The Chicago Marathon’s flat, fast course has produced its share of world and American records—but none have fallen here since race director Carey Pinkowski did away with pacers in 2015. This fall, Galen Rupp may aim to change that.
Rupp won the race last year in 2:09:20. Although he dropped out of the Boston Marathon in April, he went on to win the Prague Marathon 20 days later in 2:06:07, making him the second-fastest American in history. That progress has him confident he can eventually challenge Khalid Khannouchi’s American record of 2:05:38—and if conditions are right, he says, Chicago could offer a prime opportunity to try.
Runner’s World caught up with Oregon Project’s Rupp on a visit to the city this week on June 6, the day before he was scheduled to throw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field, a thrill for the lifelong Cubs fan. (His dad, who’s from the area, was in attendance.)
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Galen Rupp: Checking the forecast beforehand, we knew it might be miserable. The cold’s tough with my asthma. Around 19 miles, I just couldn’t breathe very well, so I had to stop. I think that’s the coldest I’ve even been in my life. It was a brutal day for sure.
It really kind of stuck with me. I was angry, frustrated, and disappointed. You do two marathons a year so when one doesn’t work out, it is heartbreaking to some extent. You put in so much time and energy and sacrifice a lot to get to that point. And it’s like, “Was that all a waste?”
RW: But it wasn’t, in this case. What was involved in the decision-making process around Prague?
GR: On the plane ride home and the next day, I had been thinking about, is it even an option to run another race? Would I have that chance? And then my coach [Alberto Salazar] brought it up.
Alberto told me bluntly, “You need to want to do this.” Mentally, it takes a lot out of you, the highs going out for the marathon and the lows of the disappointment. But it definitely was something I really wanted to do, to get another race in. I was just fortunate that it worked out last-minute.
RW: Was bouncing back tough—and how do you handle that intermediate time to extend your peak?
GR: I tried to take the approach that [Boston] was just a good hard run. I knew my legs were going to recover pretty well from that.
I took one day where I just kind of ran easy but still probably got in 10 miles. I didn’t do anything hard for four or five days, then I got right back at it. That next week I ran probably 100 to 110 miles and got into pretty hard workouts. Three weeks is a long time; you can’t keep doing nothing and resting.
For long runs, I went at least 20—between 20 and 25, I think. But it wasn’t super hard, just a good effort. I think I ran the last couple miles pretty quick. I did some shorter stuff like 600 breakdowns, sets of 600, 400, 300, 200. Which really isn’t a marathon workout, but some speed work can help get your legs back under you and make you start feeling good again. I did some longer intervals, mile repeats or Ks.
The week, week and half before we really cut back and it was just easy workouts. I think the worst thing you could do is—you’re frustrated and your natural instinct is to try to want to push hard and make up for that disappointment. But you can’t really do that, especially in workouts. Alberto was like, “We have to make sure you don’t overdo it now and get back rested again.”
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GR: Yeah. I thought my training was as good as it had ever been before Boston, but until you actually run the race and see, that’s the only way you learn. That was one of the reasons I was so mad with Boston; you only get so many chances to learn about yourself and look back and say, “I think this really worked in training or this didn’t work. We need to switch this up.”
Obviously to win was the most important thing. The guy I beat [Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia] was running 2:04 earlier this year, so very accomplished. The time was a great thing for me, too. Most races I’ve run have been more tactical; this one had rabbits where we went out in 63 minutes and then the second half was a little more tactical. It showed I was capable of running a lot faster than I had.
My PR going into big marathons is always so much slower than everybody else’s. I knew I would still be competitive with them, but it is a little weird being minutes behind someone with what you’ve run. So, now I still got a little ways to go to catch up to those guys, but I’m definitely on the right track, and it just gives me a lot more confidence. If someday you want to try to run a lot faster, you have to take those steps. You can’t just go from running all these races in 2:09 or 2:10 to all of a sudden running 2:03, 2:04, 2:05. It just doesn’t happen like that. So this was a really good step in the right direction.
