Chicago Marathon attracts another year of international runners

Even after losing the Olympic bid, Chicago proves it can still put on a successful international sporting event. The 32nd Chicago Marathon took place Sunday, Oct. 12. Thirty-three thousand, four hundred eleven people finished running the 26.2 miles out of the 34,792 people who started at 7:30 a.m. Runners from 114 countries competed.

Runners tweeted about their experiences:

gfbrich (Carol Stream, IL) Forgive me for not standing today, I ran the Chicago Marathon yesterday. 12 Oct 2009 from web

Mark26pt2 (Chicago, IL) Feeling good 24 hours after chicago marathon. Need my R&R before this weekend’s marathon in Des Moines @imtdsmmarathon 12 Oct 2009 from TwitterBerry

n9zkp (Chicago, IL) Hobbling like an old(er) man after finishing the Chicago Marathon. It was great to see all the neighborhoods and people. 12 Oct 2009 from web

AnnieTowanda (West Palm Beach, Fl.) 5:30am. Knee blown out. Can’t sleep. But I finished the Chicago Marathon! Don’t know how I did the last 4, but I did….☺ 12 Oct 2009 from Twittelator

paulludwig (Chicago, IL) My whole body is aching after the running the Chicago Marathon yesterday. But it was an incredible experience! 12 Oct 2009 from web

meg_connolly (Chicago, IL) went to hell and back today–26.2 miles–Chicago Marathon 2009. woot woot!! 12 Oct 2009 from web

Twitterers who did not compete commented how they felt about the race:

MSUSteve280 (Novi, Michigan) Saw some of the Chicago marathon yesterday. Very inspiring. Hmm, odd to be inspired by something where the original runner died at the end. 12 Oct 2009 from TwitterGadget

FChristine (New York City, NY) Congrats to you that ran the Chicago marathon. 12 Oct 2009 from Echofon

zcarr (Undisclosed) Congrats to everyone who ran the Chicago marathon yesterday, very inspirational, nice work! 12 Oct 2009 from web

News Sun reports that Samuel Wanjiru, 22, from Kenya came in first and broke the Chicago Marathon record by one second with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 41 seconds. As his reward, Wanjiru took home an extra $100,000 on top of the $75,000 for first place.

Twitterers in Kenya reacted to this good news:

kairitu (Nairobi, Kenya) #mapenzifm Samuel Wanjiru won the Chicago Marathon today ….. Niice! 11 Oct 2009 from Snaptu

DStvKenya (Nairobi, Kenya) Wanjiru sets a new course record of 2:05:41 in Chicago but misses out on the world record. Too windy for the talented Kenyan… 11 Oct 2009 from web

robertalai (Nairobi, Kenya) Hey Samuel Wanjiru has won Chicago Marathon. Congrats Wanjiru #fb 11 Oct 2009 from mobile web