In keeping with the "everything is better with friends" spirit around here, we decided to do something different for our podcast the week of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. We rounded up four of our friends running this year's Chicago Marathon: Matt Linder (previously interviewed here), Kristen Heckert, Tom Leddy and our fearless leader Jeana Anderson Cohen.

Among this group, we had two first-time marathoners and two runners familiar with the 26.2 grind. Kristen Heckert is a local pro who competed at the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials and currently spends her off-time coaching high school runners. Don't let her humble tone fool you- she's an incredibly accomplished runner.