Chicago Marathon 2018 — F40-44: Moroney and Smith Deliver the Day's Most Dramatic Stories

• Valerie Moroney won the F40-44 age group, climbing from 1,025th among women at 30K to finish 7th among women at the line.
• Jill Smith ran one of the race's great comeback arcs, moving from 4,620th among women at 5K all the way to 10th among women by the finish — 2nd in F40-44.
• Kate Landau was already 3rd in the age group at the halfway mark and held her position, posting the 9th-fastest women's split on the 15K–20K segment to lock up the final podium spot.
• Hilary Corno (5th) owned the 25th-fastest women's split on the 10K–15K stretch, the sharpest mid-race surge in the top five.

On a damp Chicago morning — 58°F, light rain, and a 12 mph wind off the lake — the F40-44 age group produced 3,270 finishers and at least two stories that will be hard to forget. Valerie Moroney of Boston ran the kind of race that looks almost impossible on paper. She was sitting 1,025th among women at 30K — deep in the pack, apparently out of contention. Then she detonated. Her final 12 kilometers were extraordinary, and she crossed the line 7th among all women, first in F40-44. That is not a gradual build; that is a controlled demolition of the field in the closing miles.

Jill Smith of Sartell had a different story, but just as compelling. She began the race 4,620th among women — nearly at the back of the entire women's field. By 15K she had already moved up nearly 1,600 spots. By 30K she was 2,354th. And by the finish line she was 10th among women and 2nd in F40-44. The 25K–30K segment was her one relative soft patch, where she posted the 1,770th-fastest women's split on that stretch, but it barely slowed her overall trajectory.

Kate Landau of Tacoma ran a composed, consistent race from the front. She was already inside the top 15 among women by the 5K mark and barely wavered, finishing 17th among women and 3rd in F40-44. Her 9th-fastest women's split on the 15K–20K segment showed she had genuine speed in the middle miles, not just smart pacing. Hilary Corno of Encinitas rounded out a strong top five in 5th, her 25th-fastest women's split on the 10K–15K segment marking the moment she was at her sharpest.