I’m not sure how these things actually work, but this is how I imagine the Chicago Marathon Committee selected this year’s women’s elite field:

Board members met in a ballroom at the Chicago Hilton. Upon entering they were handed pens (ones with some heft, no Bics to be found), and those handy padfolios that are severely underrated by the masses.

In front of the conference tables, between two banners of Paula Radcliffe in 2002 and Joan Benoit Samuelson in 1985, there’s a billboard sized television projecting names of athletes, along with their personal bests, and trivial information like if they eat Olive Garden pre-race. 

Someone finally cleared their throat and said, “Can we get the two top returners from last year?”
The answer is yes.

Next someone said, “Can we get the Boston champion?”
The answer was already yes.

Then everyone sort of sat in silence and looked at all of the names on the screen.

“Who should we pick next?” someone croaked. “There are so many 2:23 women. It’s tough to separate them.”

Then I imagine some quiet accounting intern, who has already looked over the books, mumbled, “Why don’t we just invite all of them?”

That’s what (probably) happened.

This year’s Chicago Marathon brings back Atsede Baysa and Rita Jeptoo, whose duel in 2012 tied for the closest margin of victory in the history of the event. After that, well, it’s tough to make any headway.

We breakdown the field again into four groups: the top two returners, five sub-2:24 women, three interesting cases, and the Americans.

The Top Two Returners - Atsede Baysa and Rita Jeptoo

Atsede Baysa
Personal Records
Half Marathon - 67:33 (Barcelona, 2013)
Marathon - 2:22:03 (Chicago, 2012)

It’s hard to not go with the returning champion. In her career, Baysa has won six marathons and “finished in the top 10 in 18 of her 20 finishes,” according to the Chicago Media Guide.

When she won last year she had run two races in her buildup. The first was a ninth place finish at the London Marathon in 2:25:59. The second was a 69:39 win at the Tarsus Half Marathon in March. Then October rolled around and Baysa managed to survive a blistering opening pace (they were on target to run sub-2:20 through the half) to run her personal best of 2:22:03.

On paper, she’s had a more impressive lead-up to Chicago (below). Contrary to all of this convincing information, she’s not our pick for Sunday.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
Barcelona Half	67:33 (PR)	1st	Feb 17
London Marathon	2:25:14	4th	Apr 21

Rita Jeptoo
Personal Records
5k - 15:56.90 (Pergine, 2002)
10k - 33:23.04A (Nairobi, 2005)
Half Marathon - 66:27 (RAK, 2013)
Marathon - 2:22:04 (Chicago, 2012)

That honor goes to Rita Jeptoo.

Note: Not to be confused with the ’11 World Marathon bronze medalist, ’12 Olympic Marathon silver medalist, and reigning London Marathon champion Priscah Jeptoo.

While she may occasionally be recognized as the other marathoning Jeptoo, Rita has carved out an incredible name for herself over the last year. After finished a close second in Chicago, Rita ran a personal best in the half at the RAK Half and then stormed to victory in Boston.

The last time we wrote a women’s marathon preview, we picked Jeptoo to win. As was the case last year, there isn’t much separating her and Baysa (pun intended). The only difference is that Jeptoo has run a faster half marathon than Baysa this year, which is why she’s our pick two consecutive major marathons in a row.

Fun Fact: Jeptoo’s running career began in Italy and she continues to spend much of her free time there because of her interest in fashion.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
RAK Half	66:27	3rd	Feb 15
Boston Marathon	2:26:25	1st	Apr 15

The Five Sub-2:24 Women or We Couldn’t Order Them, So Here They Are

Merima Mohammed
Personal Records
10k - 33:09.25 (Porto Novo, 2012)
Half Marathon - 68:36 (New Delhi, 2010)
Marathon - 2:23:06 (Toronto, 2010)

We met Mohammed at the Houston Marathon where despite the terrible conditions, she almost broke the course record with her time of 2:23:37. In her post-race press conference, I think she mentioned that the weather was tough between three and ten times. Just a few months later, she took second in Paris and was about 10-seconds off her personal best.

The other fact we know about Mohammed is that she’s quite young for a marathoner. When she was 18-years old she ran 68:36 for the New Delhi Half, which was an age group record.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
Houston Marathon	2:23:37	1st	Jan 13
Paris Marathon	2:23:14	2nd	Apr 7
Boulder Boulder 10k	33:59A	1st	May 27
Freihofer's 5k	16:02	5th	Jun 1

Jemima Sumgong
Personal Records
10k - 33:08.0hA (Nakuru, 2013)
10k (road) - 31:15 (Atlanta, 2006)
Half Marathon - 68:35 (Verbania, 2012)
Marathon - 2:23:27 (Rotterdam, 2013)

You may remember Sumgong (formerly Jelagat) from the 2012 Boston Marathon, where she narrowly lost out against Sharon Cherop. Sumgong chopped off nearly five minutes from her marathon personal best with a 2:23:27 win in Rotterdam this year.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
NBK/Athletics Kenya 10k	33:08.0hA	1st	Apr 4
Rotterdam Marathon	2:23:27	1st	Apr 14
Kenya DFC 5k	16:51.0hA	6th	May 9
Kenya DFC 10k	34:27.0hA	4th	May 11

Ehitu Kiros Reda
Personal Records
Half Marathon - 69:38 (Prague, 2013)
Marathon - 2:23:39 (Dubai, 2013)

Speaking of taking big chunk off one’s personal best, Reda had a huge breakthrough this year in Dubai where she finished second in 2:23:39. In what was her fourth marathon, Reda took nearly ten minutes off her previous career best.

Ten minutes. I’d like to take ten minutes off any personal best.

