Marathon, Attempt 1 (very long)
Well the 30th (and last) "LaSalle Bank" Chicago Marathon was certainly a doozy! As those in the area know, it was hot! In the high 80s downtown and over 90 out in the suburbs. Humid and sunny too.
Yet the marathon started as planned. The first few miles weren't too bad, but around Mile 5, things took a turn for worse. I was getting tired quickly and the sun was starting to beat down. I'd skipped the first aid station at 1.5 miles and imagine my surprise when the next two (at miles 3 and 6) were totally out of fluids! What the officials are saying in the Tribune is not true, as one of those stations wasn't there - they'd even removed the tables! And I was not bringing up the rear of the race; there were many thousands of people behind me.
Around Mile 7, I seriously thought about stopping, but after all I'd gone through, I decided to just walk a mile and go from there. Fortunately, the next aid station had water along with super-concentrated Gatorade syrup. I rehydrated, ate a gel, put on my headphones, and managed to finally get into a groove at that point.
I picked up the pace and managed to make it to the half way point without too much more pain. It was tough though as the remaining aid station were either low on supplies and/or extremely disorganized. Not all of them had Gatorade and the ones that did had the "concentrated" kind. Most had water, but it was poured out of bottles rather than set up, and quite difficult to get more than about a cup.
I finished the half in 2:46. That's only 16 minutes behind the pace I was shooting for, so considering the conditions, I'm happy with that. After Mile 13, we turned back into the baking sun, so I slowed down about a minute per mile. It was amazing - everyone was walking through the aid stations, up the "hills", and through the long sunny sections. This was also where I saw a lot of medical problems start creeping up - people were passing out everywhere; it was bad.
I managed to continue at between a 13:00 and 14:00 pace for the next 4 miles. At Mile 17, I noticed some police activity at one intersection. I thought it was a fight or something, but apparently this is where we were supposed to turn southbound. They'd cut the race short and were just sending us directly to the finish line. The people in the crowd, myself included, were *not* happy. There were no announcements of any kind, and nobody had a clue what was going on. According to the paper, anyone who crossed the half before noon (later changed to 11:45 and then 11:30) were allowed to run the course, but I crossed at 11:09, and I didn't have that option!
I crossed the finish line in 3:56, but after running just 18.5 miles. My marathon was cut 8 miles short and I should have had well over 2 hours to knock out that last 8. I was not too tired (considering) and can almost walk 8 miles in 2+ hours! But it was not to be.
Now a few hours afterwards, I see the race was a disaster all around. More than 350 people were sent to the hospital and one is already dead. Thousands of people were cut off with me at Mile 17, while other groups were stopped at Mile 23 or even Mile 25. Information was very hard to come by during the race (non-existent in my case).
I do think they made the right decision by stopping the race. As I said, people were dropping left and right, and the ambulances were very overworked. But I blame the race organizers for people for being so hugely unprepared and letting it get to that point. These record high temps were predicted over a week before the race, and as far as I can tell they did nothing to plan for that except send out a mass e-mail saying it was going to be hot. I've never organized a race, but here're 5 things I would have done:
1) Move the start time of the race up an hour or two
2) Add fire hoses and/or misters to the course
3) Add additional water/Gatorade aid stations
4) If the aid stations really had enough fluids, as race officials are claiming in the Tribune, then there were either not enough volunteers or they weren't trained properly. Fluids were non-existent (at worst) or hard to find (at best) by the time I got around to them and there were many people behind me
5) Warn people in advance that the race might be cut short
All in all, it made for a miserable run. I didn't finish, but I'm still happy I made it 18.5 miles under these conditions, and I'm not even all that tired or sore right now. I made it through a torn ACL in August, horrible shin splits the past two weeks, doctor's orders to not run a marathon, and 18.5 miles of the Race From Hell, only to be forced to stop early. But I'm proud I made it as far as I did!
Congrats to everyone who finished and thank you to all the volunteers and onlookers - even if the aid stations were poorly run/organized, it was not their fault! I hear they get next to no training/instruction, so they did the best they could under the circumstances.
