Runners Thursday were checking the course and preparing for a Chicago Marathon that means more than just a sporting event to the city and its residents.
Last year the marathon brought more than $277 million to Chicago, a number organizers estimate is the equivalent of almost 2,000 jobs and nearly $94 million in wages and salary income, a number expected to increase again this year.
“What we are seeing is people coming earlier,” said Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski. “They are bringing more friends, family members.”
Participants spend, on average, $81 a day on lodging, $48 a day on food, almost $260 in stores, $125 on transportation and almost $54 a day on entertainment at restaurants like the Park Grill, which is catering the annual carbo loading pasta dinner.
“We have really grown as the marathon has grown so it’s really cool to see the symmetry of the two organizations,” said Beth Bracco of Blue Plate Catering and the Park Grill. “The first year I think we catered it was coffee—we certainly evolved over the years.”
It’s been 39 years since the first Chicago Marathon and Henry Kozlowski says the city has kept him coming back to run in 38 of them so far.
“It’s like a tour of the city,” he said. “I see parts of the city I don’t see, I used to live on the North Side around Wrigley Field, you know, North Side, South Side, you don’t often see the other part of the city.”
