David Thomson headed stateside for his biggest marathon adventure to date. This was to be David’s fifth marathon and his first of the traditional World Marathon Majors. His marathon progression to date has seen him come down from 3.58 (Edinburgh, 2022) all the way to 3.18 in Amsterdam last year. His sights were set on another PB in the Windy City!
As with all major marathons, there is an exciting build up in the days leading up to the main event. The expo gives you a chance to meet some big names from the running community and queue up for (apparently) underwhelming freebies. The shake-out run in the streets of Chicago on marathon-eve sold out its 12,000 ticket allocation! David got his run in with some fellows Scots, including runners from Bellahouston Harriers. A chance to test his ever-increasing hamstring worries, the result of which was more expertly self-applied kinesio tape!
The starting pens were open at 5.30am for the 7.30am start, an early rise but timed to try avoid the heat later in the day. David sensibly set off at slower than PB place, before settling in after the first few miles. Around halfway the route loops back through the city’s skyscrapers, always important to ignore the GPS and trust your pace at these stages. David was on track for a PB at half way in 1.36.
The scale of the event means that the streets are lined throughout, cheering on the 53,000 runners taking part. The last 10k of a marathon is where it always hurts. David’s hamstring was definitely talking to him as he started to slow. However, he showed remarkable endeavour to dig deep in the last 5k, a really strong finish saw him home in 3.14.09 for a superb 4 minute PB.
David has been so dedicated to his training in the last six months and has balanced that alongside his sports psychology university studies. He is so supportive of his fellow runners in the club, using his studies to help others. We are sure some of those running mantras went through his head in that last hour and propelled him to the finish. 
David takes a keen interest in the goings on at the sharp end of the field. Sadly, his running hero Phily Bowden had to pull out with injury. However, we are sure he felt some inspiration to share the streets with Kiplimo and Kipruto battling it out for the win in borderline WR pace. Connor Mantz also broke the long-standing American record in 2.04.43.
That is one major down, six more to go? We wouldn’t rule it out, but his legs might not have enough room for the route tattoos.