How is that for an opening to a race report?
I was ready. I had put the training in and made the necessary modifications to my process. I knew that I’d be able to finish this race as easily as any of the others.
The weather reports all week were calling for high temps for Sunday. They were predicting 85 degrees with high humidity. I just kept my eye on that storm hoping that we’d get rained on. But when we woke up Sunday morning, at 4 AM mind you, it was already 75 degrees. This wasn’t going to be pretty.
I kept a positive outlook. I knew what I needed to do to keep me moving and I planned to just stay with my pace group and know that in the end I will be happy that I did the race. The high temps meant that I would need to drink a little more and to be sure that I kept my self cool.
At 8 AM we were off. It took me 16 ½ minutes to reach the starting line but once I did it was pretty easy running. I took my time and maintained my pace. By mile 2 I was starting to heat up a bit so I eased off and continued to run. I started pouring water over my head to stay cool.
I arrived at the first aid station to find that it had already been abandoned and no water or Gatorade was available. I didn’t panic because I was carrying my water bottle that was still half full.
I trudged along and by mile 4 I was completely drained. I was overheating and the water wasn’t enough. I was lucky enough to find a restroom by mile 5 because I wasn’t feeling very well.
Once things had passed I got back out there and found that we were being told that there was no water at the next aid station. Thank god this was incorrect! The aid station was still operating but it appeared that they were unprepared for the onslaught that fell upon them. The volunteers tried their hardest to accommodate everyone and I was thankful to have some Gatorade and a full water bottle.
At mile six I took some much needed gel to try to recoup some of my lost energy but it was no use. I took off my hat in hopes that it was holding in the heat and making me feel much hotter than I really was but it was not the case. The sun was just cooking me and I was not handling it very well.
I drenched my hat when I could and took in as much fluid as I thought I could handle but I realized that this was not going to be my day.
I saw more and more runners around me starting to walk and I knew that this was not a good sign.
At mile 11 I decided that when I saw my wife at 13.1 I was going to make the decision to drop out. I just could not take this abuse any longer and did not feel that it was worth hurting myself to try to complete this marathon.
When I saw my wife I began to cry knowing that for the first time I was not going to complete a marathon. She calmed me down and told me to take a break. I rest at the side of the road in the shade for a minute. She gave me some beans and told me that I was not going to drop just yet that I could walk some more and that she would accompany me for a little while.
I crossed the half-way point at 3:25 (3:07 chip time or 11:25 AM) and we continued to walk. My wife kept me moving and feeding me the beans when we got to the aid station near mile 14 it was closed, no water and no Gatorade but we were told there was some water about 3 blocks away. My wife said sorry but I have to do this and tasted my sweat (before becoming a runner I don’t think she would have ever done that) and said there is no salt…you need some electrolytes now!
She saw a convenience store about a block away and said that she would go get some if I wanted, I told her yes! When I approached the store the firefighters had opened up they hydrant and they were giving water out to the runners directly from the tap. I once again filled my bottle and kept moving.
My wife caught up with me about a half mile down the road. She reported that the store was full of runners doing the same thing she was doing for me. I opened up the bottle and started drinking like there was no tomorrow. I had to stop myself before I got cramps.
About a mile later I had finished the bottle of Gatorade and was starting to feel like myself again. I decided that she was right I could finish this race even if it meant walking the rest of the way.
All of the sudden we saw a bunch of people coming up the side streets. These we fellow runners that had been diverted and we were being told by police and medics that the race had been cancelled.
Well I thought that I might have enough in me to finish and said that I would continue anyway but that option was taken away from me as we approached the turn to mile 17. At this point the road was barricaded with a 4 foot high gate and police standing there telling everyone that we were to walk back to Grant Park. Anyone that was running was told, rather sternly, to stop running, the race was over, and that we were to walk to Grant Park.
I had no options. The race was over for me and my fellow runners.
The view ahead of me was quite wondrous seeing thousands of people walking down the streets and all of the fire hydrants open on both sides of the road spraying large arcs of water across the street.
I have some very mixed feelings about this race. I received a medal even though I did not complete the whole course; that is just wrong. According to the website and comments made by the RD “all runners that made it past the halfway point before noon were allowed to finish”…I beg to differ, if you look at my time on the website I past the 15 mile mark around noon and was not allowed to finish.
But what if they had let me finish? This race is not considered official unless you came in ahead of them canceling the race, around 4 hours, so I would still not have been able to count this race.
It was a memorable experience to say the least. I am not proud that I wanted to quit but I am glad that the race officials had enough common sense to see that this race was no longer safe for the participants and called the race over.
The Chicago Marathon was unique. I still have to get Illinois but I just might look at one of the smaller races and hope for cooler weather.
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