Equipped with more than 6,000 bottles of water, plastic trumpets and a DJ booth, Chloe Wilkerson, 34, and her family were ready Sunday morning for the thousands of runners to pass by the support station they had set up at Mile 22 of the Chicago Marathon.Wilkerson’s family was stationed on 26th Str eet near Michigan Avenue, an area that sees some of the smallest crowds despite it being one of the most mentally taxing parts of the 26.2-mile race.“We're gonna give them as much encouragement as we can,” Wilkerson said.Supporters blared music, sanitation workers rang cowbells, and children shook tambourines while Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars and Chicago house music boomed in the background.Chris Bennett, Nike running global head coach, said Wilkerson’s family, along with support from others along both sides of the street, is what make Mile 22 special. Nike Running Global Head Coach Chris Bennett (left) cheers on a runner at Mile 22 of the Chicago Marathon.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times “There aren't that many people here, but the people who are here, they show up, and it’s as if there's 1,000 people here,” he said.The marathon route has runners turning down Michigan Avenue at 26th Street, headed south to 35th Street before turning around and heading back to the finish line at Grant Park.“A lot of people always say Mile 20 is the hardest. Well, once you get through Mile 20, you got 21, and you got 22,” Bennett said. “I'm always here at Mile 22.”Four years ago, Wilkerson’s mother ran the Chicago Marathon for her 50th birthday. She said the 22nd mile was the hardest, as she watched runners on the other side of the street close in on the finish line.“She told me that around this area is where it gets hard,” Wilkerson said. “I was like ‘OK, this is a great spot'" to set up.Wilkerson’s mother’s struggle at Mile 22 is common, and completing that hurdle is one of the most rewarding parts of the Chicago Marathon, coach Bennett said.“No one here is signing up because they thought this was easy. They're signing up so they can get through something really, really hard. And this stretch is really, really hard,” Bennett said “In a lot of ways, I always tell people, ‘You're doing the Chicago Marathon not for the start, not for the finish. You're doing it for this. This is the hardest part.’”It was also challenging for many runners nearing the halfway mark around 11.45 a.m.Near Willis Tower, about 10 kindergarteners from Lincoln School in River Forest cheered on their teacher Caroline Ley. They held handmade signs to encourage Ley, who was running her first marathon.Hannah Pasquesi, mother of 5-year-old Eloise, said the children “were so excited, so proud of their teacher.”When Eloise was asked if she might ever run a marathon, she replied, “No! Because it would hurt my legs!”Lincoln School principal Casey Godfrey has run nine Chicago Marathons but had an injury this year so was volunteering at the race - and cheering on Ley. His favorite part of the race? “I love how the entire city shows up for it.”For Godfrey, the hardest part of the marathon has been after Chinatown, around Mile 21. “It’s nice right when you have a friend who can hop in with you,” he said. Godfrey was getting ready to head toward Chinatown to run with Ley for a few miles.Gigi Shehee from Orlando, Florida, was also stationed near the halfway mark to cheer for her son Ryan Goodwin. Shehee brought along her Yorkie, Jimmy Mac, who wore a tiny Pope hat while giving blessings to runners from his mini Pope-mobile. Even a priest got a blessing from the dog, Shehee said. Gigi Shehee and her Yorkie, Jimmy Mac, who wore a tiny Pope hat, traveled from Orlando, Florida, to support Shehee’s son Ryan Goodwin. Runners stopped to get blessings Jimmy Mac’s tiny Pope-mobile.Amy Yee/Sun-Times The marathon marked Shehee’s first visit to Chicago. “Everybody has been so helpful and kind,” Shehee said. “I didn’t hear good things about Chicago,” she said, referring to news about crime. “But after Disneyworld, this is the next happiest place to be.”Back at Mile 22, Emma Varley and five of her friends jumped up and down holding signs with photos of her boyfriend’s face as he turned south onto Michigan Avenue toward Mile 23. Varley, 27, had previously stopped to cheer him on at Mile 8 and was headed to Mile 24.“I feel like this spot was probably one of our most important,” she said. “He referred to around this mile as ‘the pain cave.’ I was not expecting him to be so joyful as he was.”While Mile 22 is widely considered the most challenging in Chicago - after runners experience a hump around the 20th mile of any marathon, said Jeff Gaudette, a professional athlete and founder of RunnersConnect.Decreased glycogen levels cause runners to lose energy during the final six-mile stretch, increasing the importance of runners pacing themselves and fueling properly, Gaudette said.“Most runners haven't trained past 20 miles,” he said “So basically, it's a unique experience for the body, where it hasn't experienced that fatigue before. They're going a distance longer than they trained for, and very very few runners are doing 20 miles at marathon pace in training.”Gaudette, who's run the Chicago Marathon multiple times, said the smaller crowds near the 20 mile mark make it hard for runners to stay energized.“The crowds really thin out,” he said. “So the hardest part of the course is where now you've been running on your own without that crowd interaction for quite a while.”Both Coach Bennett and Wilkerson’s family planned to cheer on every runner as they passed Mile 22.“Those runners that are running six hours, they need just as much support as anybody else,” he said. “And what's amazing is this crew will be here the entire time.” ...read more read less