By Universal Sports -

As Sammy Wanjiru made his way up Columbus Drive toward the finish line, waving to the crowd of supporters, precious seconds ticked off the clock.

And he had no idea how lucrative they were.

Wanjiru came to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon with one goal in mind - breaking the world record. He never bothered to look at the course record, or the substantial monetary bonus offered to anyone who broke it. While blustery weather and aggressive early tactics cost Wanjiru a chance at the world record, his victory celebration nearly cost him $100,000 to boot. But the 22-year-old salvaged his day by crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 41 seconds.

Wanjiru's time, the fastest ever run on American soil, bettered by one second the course record set in 1999 by Khalid Khannouchi of Morocco. It was also fast enough to pocket the time bonus along with $75,000 prize for securing the victory and $500,000 for winning the World Marathon Majors title for 2008-2009.

"In Beijing, I looked at the Olympic record before," Wanjiru said. "In London, I looked at the course record before. I was focused on the world record here and forgot to look. It was a bit unbelievable to take by one second the record. I would have been upset, yes, if I came in a bit slower. But I feel comfortable to be champion of Olympics, London and Chicago."

While Wanjiru secured his third straight marathon victory, winning here was a first for Liliya Shobukhova. The 32-year-old Russian, who sports a stellar track pedigree, flaunted exception finishing speed to pull away from an experienced group of runners late in the race for her first ever triumph in the marathon in 2:25:56.

Shobukhova's victory in just her second marathon came as somewhat of a surprise, especially considering she was running against the likes of defending-champion Lidiya Grigoryeva, who finished third in 2:26:47, Germany's Irina Mikitenko, who wrapped up a second straight World Marathon Majors title with her runner-up finish in 2:26:31, and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor, who finished sixth in 2:28:50.

Wanjiru winning this race was all but expected, especially on the heels of his dominant efforts in Beijing and London, where he shattered course records and left his competition, and pacemakers, in the dust.

His mission here was simply a number: 2:03:59.

Originally, he wanted his world record attempt to happen in the city where it was set and against the man who set it. But when Wanjiru was turned away by organizers of the Berlin Marathon and a chance to square off with Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie last month, Wanjiru was lured to the Second City and its fast, flat course.

Everything was put in place for Wanjiru to run that record time.

Four pace makers were put in place, including 2007 Chicago Marathon champion Patrick Ivuti, and the elite field boasted a number of talented runners. Among them were 33-year-old Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco, an experienced marathoner who would post his fourth runner-up finish in a WMM race in 2:06:04, and Vincent Kipruto of Kenya, a brash, young runner in the Wanjiru mold who won April's Paris Marathon in 2:05:47 and finished third here in 2:06:08.

But out of the control of race organizers was the weather, and Mother Nature gave Wanjiru the cold shoulder.

While the conditions were certainly more favorable than the 88-degree temps two years ago, when one runner died, over 30 were hospitalized, and another 400 sought medical attention, mercury readings hovering near freezing throughout the race were less than ideal for anyone. The temperature at the start of the race was 33 degrees, the coldest it has been for a race in Chicago since 2002.

In the post-race press conference, Grigoryeva was asked whether the blustery conditions perhaps accounted for her success as well as that of Shobukhova and Mikitenko, who was born in Russia. "Despite the fact that it's cold most of the time in Russia, this was too cold. When I left, I thought it would like summertime here," she quipped through an interpreter.

Wanjiru said he was not adversely affected until the final seven kilometers of the race, when he was out in front alone battling the wind and the cold.

Of even greater impact was the fact that he was running alone.

When Gebrselassie set the world record last fall, he was paced through the first 35 kilometers. The early pace of this race left none of Wanjiru's pace setters standing.

The initial splits were incredible. To borrow a line from the Mel Brooks spoof Spaceballs, Wanjiru and company hit "ludicrous speed" way early.

His opening 4:39 mile created a sizeable chasm between the lead pack and the rest of the field. Another 4:41 mile shed a pace maker and another four runners, leaving Wanjiru running with three pacers, fellow Kenyans Kipruto, Benjamin Maiyo, Charles Munyeki and Isaac Macharia, and Ethiopia's Tadese Tola. One of the remaining pacers, Matthew Koech, was dropped six miles into the race.

Through the first 15 kilometers of the race, Wanjiru was running five seconds under Gebrselassie's world record pace (see comparison chart). But even running that fast, there were times when Wanjiru broke his running form and waved his arms, signaling the pace makers to push the tempo faster.

