🏃🏾 CHICAGO MARATHON ABOUT TO BE HUGE! MORE THAN 55,000 RUNNERS TAKING OVER THE CITY

📍Chicago, get your cowbells, signs and comfortable shoes ready because the Bank of America Chicago Marathon is coming back Sunday, October 11, and this year's race is expected to be the largest field in Chicago Marathon history.

More than 55,000 runners have signed up to tackle the 26.2-mile course, representing all 50 states and more than 130 countries. They'll race through 29 Chicago neighborhoods, starting and finishing in Grant Park. ABC7 Chicago

Baby, that's not a marathon.

THAT'S A WHOLE MOVING CITY. 😂🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏻

🌆 26.2 MILES OF CHICAGO

The marathon gives runners a full Chicago tour, winding through neighborhoods across the North, West and South sides before bringing them back downtown.

And Chicago doesn't just watch a marathon.

Chicago SHOWS OUT for a marathon.

Organizers estimate around 1.7 million spectators line the route annually, turning neighborhood streets into one enormous block party with signs, music, cheering and strangers screaming encouragement at somebody they've never met before. Bank of America Chicago Marathon

💰 THIS RACE BRINGS SERIOUS MONEY TO CHICAGO

This isn't only a sporting event.

The Chicago Marathon generates an estimated $756 million in annual economic impact for the city while helping runners raise millions for charitable organizations. Last year's runners raised about $47 million for charity, and organizers are expecting another massive fundraising year. Bank of America

Hotels.

Restaurants.

Transportation.

Shopping.

Tourism.

When tens of thousands of runners bring their families and supporters to town, Chicago's cash registers start doing cardio too. 😂💰

🚧 NOW HERE COMES THE PART CHICAGO DRIVERS NEED TO KNOW

STREET CLOSURES.

Closures around Grant Park and along the marathon route are already beginning this week, with significantly more restrictions coming as race day approaches. NBC Chicago

So if you're driving downtown Sunday morning thinking you're just gonna casually cut across the marathon route...

NO YOU'RE NOT. 😂

Plan ahead.

Check the route.

Give yourself extra time.

And don't sit behind the wheel screaming because 55,000 people have decided they're running farther before lunch than some of us have walked since Easter.

🏃🏾‍♀️💥 LADY RED SAYS...

I have nothing but respect for marathon runners.

Because 26.2 MILES?!

Listen.

I'll run if somebody is chasing me.

I'll run if the building is on fire.

I might run if somebody announces free food and says there's only three plates left.

But waking up voluntarily and saying:

“You know what sounds fun today? TWENTY-SIX MILES.”

Y'all are built DIFFERENT. 😭😂

But that's what makes the Chicago Marathon special.

Professional athletes will be out there chasing championships and records, while thousands of everyday runners will be chasing personal goals, raising money for causes, honoring loved ones or simply trying to prove to themselves that they can finish.

And when they hit that final stretch?

Chicago will be there making enough noise to push them home.

55,000+ RUNNERS.

29 NEIGHBORHOODS.

26.2 MILES.

ONE CHICAGO. 🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏽‍♂️🌆🔥

Good luck to everybody running Sunday.

Because after 26.2 miles, if somebody hands me a medal, they better hand me a wheelchair, two Advil and a plate too. 😂

730 BOOM RADIO

IT HITS DIFFERENT. EVERY TIME. BOOM! 💥