Runners from around the globe sprint to Chicago for Sunday's marathon

Run, Chicago Run!

Thousands of runners are flocking to McCormick Place to pick up their race packets for Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

More than 55,000 runners from all 50 states and more than 130 countries are expected to run, walk, and trot, they best they can, through 29 Chicago neighborhoods for the 26.2-mile race.

Anna Nayratskaia is from a small town Russia and says Chicago is quite a thing, telling WBBM she "likes the architecture (the city is) quite clean...a lot of homeless people, I don't feel safe all the time. There is a stereotype about Chicago that it's a criminal city...historically."

But Anna said these things with a smile.

Noel Hawkins is a doctor from Chicago, and is running his first marathon and says he's running for his future patients to show "the health benefits of running...going through the City and experiencing all the different neighborhoods, I think that's what it's all about."