The route
Traced editionrun on 11 October 2026
An urban 42.195 km loop through Chicago, taking in Grant Park, Lincoln Park, West Loop, Pilsen and Chinatown.
Drawn with a pen, line by line
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The Chicago Marathon draws a loop from Grant Park back to Grant Park: start and finish sit in the same park, right in the middle of the city.
The first stretch heads north as far as Lincoln Park, then comes back down through Old Town toward downtown.
The route then swings west into the West Loop before turning south to Pilsen and Chinatown, the last neighbourhood on the way back to Grant Park.
Every step is on city streets, not a metre of trail. Runners have 6 hours 30 minutes to reach the finish.
Paths and places: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
02 · Your poster
The course, a 42.195 km loop from Grant Park, takes shape street by street on the poster: our pen plotter draws it with a pen, line by line. Your finisher name and time go in the title block, in A4, A3 or A2.
Shipped from our workshop in Le Bouscat
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Updated Route and text: Plotrek workshop (Fabrice Jolivet)
Start and finish: Grant Park. The course is a loop of 42.195 km. The 2026 edition was run on Sunday, 11 October 2026. First landmark on Plotrek's route: Lincoln Park, at km 17.4. Times and course can change from one edition to the next; the organiser's website prevails.
Landmarks on Plotrek's route: Lincoln Park at km 17.4, Pilsen at km 31.8, then Chinatown at km 35.5. The last one, Chinatown, is about 7.6 km from the finish, Grant Park. The loop ends where it began: Grant Park. These landmarks are a selection of named places along the route, not a full list of what it passes.
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Other races in the same spirit