The Chicago Marathon Expo got underway Thursday at the McCormick Place, where ABC7 met with three strangers who have bonded over the yearly challenge.
Race director Carey Pinkowski opened the expo for the 46th annual Bank of America Chicago Marathon. The race now welcomes runners from 140 countries and all 50 states to run through 29 Chicago neighborhoods for 26.2 miles. However, only three people can say they ran the first one in 1977 and every one since.
Henry Kozlowski is one of those three men. Chicago is the only marathon he's ever run, but he's done all of them.
"I had no idea. I just wanted to run the first because it was like five bucks and in Chicago," Kozlowski said.
There were only about 5,000 runners in the first race, then called the Mayor Daley Chicago Marathon.
More than 50,000 runners are expected at the starting line Sunday.
The guys were all in their mid-to-late 20s when they ran the first marathon. They are now in their mid-70s. It's a bit more challenging to train and run these days.
Randy Burt, 76, has run 92 marathons, but Chicago was his first.
"I'm 29 years old in 1977. I think, 'I should run one of these before I'm over the hill,'" Burt said.
The guys all live in Illinois, but generally only see each other once a year at the Marathon Expo.
The longtime race director introduces them in the same group with former Olympians and world record holders.
"Isn't that amazing?" Pinkowski said. "45 years in a row they've trained for and made it to the start and finished. These are the iron men of Chicago. Great guys too."
George Mueller said the training is a little different these days, but he's grateful to be able to make it every year.
"I still feel the excitement at the beginning," Mueller said.
The record for the most consecutive marathons is held by someone who's done it in Boston.
The Chicago guys have the distinction of doing every Chicago Marathon. They're hoping to make it to 50.