I'm not sure what's next for me. I'm still under doctor's orders not to run, but my knee made it through today just fine. I'm strongly considering driving out to Des Moines for their marathon in two weeks. I hope the weather cools off by then!
Yet the marathon started as planned. The first few miles weren't too bad, but around Mile 5, things took a turn for worse. I was getting tired quickly and the sun was starting to beat down. I'd skipped the first aid station at 1.5 miles and imagine my surprise when the next two (at miles 3 and 6) were totally out of fluids! What the officials are saying in the Tribune is not true, as one of those stations wasn't there - they'd even removed the tables! And I was not bringing up the rear of the race; there were many thousands of people behind me.
Around Mile 7, I seriously thought about stopping, but after all I'd gone through, I decided to just walk a mile and go from there. Fortunately, the next aid station had water along with super-concentrated Gatorade syrup. I rehydrated, ate a gel, put on my headphones, and managed to finally get into a groove at that point.
I picked up the pace and managed to make it to the half way point without too much more pain. It was tough though as the remaining aid station were either low on supplies and/or extremely disorganized. Not all of them had Gatorade and the ones that did had the "concentrated" kind. Most had water, but it was poured out of bottles rather than set up, and quite difficult to get more than about a cup.
I finished the half in 2:46. That's only 16 minutes behind the pace I was shooting for, so considering the conditions, I'm happy with that. After Mile 13, we turned back into the baking sun, so I slowed down about a minute per mile. It was amazing - everyone was walking through the aid stations, up the "hills", and through the long sunny sections. This was also where I saw a lot of medical problems start creeping up - people were passing out everywhere; it was bad.
I managed to continue at between a 13:00 and 14:00 pace for the next 4 miles. At Mile 17, I noticed some police activity at one intersection. I thought it was a fight or something, but apparently this is where we were supposed to turn southbound. They'd cut the race short and were just sending us directly to the finish line. The people in the crowd, myself included, were *not* happy. There were no announcements of any kind, and nobody had a clue what was going on. According to the paper, anyone who crossed the half before noon (later changed to 11:45 and then 11:30) were allowed to run the course, but I crossed at 11:09, and I didn't have that option!
I crossed the finish line in 3:56, but after running just 18.5 miles. My marathon was cut 8 miles short and I should have had well over 2 hours to knock out that last 8. I was not too tired (considering) and can almost walk 8 miles in 2+ hours! But it was not to be.
Now a few hours afterwards, I see the race was a disaster all around. More than 350 people were sent to the hospital and one is already dead. Thousands of people were cut off with me at Mile 17, while other groups were stopped at Mile 23 or even Mile 25. Information was very hard to come by during the race (non-existent in my case).
I do think they made the right decision by stopping the race. As I said, people were dropping left and right, and the ambulances were very overworked. But I blame the race organizers for people for being so hugely unprepared and letting it get to that point. These record high temps were predicted over a week before the race, and as far as I can tell they did nothing to plan for that except send out a mass e-mail saying it was going to be hot. I've never organized a race, but here're 5 things I would have done:
1) Move the start time of the race up an hour or two
2) Add fire hoses and/or misters to the course
3) Add additional water/Gatorade aid stations
4) If the aid stations really had enough fluids, as race officials are claiming in the Tribune, then there were either not enough volunteers or they weren't trained properly. Fluids were non-existent (at worst) or hard to find (at best) by the time I got around to them and there were many people behind me
5) Warn people in advance that the race might be cut short
All in all, it made for a miserable run. I didn't finish, but I'm still happy I made it 18.5 miles under these conditions, and I'm not even all that tired or sore right now. I made it through a torn ACL in August, horrible shin splits the past two weeks, doctor's orders to not run a marathon, and 18.5 miles of the Race From Hell, only to be forced to stop early. But I'm proud I made it as far as I did!
Congrats to everyone who finished and thank you to all the volunteers and onlookers - even if the aid stations were poorly run/organized, it was not their fault! I hear they get next to no training/instruction, so they did the best they could under the circumstances.
I'm not sure what's next for me. I'm still under doctor's orders not to run, but my knee made it through today just fine. I'm strongly considering driving out to Des Moines for their marathon in two weeks. I hope the weather cools off by then!