Also, it wasn’t ideal in the sense that we had really geared everything toward Boston and this was kind of an add-on at the last second. If things go well and we’re able to do everything perfectly for a race, I think it is possible for me to run a lot faster.
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GR: Yeah, for sure. I think that’s a possibility. I definitely want to go after that. I think the race in Chicago this coming fall might be a really good chance to do that. I learned at the marathon there’s a lot of things, like weather, that are just unknown, you can’t control. That plays a big part especially when you’re trying to run really fast. The weather’s usually pretty good here and I think there’s a good chance it could be a fast race. I’ll leave it at that.
RW: How’s your recovery been?
GR: I was definitely sore for a couple days. I get that same kind of marathon walk afterward where it’s hard to go down stairs. I took three weeks off completely, which is what I normally do after a marathon. I didn’t do anything—didn’t take a step, didn’t lift. I stretched a little bit, but that’s about it.
I think it’s important for longevity purposes to make sure you recover from a marathon. They do certainly take a big toll on your body. Alberto always emphasized that to me. He was like, “This is what ruined me, I never took any breaks. I always just kept powering through. My career, was obviously, not very long. I’m not going to make the same mistake with you.” It was good just to be able to spend a lot of time at home with my family, my wife and kids, and do a lot of things that I’m not able to do when I’m training.
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GR: Yeah. The twins [Grayson and Emmie] will be four coming up in July. Then my youngest, Jaden, is one and a half. They’re all very active kids. My wife [Keara] and I laugh—sometimes when we take them to church or if we go out to eat, we see families where kids just sit still. Ours are incapable of just sitting still just for 20 seconds.
RW: Hows your recovery been?
GR: She was really good in high school and ran in college at U of O where we met. She had some injuries, unfortunately. She missed a lot of her junior and senior year. Now she runs for fun. She certainly understands the lifestyle. She’s given up everything, basically, to support me and really just allow me to follow my dreams, so I feel extremely lucky.
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GR: The kids like to ride their bikes so we’ll walk behind them, or take them to the pool, or to parks. We went to the beach, spent a day there. But it’s kind of hard to get them all out for big outings. We do a lot of stuff around the house. Usually I’m so tired it’s hard to keep up with them, but during a break it’s fun to kick a ball around with them, play basketball or baseball.
Whenever there’s a track at one of the parks we go to they like to run on it and race. They kind of understand what I do. With them, everything is a race—like, I want to be first, I want to beat you. I’m definitely a competitive person so I’m sure they’ve got a little bit of that in them.
RW: It’s nice to hear about your family—you don’t talk about them much in public or on social media.
GR: That’s just the way I’m wired. My wife’s the same. We like to keep to ourselves a little bit. I tried the social media thing a few times and didn’t really like it. I feel like I spend so much time running and the other times, I really want to give everything I can to my wife and kids. I’ve got a close circle of friends I talk or text with. I just kind of like privacy.
RW: When did you know Boston was going to be a bad day?
GR: No, I mean, I’m comfortable with who I am. I can’t control what other people think. I give everything to the people I’m close with; literally I’ll do anything for them. Outside of that, I always try to be friendly and respectful, but they’re the people I care the most about and who I’m going to put all my effort and energy into.
I’m just naturally kind of a shy person, too. I’ve always been that way, even going back to high school, shy and awkward. Obviously, I wish people would like me, but that’s their choice and they’re entitled to their opinion.
RW: Were you satisfied with the race?
GR: With Boston, we left the kids back, because it’s such an early morning and they’re usually still asleep. They were here last year. One of our favorite pictures is my youngest son, he was dead asleep when I crossed the finish line last year here. He’s in the front [carrier] and zonked out.
The twins had a blast here. I think they remember going to Maggie Daley Park more than anything else. We went to the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. I remember going to the aquarium when I was a kid, with my dad. So it was cool to take them there. They loved it.
RW: Was bouncing back toughand how do you handle that intermediate time to extend your peak?
