Frankly, I don't want to write anything about what I saw today but since I started this blog I feel a certain responsibility to lay something down.
The 30th annual Chicago Marathon was held today (Sunday) and it certainly was one for the record books. The men's and women's finishs were decided by seconds and for the men micro-seconds, .05 second to be precise. They were possibly the most exciting head-to-head finishes ever although I confess I'm not a marathon historian.
That was the only positive I saw on the course today, unless you count the fact that only one person died in the ungodly oppressive heat instead of several dozen. And one death is of course very said and my heart, which is still beating thanks to my running buddy Tanya, goes out to the friends and family of this individual.
I was a spectator this year because of my heart attack and setback in early August so my son Jacob and I spent the day together keeping track of his squeeze Jessica who ran her first marathon as a charity runner for the Leukemia Society of America. Jacob and I were able to make contact with her within the first mile and she was optimistic and excited about her first thon. By the 4th mile she was already getting a bit concerned about having to slow her pace and by 12 miles she had slowed to a walk and said she was going to walk the rest of the damn thing. It was that bad, and I'm glad I didn't have to run it. When I looked east out of my window early Sunday over the lake, the sun wasn't coming up. There was water IN the lake and there was water OVER the lake, the humidity was obnoxious and I have often thought that had I been in condition to run, I just may have been one of those 10,000 prospective runners who decided to bag the race. That was just too much and depending on which news account you listen too something like 250 to 300 people ended up in the hospital. As it turned our, something like 40 ended up in the hospital and something like 200 to 300 needed medical attention on and off the course.
I do know from personal observation that ambulance sirens were wailing at a nearly steady pace from about noon to 2 pm. It was pretty ugly. The roughly 4 hour or slower runners were turned around past the halfway mark and sent back to the finish line in Grant Park. Jacob's girlfriend Jessica got her 30th anniversay Chicago Marathon medal, she raised the money for leukemia research, did the long training runs and other runs through the summer but most importantly she is well and is aware that the heat wave was a fluke. This wasn't what she or anyone else had planned, but it's what everyone got.
Isn't distance running a lot like life?:)
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6 comments:
I began walking at mile 4, also and was dismayed when there was no aid station... they'd run out of water and Gatoraid, so they just took away the entire station! I called it a day at mile 12 (which took me 3:00 to reach). It wouldn't have mattered if I'd continued since they closed the course shortly after. I was very disturbed by the constant line of ambulances and am still trying to wrap my brain around how this became such a debacle. Glad Jessica is well and that more lives weren't lost.
We had a hot race at Sand Rat in Lawrence today as well. I think I remember wearing gloves at the start of the same race last year. Weird.
I wasn't until I saw Wendy's YouTube clip of the race did I realize how truly horrible this year's race was. Thank God Jessica played it smart. I probably would have come to the race but I'm not sure I would have started. Conditions at Milwaukee were pretty bad but nothing like what happened at Chicago. I guess when things go bad they go really bad when the race is so damn big! Can you imagine Sam, if you had your heart attack during this race?? Bad bad news. I hope to never see this again.
It was hot in Akron on that Sunday also. I remember saying something about how grateful I was the Akron Marathon wasn't today, but last week. I forgot all about the Chicago marathon till all the news coverage came in about it. I would have scrapped the race too. Ridiculous gyrations in weather for October!
Well written article.
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