She ran a solid half marathon in Prague and returned to the city just a month later to finish third in the city’s marathon.

Fun Fact: The Media Guide writes, “Last year, she was first across the finish line of the Macau International Marathon in 2:50:12. It turned out that all runners ran about 3 kilometers too far due to a marshaling error on the course.”

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
Dubai Marathon	2:23:39	2nd	Jan 25
Prague Half	69:38	5th	Apr 6
Prague Marathon	2:30:02	3rd	May 12

Mariya Konovalova
Personal Records
3k - 8:30.18 (Zurich, 1999)
5k - 14:38.09 (Kazan, 2008)
10k - 30:31.03 (Cheboksary, 2009)
Half Marathon - 69:20 (Novosibirsk, 2013)
Marathon - 2:23:50 (Chicago, 2010)

An ageless wonder, 39-year old Konovalova returns to Chicago for the fourth time. She’s in very good form as she just broke her four-year old personal best in the half marathon last month in Rayevich.

Her marathon personal best is from Chicago three years ago, but the most impressive tidbit about her was in the Media Guide and we have it below.

Fun Fact: Konovalova is a thyroid cancer survivor. Two surgeries in 2000 and 2002 saved her life, but left her with damaged vocal chords.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
Russian Nats 5k	15:27.16	2nd	Jul 24
Rayevich Half-Marathon	69:20	1st	Sep 14

Abebech Afework
Personal Records
Half Marathon - 70:30 (Remich, 2011)
Marathon - 2:23:59 (Rotterdam, 2013)

Afework has run just two marathons and they were both this year. She’s shown that she’s quite gutsy (maybe a little naive) because in her debut at the distance, she went through the halfway mark in 71:32 and faded to a 2:27:08 finish.

Nothing super impressive about her buildup, but her second place finish in Rotterdam deserves some praise.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
Dubai Marathon	2:27:08	8th	Jan 25
Rotterdam Marathon	2:23:59	2nd	Apr 14
Luanda Half	71:58	3rd	Sep 1

Three Interesting Cases - Yukiko Akaba, Aliaksandra Duliba, and Werknesh Kidane

Yukiko Akaba
Personal Records
5k - 15:06.07 (Kitami, 2008)
10k - 31:15.34 (Kawasaki, 2008)
Half Marathon - 68:11 (Yamaguchi, 2008)
Marathon - 2:24:09 (London, 2011)

I really wanted to include Akaba just so I could list the number of races that she’s run this year. It’s really astonishing.

What's more astonishing, however, is the fact that despite having run eight sub-2:30 marathons and a 2:24:09 personal best from ’11 London, she was left off Japan’s World Champion Marathon team.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
Marugame Half	71:31	14th	Feb 3
Yamaguchi Half	68:59	1st	Mar 17
London Marathon	2:24:43	3rd	Apr 21
Naka 10k	33:17.13	6th	May 18
Ibaraki 5k	16:18.68	9th	May 19
Gold Coast Marathon	2:27:17	1st	Jul 7
Sapporo Marathon	2:23:10	2nd	Aug 25
Lille Half	70:24	2nd	Sep 1

Aliaksandra Duliba
Personal Records
10k - 33:08.80 (Moscow, 2013)
Half Marathon - 74:43 (Poznan, 2012)
Marathon - 2:26:08 NR (Los Angeles, 2013)

The 2013 Los Angeles Marathon was special for Duliba and her home country of Belarus. Not only did Duliba win her debut marathon, but she broke the Belarusian national record, which was set in Los Angeles and has stood since 1992.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
LA Marathon	2:26:08	1st	Mar 17
Dushanbe Half	75:07	1st	Apr 20
Luzern 4.25KM RR	13:55	6th	Apr 27
Moscow Challenge 10k	33:08.80	11th	Jun 11

Werknesh Kidane
Personal Records
5k - 14:33.04 (Oslo, 2003)
10k - 30:07.15 (Saint-Denis, 2003)
Half Marathon - 67:26 (Philadelphia, 2011)
Marathon - 2:26:15 (Boston, 2011)

An incredible cross country runner and the eighth fastest at 10k of all-time (30:07.15), Kidane makes her return to Chicago after a disappointing non-finish last year. We were excited to see in her third ever marathon, but unfortunately she did not make it to the finish.

Kidane is similar to the curious case of Zersenay Tadese, where one would think that she could run a blazing fast marathon, but simply has not. This year, Kidane has only run two road 5Ks, so it’s hard to say where she’s at fitness-wise.

Fun Fact: She's married to Gebre Gebremariam.

2013 Races
Race	Time	Place	Date
Carlsbad 5k	15:35	4th	Apr 7
Boston 5k	15:32	4th	Apr 14

The Americans - Pezzullo loved the marathon so much, she came back and up-and-comer Santucci

As someone who played soccer all of his life, Stephanie Pezzullo is one of my favorite marathoners. In her debut last year, she ran 2:32:42, which was good for tenth. She definitely knows what to expect the second time out, but if you want to see someone before his or her first marathon, our interview with her last year is below.



Another American to watch is Clara Santucci, who has run three career marathons, but is looking to return to her 2011 form when she ran her personal best of 2:29:54 in Boston. She's been close, but otherwise hasn't been able to dip below that barrier since. Perhaps the always-quick Chicago course will help.

The other American who also has something close to my heart is Melissa White. White used to be a SUNY-Geneseo Knight and after spending a few summers in upstate NY and nearly attending the institution for college, I'm favorable towards anything from that area. She returns to Chicago, where she ran her personal best of 2:32:55 in 2009.

Prediction: Jeptoo over Baysa