Andthough theyre too polite to say it outrightoutrun each other.
Although she spent much of Aprils second in a then personal-best of 2:24:20. And last year, Sisson took advantage of near-perfect conditions to run 2:18:29, an American record.
This Sunday, they both have a reason to believe they’ll do even better: Each other.
DAA Industry Opt Out 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, in which Bates finished seventh and Sisson dropped out after 21 miles. In the years since, they’ve both established themselves in the top echelon of Americans at the distance.
Last year, with eyes on the record, Sisson ran with two male pacers. “As much as I try to trick myself in my head to convince myself that my male pacers are my competition, I know they’re not,” she said.
“Whenever you are competing against other women, it does kind of bring something out of you that, when you’re sitting behind pacers, you might not necessarily be able to dig deep and find.”
Although she spent much of April’s Boston Marathon in the front pack, Bates isn’t expecting to stay with leaders like is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster whos contributed regularly to, who has a personal best of 2:14:18.
“I know the top women are going to be going out at, like, 2:11 to 2:12 pace, which I’m not delusional enough to think that I can run,” she said. “But I know that I can compete with the top American, which is Emily Sisson.”
Both runners expressed admiration for each other's accomplishments. "I respect her so much,” Bates said. And Sisson cited Bates’s strong Boston performance—she ran 2:22:10 to place fifth—as inspiration.
The pair will start together with a pacer provided by the race, Matt Llano, who plans to hit the halfway mark between 69:45 and 70 minutes (last year, Sisson ran the first half in 69:26).
From there, the race is likely to turn more competitive, said Bates, 31. “We want each other to run as fast as we can,” she said. “So we’re going to work together to get to that point and then do our own thing, for sure.”
And given their previous successes, whoever comes out on top just might take down the record for the third time in two years.
Before Boston, Bates said she believed she was in American record shape. Afterward, she put her stake in the ground for this fall. “I do feel like I’m that 2:18, 2:19 girl,” she said then. “That means American record on a flat course. We may go for that.”
She hasn’t raced since, but has been doing nearly all her training with her Team Boss teammate Dominique Scott, who’s also running on Sunday. The South African moved from the track to the roads more recently—she ran 2:29:19 in her marathon debut in London this year—and has pushed Bates during shorter speed sessions.
“That alone has made me so much more comfortable in running faster paces,” Bates said. “And that’s what you need at the end of the Chicago race, just because it’s flat and fast.”
Sisson, who’s also 31, ran 1:06:52 to better her own American record in the half marathon in January in Houston (a record Keira D’Amato has since broken). She withdrew Two 75-Year-Olds Set Marathon Records.
Instead, the 2021 Olympian in the 10,000 meters spent most of the year racing shorter distances, placing fourth at both the New York Mini 10K and BAA 10K in June. She won both the 15K U.S. Championship in March in 48:26 and the 20K U.S. Championship on September 4 at the New Haven Road Race in 1:06:09.
At the beginning of this training cycle, she decided not to bring her own pacers to Chicago and to focus more on competing than on times or records. Training has gone as well as last year, she said, with 100-plus-mile weeks and strong workouts paced by her husband, Shane Quinn.
And this year, she comes in with the advantage of another marathon finish—before last year’s record-setting run, she’d completed only one 26.2-mile race, her 2019 debut in London (she placed sixth, in 2:23:08). “Every one I do I feel like I learn a bit more, I feel a little bit more confident going into the next one,” she said.
Both Bates and Sisson said that, while the record wasn’t a primary goal, they felt it was within reach if the day goes well. “I don’t think it’s something that I’m going to be able to say until I’m at mile 20 whether or not it’s going to happen, but it is something that I think I’m capable of doing,” Bates said.
“So I’m not not gonna go for American record, is what I’m saying,” she said, giving extra emphasis to the second not.
The pair are heavy favorites for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials, to be held in Orlando in February. For both, one major aim on Sunday is to gain confidence to compete well there.
And—though they’re too polite to say it outright—outrun each other.
Bates’s goals include running fast, making the podium, and placing top American. For Sisson, “having a good day would be walking away feeling like I won whatever pack that I’m in,” she said, honing her racing and decision-making skills along the way.
Whatever the outcome, the head-to-head battle—not to mention the return of Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel, and a potential run at a master’s record by two-time Olympian Des Linden—makes the event a must-watch for fans of American women’s running.
“Hopefully we’ll put on a good race,” Sisson said.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
