At the 2012 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Dathan Ritzenhein improved his personal best by two minutes and now ranks as the third fastest American marathoner in history with his 2:07.47. If the weather is cool and the conditions are right, Ritzenhein believes he could improve on his mark from last year. 

“Last year, I went out much more conservative and I was kind of thinking about hitting a good time. This year, I’m thinking about getting in, competing and doing as best as I can. Hopefully that will lead to a couple minute faster time. But I wouldn’t be disappointed if I ran the same time as last year, but was much more competitive.”

Sunday’s forecast for Chicago is much different than last year’s chilly race and calls for a high of 68 degrees with a chance of morning rain.

Weather may be the only difference for Ritzenhein in 2013. He’s been healthy for a while. A foot injury in 2011 hindered his training and competition for six months, so 2012 was his first injury-free year. He took advantage of it by placing 13th at the Olympics’ 10,000-meter final and placing ninth in Chicago as the fastest non-African.

Since the beginning of the outdoor season, Chicago has remained Ritzenhein’s priority. He made the U.S. national team and finished 10th at the IAAF World Championship’s 10,000-meter final in Moscow. Even training for that race has fallen into the plan for October. 

Ritzenhein said his race plan for Sunday would ideally have him going out in 62 minutes and 45 second to 63 minutes through the half-marathon mark. Last year’s lead pack went out in 62 minutes and 55 seconds en route to a new course record by Tsegay Kebede. Jason Hartmann will be pacing Ritzenhein again after taking him through 20 kilometers at last year’s race. 

If Ritzenhein runs faster than 2:09.29, he would bump off Alberto Salazar’s 2:09.29 off the All-Time top 25 men’s American marathon performance list. That was Salazar’s third consecutive victory at the New York City Marathon.

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31- year-old Matt Tegenkamp will be making his marathon debut. The move crossed his mind after running at the Olympics in 2012 and finishing seventh at the 2013 U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships’ 10,000-meter run.  

“Track and field hasn’t been fun for me for the last two years,” Tegenkamp said in a Skype interview. “It’s been about making teams. It hasn’t been about being competitive at the world level. Where I started early on in my career, that’s what it was all about. Trying to see how high I could place in major international events and be in a position to go after a medal and seize that opportunity. I was able to reap those rewards early on in my career.”

The roads are ready for Tegenkamp and he’s been talking to other experienced marathoners for tips. He has not specified a goal time, but told Flotrack that he would be disappointed with any performance over two hours and 10 minutes.

Looking at the elite athlete field, Tegenkamp may be working alone to get under that 2:10 mark if he falls off that lead pack and stays ahead of the next chase pack. That chase pack will most likely be comprised of the six Japanese runners with personal bests ranging from 2:12.13 to 2:13.11.

There is only one runner in the 2:09 to 2:10 range and that’s Yoshinori Oda. He ran that time in 2009 and most recently run 2:17.24, which may be a sign that he will not be hanging with Tegenkamp for long.

Chris Solinsky will have his work cut out for him on pacing duties for Tegenkamp.

It would take a strong performance for Tegenkamp to break Hall’s American debut record of 2:08.24. That record appears to be safe.
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Craig Leon will be racing the Chicago Marathon after competing in five road races since his 10th place at the Boston Marathon, where he set a personal best of 2:14.38. He finished 19th at the U.S. Half Marathon Championships on June 23 and then followed up with a victory in the Butte to Butte 10K.

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Sean Quigley boasts the second fastest personal best in the field by an American with his  2:14.12 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Houston. He raced three track races in California with a seasonal best of 13:31.56 for a five kilometer race at Mt. SAC Relays. He returned to the roads with a 13th and 10th place finish at the Falmouth Road Race 7 Mile and USA 20K Championship, respectively.
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Mike Morgan also has a personal best of 2:14.22 from the Olympic Trials. The Hanson-Brooks Distance Project member ran the Rotterdam Marathon in 2:17.05 back in March and then finished 28th at the USA Half-Marathon Championships.
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Money Talks
There is a total prize money purse of $550,000. Winners of the Chicago Marathon will take home $100,000. The top American will win $10,000. A new course record will add another $75,000. Any other time bonus begins at $5,000 for any result under 2:08:00. 

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Chris Chavez is a staff writer for Flotrack and a journalism major at Marquette University. He once beat Joey Fatone of NSYNC in a half-marathon and will be making his marathon debut this weekend in Chicago. Feel free to to reach him with any questions, comments, or feedback on Twitter or by email.