Last week I posted a question about getting into the preferred or competitive start corrals for Chicago late. Basically I had signed up to be in them, sent in my proof and before it was applied I had a knee injury, surgery, and a layoff of several months in which I gave up on running the marathon. Long story short I never checked, they never put me in a corral and last week I realized this when I once again committed to running. I spoke to the race office today and they were very nice, but said there was nothing they could do and advised that I show up an hour early and line up at the front of the open field.
I've never run Chicago before so I don't know what the start is like or how congested the first few miles are. How much will my time be affected be affected by this? I am looking to run high 2:5X.
She said roughly 200 will start in the elite corral, 1500 in comp, 2500 in preferred 1 and 3500 in preferred two.
Any insight would be helpful.