Dimitris Chronis was born in 1951 in Ioannina. His father's origins are from Metsovo. He completed the Zosimaia School and the Mathematics Department of the University of Ioannina. He served for 34 years in the teaching profession in public middle and high schools. He retired in 2009. He is married to Andromachi, the father of two children – Elizavet and Konstantinos – and the grandfather of four grandchildren.

For three decades and until the age of 48, he was a compulsive smoker and overweight, resulting in bouts of breathlessness that required medical assistance. He didn’t have a specific goal in sports, but due to this negative development, he decided to protect his health. Thus, he quit smoking and began running to reduce his weight. At first, he enrolled in a gym. After a while, the treadmill no longer sufficed, and he went out on the road.

Running became a way of life until the idea of participating in races matured within him. In 2002, he dared to participate in the Athens Marathon, where he barely finished. It was the beginning of a significant change. Marathons followed in Greece and abroad. Today, he is one of the 13 Greek athletes who hold the Six Star Finishers medal, having finished all six of the world's largest marathons.

In 2014, he felt ready for ultramarathons, where the competition is only against oneself and the finish line. He is the oldest Greek who has finished (twice, in 2017 and 2019) the Spartathlon since its inception. He holds the best Greek performance of 186 km in a 24-hour race in 2019 at the No Finish Line (NFL Athens) in the age category of 65-70 years.

Through his emotions and experiences, through the successes and failures of his athletic journey, he attempts to send positive messages.