runner’s World: “Whenever you are suffering through it, you can use that as a motivator.”

Leesa Drake kept training even when undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer last year. “People feel like they have to give up so much to be focused on their treatment. And I never felt that way,” she said before the race. “Yes, it's going to take over some aspects of my life, but I still have to go to work, I still have to be a mom, I still have to get laundry done, I still want to keep running.” Today, she finished her 14th Chicago Marathon, and 102nd marathon overall, in 5:48:07. “I feel grateful—grateful that I’m past it and able to keep doing this,” she said.

Antioch, Illinois, resident Randy Burt, 71, is now another year closer to his long-term target of 50 Chicago Marathon finishes. He crossed the line in 4:32:35, making him one of only four runners who’ve completed all 41 Chicago Marathons since the first race in 1977. “Around the 20th is where I started thinking, you know, I’m just going to keep on doing these things, and see where it goes,” Burt told Runner’s World last year.

Frank Abramic (left in the photo) may not have started running until age 63, but he’s made up for lost time by completing 20 straight Chicago Marathons. (He crossed the line in 6:14:25.) And the sport remains a family affair—his brother John, 80, finished his fifth Chicago in 5:59:03, and John’s daughter Janet, finished in 5:06:50. “Just trying to keep up with those two,” she said.