GR: I’m going to sit down with Alberto this week to map out what potential races I would look at before Chicago. I’m not sure if I’ll get on the track this summer. I started running last week, and I’ll start doing intervals next week. I wouldn’t rule it out, though. Sometimes stuff is last minute with us, like: Things are going well. What if you jumped in a race to see how it’s going here? We like to keep our options open.
I’ll definitely do a few road races. In the past I’ve tried to do something three to five weeks before a marathon, a last big tune-up race, so we’ll certainly look at something in that timeframe.
RW: What about your training approach? I know in your Boston preparation you hit 130, 140 miles a week.
GR: That will definitely be something we keep doing. You want to do as much volume as you can as long as you don’t get hurt and as long as it doesn’t take away from the shorter speed workouts or tempo runs.
Sometimes people will say, “I’m a low-mileage guy and I’m just going to work out really hard, do all my runs really fast.” Other people will be, “I’ll do high mileage and workouts aren’t that important.” But you really need to do both. That’s what all the top guys are doing, how all the Africans train. It’s certainly a brutal program, but that’s what it takes to be up there. You've got to be able to handle it and recover so you can run the hard workouts.
Certainly, we’ve always kept a pretty big emphasis on speed even when I moved up to the marathon. Look at a guy like [five-time Olympian Bernard] Lagat on the track and how he was able to move up from 1500 to 5K and just how easy he looked running those paces. If you come from a background where you’re running in the 3:20s for 1500, running 5K pace just looks like a jog. You have to do the work, you have to build up your endurance, but I think having that speed background where you’re able to relax and run economically at slower paces in longer distances is huge.
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GR: For the marathon, the long run is probably the most important workout you can do. We do anywhere from 20 to 25. Some are just easy, six-minute pace for the whole thing. Others might be a decent effort but not too hard. Then you might close the last 5 or 10 miles hard. I’ve done tempo runs in the middle of long runs. They’re all different types but they all have a purpose, they all relate back to things you might go through in a marathon.
Continuing to improve on those is probably the biggest thing I can do. You can only do them so frequently. We try to get them in at least once every week, week and a half. If I can run those a little harder and keep bringing those down, this is the best thing to replicate what you feel in a marathon.
You want to do everything in training to replicate any misery, pain, discomfort you might feel in a marathon. If you haven’t done any of that and then you show up to race, you don’t know how to deal with it.
RW: You’ve talked about your ultimate goal being gold in Tokyo. How does that guide you?
GR: I think every runner’s dream is to win a gold medal. Records are great but to win Olympic medals, and specifically a gold medal, that can never be taken away. You are the best in the world on the biggest stage on that day.
When I decided to switch over to the marathon from the track, after Rio, it was all about: What can I do to put myself in the best position to win a gold medal in Tokyo? That’s been the driving force behind all the decisions I’ve made, the whole reason why I train so hard every day.
It’s certainly not going to be easy by any stretch. There are so many great marathoners. Eluid [Kipchoge] is, I believe, the best marathoner of all time. He’s obviously still going strong. But you don’t run to get second place. You don’t run to hope that you finish well. I think that Olympics, they’re often tactical races and anything can happen in those.
I know it’s going to take a really good effort on that day. I might need to have some things go my way but I think I’m going to be right up in there. I’ve been pleased with the way I’ve been progressing time-wise. I think I’ve shown I can run in the heat pretty well, and it’s going to be very hot in Tokyo. Again, I’ve got a good track background with good speedwork, I think that there is certainly a chance for it.
RW: Last year, we heard you celebrated after Chicago with some karaoke. (Rupp sang “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys song at Stanley’s Kitchen & Tap in Lincoln Park.) Can we expect a repeat performance if you win?
GR: (Laughs.) It took a lot for me to get out there, because I’m pretty shy, but it was fun. If things go well, I’ll be out celebrating. I don't know if we’ll do karaoke again but I’ll definitely be out and about afterward having a good time.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
