Running: Chicago Marathon - What an experience!

Tuesday, October 09, 2007 - 10:31 PM

Thank to everyone who sent their well wishes for the marathon in Chicago this weekend. I know that a lot of you were cheering us on from home base and that was fabulous! It was such a CRAZY experience I don’t even know where to begin so I start with some stats:

Registered Racers: 45,000

Racers that crossed the Start Line: 35,867 (many backed out when they saw
the weather forecast)

Racers that crossed the Finish Line: 24,933 (that’s only 2/3)

Temperature (excl Humidex): 88F

Heat Index: 90F

Runners Core Body Temp (rule of thumb add 10 degrees): 100 (I don’t know if
that’s real but that’s what it felt like)

Runners taken to hospitals by helicopters and ambulance: 300+

Runners still in critical condition: 5

Runners died: 1

I think that paints a pretty bleak picture. It was an AWFUL experience but I am proud to say that all 5 of us Toronto racers finished with smiles on our faces and didn’t end up in the medic tents (thank god b/c they did not have the staff to take all the people dropping like flies).

None of us were able to come anywhere near our goal pace (except for first time marathoner Holly who kicked some butt!....where do you come from…Kenya?) b/c of the unexpected heat. Yes we trained in this weather in the summer but a few things stood in our way of finishing with a great time:

* Chicago marathon officials cancelled the race 2.5 hours into the race. Their medic tents and local hospitals were so over capacity they had to cancel. Police officers were ordering everyone to walk for the last 5-10km, all fire hydrants were opened and all spectators had their hoses out to cool people down….it was great to see the local support
* Volunteers at water stations were not prepared. After the first 3 water stations no one had water or Gatorade ready. We had to wait in line and / or pour it ourselves (or as other runners were doing…stealing it from one another..it was a war zone)
* It was very demoralized to see bodies lying along the sidewalks with 3-5 medical staff attending to them
* We tried to run the last 10km but there were 20,000+ people who were walking (b/c all the police were ordering people to do so)….it was impossible to get around…weaving in and out.
* They turned off all the clocks after the ½ marathon point to show that the race was officially cancelled and all pace bunnies were asked to walk off the course so that no one followed them.
* All clocks were turned off on the course so we didn’t even know if our finish time would be captured.

I am not proud to have run a 5:15 marathon (almost a full hour over goal time) but I am proud to have finished this race. And to have finished it with one of my best friends Melissa.

This was the hottest weather for the Chicago marathon since it stared 30 years ago and the only time they cancelled it half way through (they shut off all the clocks and if you didn’t go through the ½ marathon point by 2:40 they made you cut through the city or get on a bus. They also turned off all marathon clocks and announced that to continue to run was a felony (a little dramatic if you ask me!!)

Well this experience will certainly go down in history and now I just need to decide if I have one more marathon in me in the month of October (Niagara???????).

There were some great experiences to look back on despite all the chaos:

* Holly’s first marathon ever..way to go holly!
* Colleen ran all the way and finished before she even realized that the race had been cancelled (although feeling the heat she went right to the beer tent after she crossed the finish line)
* Lucy found an inspirational group of people to run with and bonded with fellow runners
* Melissa and I decided that at 25km we certainly weren’t breaking any
records so we may as well jog to the end and finish together (we haven’t run together since Grade 8!)
* Scott and Amy were GREAT spectators with lots of photography and video footage. We would not have been able to do it without them.