Chicago, October
Bank of America Chicago Marathon Pacing Plan
Starts and finishes in Grant Park and threads through 29 neighborhoods in a single wide loop — the Loop's skyscraper canyons, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Boystown, Pilsen, Chinatown and Little Italy. It's certified dead flat, which combined with often-cool October weather is why it's produced multiple world records; the only real elevation change on the whole course is the gentle grade of a handful of underpasses.
Distance
26.6 mi
Elevation gain
+6m / -7m
Typically run in
October
Typical race-day weather
52°F, 12 mph
Weather is a 10-year seasonal average for this course's location and month, not a forecast for a specific date — see FAQ.
Elevation profile
Sample strategy — 3:45:00 goal
A real, AI-generated excerpt of what Splitsmith produces for this exact course — not a hand-written example. Upload your own goal and recent results to get the full plan.
KM 1-8 — You've got a tailwind for most of this stretch, and the pace numbers reflect it: 5:07-5:11/km, a touch quicker than your 5:15/km average goal pace. Let it happen but don't chase it — this is the wind pushing you, not extra fitness. You cross 8K at 41:38, banking a small, wind-assisted cushion without spending extra effort.
KM 9-19 — The tailwind flips to a headwind starting around km 14 and holds through this whole block, and pace settles into a steady 5:10-5:13/km — right on goal effort. You cross the half in the low 1:38s, essentially on target. This is the section to lock your rhythm, not fight the wind; leaning into a slight forward lean and shorter arm swing costs less energy than trying to hold splits artificially fast.
KM 20-25 — Grade is flat but the persistent headwind starts taxing you, and pace drifts to 5:14-5:19/km, 0.2-1.1% slower than average. You cross 20K at 1:44:08 and 25K at 2:10:37 — check your watch here and accept the small fade as the wind cost, not a fitness problem. Resist the urge to surge to make up time; the tailwind returns soon.
Build your Bank of America Chicago Marathon plan
Upload your own GPX or use Bank of America Chicago Marathon's course — set your goal and recent results, and get the full km-by-km strategy.
Build my Bank of America Chicago Marathon plan →Splitsmith is an independent pacing-plan tool and is not an official partner, sponsor, or affiliate of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon or its organizers. Course data source: digitized from the official course.