October 13, 2026
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“I always want to take it in and appreciate it because I feel so lucky to get to have those moments. And I know it takes a village.”
Emma Grace Hurley ran 2:20:03 at the 2026 Chicago Marathon on Sunday — the fastest marathon debut by an American woman in history, breaking a record that stretches back to Deena Kastor in 2001 and runs through Kara Goucher, Jordan Hasay, and Fiona O’Keeffe. She finished seventh overall on a warm day where most of the lead women finished minutes off their goal times or didn’t finish at all. She did it mostly alone aside from the miles shared with her pacemaker Caleb Kerr.
If you’ve been following Emma Grace’s year — the 8K American record in Chicago in March, the USATF 10-Mile title at Cherry Blossom, the Copenhagen team silver — none of this is entirely surprising. But it is also only her first marathon, and she is already the sixth-fastest American woman in history at the debut.
We discuss:
– The feelings from race day and the aftermath
– Her Debrief with Coach Andrew Begley and Race Takeaways
– How she fueled for this one
– What made Chicago feel different
– The baby steps that got her here
– Thinking back to her half marathon and marathon debut
– Race day execution
– The cameraman, the watch, the finish
– Izzi Batt Doyle and the “American Battle” confusion
– The Champions dinner and meeting Joan Benoit Samuelson
– Ranking her American records
– The U.S. debut record and the lineage from it
– The press conference word game
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Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and on Feb. 15th, 2025 finally broke five minutes for the mile.