"For me, the early pace was really good," he said. "There were points when the pace was reasonable but I was telling the pacemakers to push the pace because I wanted to go faster."

Although Wanjiru finished the first half of the race right on his target of 1:02:00, three seconds under world-record pace, he was soon thereafter dealt a blow for his aggressiveness. As the runners began to tackle the second half of the course, Ivuti dropped back off the pack. Although Wanjiru implored him to keep going, the former champion dropped out during the 16th mile.

Five miles later, Wanjiru dropped Kipruto and Munyeki, and opened a comfortable cushion. Wanjiru surged in the 22nd mile, as if to test his competitors, and then a minute later, made a decisive move toward the finish. The speed Wanjiru showed there certainly suggested that had he had pacing deep into the race, he might have remained on record pace.

"The pacemakers helped me a lot today," Wanjiru said. "When the pacemaker dropped, you have to go at your own pace. It was very difficult. From 36K, the wind was very strong. When I got to 40 kilometers, I knew I had lost the (world) record."

Goumri, who resisted the temptation to follow Wanjiru early and was thus able to surge late, suggested after the race that the young Kenyan needs to change his tactics if he is ever going to run a sub-2:05 marathon. Wanjiru bristled at the notion, saying, "He should try running from the front. When you go for records, that's where you run."

Wanjiru did say, for sure, he is likely to handpick his pacers early on, and to train with them.

"Maybe next year, I will appeal for my own pacemakers," Wanjiru said. "Haile trains with his pacemakers for whole months before his race. Next year, I want them to prepare with me."

The female runners did not have the benefit of pacemakers in their race. That, coupled with the cold, was responsible for a pedestrian early tempo. An elite field featuring five runners with sub-2:25 PRs and two, Mikitenko and Kastor, who have run 2:19, found itself on schedule for a 2:33 finish.

That target time was right on the PR of Tera Moody, a native of Batavia, Illinois, and enabled her to lead the first eight miles of the race, this despite only seven weeks having elapsed since her last marathon, a 28th-place finish at the World Championships in Berlin. She wound up finishing ninth in a personal best 2:32:59.

That slow early going also set the stage for a close finish.

After reeling in Moody and increasing the pace over the second half of the race, a lead pack of seven runners - Shobukhova, Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia, Mikitenko, Berhane Adere of Ethiopia, Grigoryeva, Kastor and Mizuho Nasukawa of Japan - formed.

Nasukawa was the only one in the group that seemed overmatched and she eventually slipped off the pace. She finished seventh in 2:29:22.

Kastor, running her first marathon in 18 months after breaking her foot during the Beijing Olympics and suffering another injury to the foot a few months ago, had difficulties staying in the pack as well. At the 25K watering station, she missed her bottle and had to turn back to go get it. Although she slid back considerably, she quickly made her way back to the pack. Later in the race, Kastor said she began experiencing stomach cramps which slowed her considerably. Nevertheless, she was not disappointed with her finish.

"I feel really good about where I am right now," Kastor said. "My day fell a little short, but I'm still pretty ecstatic by how my body has held up and how strong I've gotten over the past few months."

Adere hung with the pack for quite some time and found herself running in fourth at the 35-kilometer mark. She wound up outdueling Kastor for fifth, crossing in 2:28:38.

Erkesso, the Houston Marathon champion, ran at or near the front for most of the second half of the race. She challenged Mikitenko for the lead near 25K and as late as 35K into the race, she was running in second, a step behind Shobukhova. Although she attempted to break away on two occasions, Erkesso she was never able to shake the rest of the pack for long.

Erkesso, Shobukhova, Mikitenko and Grigoryeva continued to trade faster miles and knock elbows over the latter stages of the tactical race.

But none of the women possessed the finishing speed of Shobukhova, who has run the sixth-fastest 5,000m time in history at 14:23.75. The 31-year-old make a quick bottle grab at the last watering station and an even quicker move to the lead. Her rivals were unable to answer the challenge.

"Of course my speed is very high, which was very helpful in the last kilometers," Shobukhova said through an interpreter. "Late in the race, Lidiya and Irina and I looked at each other to see who would go first but nobody went. Before the finish line, I thought it was my territory with nobody behind me I tried to go my fastest speed."

With Thanks To Universal Sports