Feature

A Chicago Run Team That Makes Everyone Want To Run

October 11, 2024

It’s the weekend before the 2024 Chicago Marathon and in the city’s Little Italy neighborhood you can already feel the energy in the air. At 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, the sun has just begun peaking above the horizon and the light breeze and 60-degree weather are perfect for the nearly 200 runners who have gathered to take on a familiar route: the last nine miles of the Chicago Marathon course, whether they’re running the actual race or not. Leading the pack are the Windrunners, the city’s first all-women, sub-elite racing team. Their mission: To inspire the next generation of female runners to find their place in the sport.

Led by Head Coach Robyn LaLonde and Coach/General Manager Kelcey McKinney, the Windrunners are a collective of 14 women, three of whom are running this year’s Chicago Marathon. The group is Chicagoan through and through; if anyone knows how to run this city, it’s them. Their infectious passion and heart for running, plus their hella speed, has drawn people from run clubs and crews across the city to meet up today.

The Windrunner Magic

To deliver on their mission of inspiring more women to run in Chicago, and around the world, the team lives by three equally important pillars: competition, coaching and community. While there are time standards Windrunner hopefuls must meet –– like running a 5:39 mile or a 3:09:30 marathon — there’s much more to making the team. Windrunners must also empower and inspire other runners.

“We want individuals who are going to show up for their teammates in the dark, give someone a ride on the way to practice. It's that athlete who’s going to show up for their city.”
Robyn LaLonde, Windrunners Head Coach

“We don't always have great representation of what we can become,” says LaLonde. “Every member of the Windrunners works a full-time job, we have many moms and people who do things on top of being an elite runner. And you can do it. Having an awesome team makes it easier, but this could be you and that is the whole point.”

The Windrunners are named after Nike’s iconic Windrunner Track Suit, which is designed to protect runners from the elements, including the infamous Chicago winds.

The pack runs through Pilsen on their way to Chinatown with Windrunner and photographer Kelcey McKinney, at left, capturing images along the way.

Robyn LaLonde is a Windrunners coach and owner of Edge Athlete Lounge, home to the Windrunners.

The crew crosses the south branch of the Chicago River on the Cermak Bridge.

Member Susannah McCloskey brings the positive vibes to Windrunner runs.

The runners of Chicago value camaraderie over competition and many runners are members of multiple run clubs.

For LaLonde and McKinney, what makes the Windrunners special is the team’s focus on giving back and showing up. They support myriad community initiatives, including International Women’s Day this past spring, when they collaborated with local Latino run crew Chingonas to host more than 150 women on a group run. They also craft programs like “Find Your Fast,” in which 37 women followed a six-week training journey to run their fastest mile. And they look for new members who are driven to do the same.

“We want individuals who are going to show up for their teammates in the dark, give someone a ride on the way to practice,” LaLonde says. “It's that athlete who’s going to show up for their city.”

Kelcey McKinney, Windrunners Coach/GM, says one of the things she loves most about the team is how they build a sisterhood through the power of community.

Kelcey McKinney on the Grit of Chicago Runners

A Chicago For All Runners

At the intersection of Taylor and Halsted, near the University of Illinois Chicago, as the crowd of runners prepare to take off, LaLonde and McKinney offer running tips, warm-up moves, stories. It’s a grassroots event –– the bag check is LaLonde’s car –– and the community pride is evident in the T-shirts and hats repping run clubs and crews across Chicago. There’s healthy competition too: the Windrunners are fast and they’re pacing the pack.

Runners moving through Little Italy. Part of the joy of running Chicago, the Windrunners say, is seeing the rich diversity of its neighborhoods.

"You can go to any event and everybody has a genuine support and love for each other. They'll hop to different run club groups throughout the week and it's not a weird thing.”
Kelcey McKinney, Windrunners Coach/GM

Afterward, everyone hangs out, chats and refuels near the Chicago Marathon finish line, talking about the week — and race — to come. The conversation loops back to the city and what it has to offer runners. The beauty of Chicago, the Windrunners say, is that one moment you can be running through a vibrant neighborhood where music’s blaring and the next you’re by the placid shores of Lake Michigan or dwarfed by architecture that’s second to none.

The city’s running community, too, lures you in. “You can go to any event and everybody has a genuine support and love for each other,” says McKinney. “They'll hop to different groups and it's not a weird thing. They might go for one run club Monday, another one Tuesday, the next Wednesday, Thursday, and then back to the one they went to on Monday that weekend.”

Coaching, competition and community are the three pillars the Windrunners live by, and they rely on each one to continue to level up running for women in Chicago.

It’s this Chicago running spirit that the Windrunners want to bring –– welcoming newcomers to feel part of the team, led by the power of women. “There is a culture for everyone,” McKinney says. “Community helps to level you up. You might do well by yourself, but you're 1,000 percent going to do better if you have folks alongside you that are like-minded and helping you get through.”

Follow the Windrunners on Instagram at @windrunnerschi.

Photos by Kelcey McKinney and Ashley Armitage.