M45-49: Abdirahman Dominates in 1:15:32

• Abdihakim Abdirahman won the M45-49 group in 1:15:32 (5:46/mi), finishing more than 3 minutes clear of runner-up Carlos Spallanzani (1:18:39).
• Jacek Kepa and John Bohling staged the closest battle of the day — separated by just one second (1:26:27 vs. 1:26:28) for 6th and 7th.
• Jeffrey Jameson was the day's biggest mover in the top ten, climbing from 109th among men at the 5K checkpoint all the way to 87th by the finish.
• 305 men aged 45–49 toed the line in Chicago's warm, breezy conditions — a deep, competitive field from first to last.

Abdihakim Abdirahman of Tucson made the M45-49 race look straightforward, running a 5:46/mi average on a 72°F morning to finish in 1:15:32. That margin — over three minutes ahead of second place — was decisive from the outset, and his movement through the men's field (holding steady around 23rd–25th among all men throughout) tells the story of a runner who locked into his effort and never wavered. His 23rd-fastest split among men on the 5K-to-8K segment underscores how cleanly he ran the middle of the race.

Carlos Spallanzani of León, Guatemala, was a comfortable second in 1:18:39, and his late race was strong — he posted the 37th-fastest men's split from 15K to the finish, picking off rivals over the closing stretch to move from 45th among men at the gun to 42nd by the tape. Jose Ramirez-Guadarrama of Chicago rounded out the podium in 1:23:49, though his race had some turbulence: he surged from 78th to 67th among men through mid-race, then faded back to 78th by the finish.

The race within the race came at positions 6 and 7, where Jacek Kepa (Palos Hills) and John Bohling (Trail Creek, IN) ran virtually identical half marathons — Kepa edging Bohling by a single second, 1:26:27 to 1:26:28. Just behind them, a tight cluster at 8th through 10th — Schmanski, Lewis, and Kwiecinski — all finished within six seconds of each other, between 1:29:15 and 1:29:21, making for a fiercely competitive mid-pack on a warm Chicago morning.