Advertisement - Continue Reading Below 2025 Chicago Marathon participants were doing their shakeout runs on the bustling Lakefront Trail on Saturday, some members of the November Project met for their own kind of shakeout. Only instead of easy miles, these runners scarfed down pieces of Chicago tavern-style pizza and ran a mile as fast as they could manage.
This is the annual pizza mile—a tradition of the Chicago chapter of the November Project, a workout group with 51 chapters worldwide. Think of it like a beer mile. Each participant starts by eating a slice of pizza, runs a quarter of a mile, then must consume a slice of pizza before beginning the next lap. The first to complete all four laps and four slices wins, although it’s hardly a race.
“It’s not a thing for time,” Greg Mytych, the co-leader of the November Project Chicago, told Runner’s World. “It’s for friendly bragging rights.”
This year, roughly two dozen brave souls—many of whom are running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday—tried their hand at the challenge. Most ran it as individuals, but some teamed up for relays of two to four people, and two people who traveled internationally for the marathon took a stab at it.
Chris Dancer of Nottingham, U.K., viewed the pizza mile as a fun way to stretch his legs after transcontinental travel.
“It’s always good to climatize, good to get the legs moving after a long flight,” he told Runner’s World. “So I figured I’d walk down, go for a real easy run, speak to some like-minded people. I think one of the great things about the running community is you always bump into friendly people. It’s good to encourage each other, and maybe I’ll see some of these guys out on the course tomorrow.”
Cesar Condrate came from Curitiba, Brazil. He took his time at the pizza mile, but he’s aiming to run around 3 hours at the marathon on Sunday morning. “It was very crazy,” he said of the experience. “Nineteen minutes, I think I was the last one. [That was] the first time that I’ve eaten four slices of pizza before a marathon, of course. It’s crazy.”
Two local Chicago women also proved their mettle. Grace Buckley, who is seven months pregnant, used the mile as her prerace shakeout, as did Kylin Decker, who ran with her son in a stroller. (He had two slices himself). “This is the best shakeout run for the cheer squad,” she said. “Questionable shakeout for everybody else.”
And for those wondering why the organizers chose square tavern-style pizza and not Chicago’s signature deep dish, rest assured it was considered. But Vince Fuentes, a co-leader of the chapter, said it might have been a little too heavy, perhaps rightfully.
“Honestly, if you’re a local, we love our square pizza,” he said. “We love our grandma’s-style square pizza. This is why we want to showcase this.”
Issa Rae Completes the Portland Marathon Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
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