wxxx wrote:
Did you forget meds today? Are you nuts? What the hell do wejo and rojo have to do with this.
If you don't like the big races, STFU and don't run them, you won't be missed.
Um, it was just an example to reinforce that the expectations of the person I was responding to aren't realistic. Lighten up, geek.
Be nice to the UCLA fan. He is still smarting from the game yesterday when the Bruins lost to the dreaded Fighting Irish.
Are you guys nuts? Chicago is a great city. After all, they have great sports teams, great bars, and a really great atmosphere for college graduates in the midwest looking to experience some real big city life.
Carey cannot control the weather. Period. It sucks that this happened. Nobody couldl have predicted temperatures like this for Chicago in October! One of the biggest reasons the race is so desirable is that you can count on it not being warm. This year was an anomoly.
And after running a half-marathon recently in extremely warm conditions, I would have dropped out today, went to a bar and talked about how good the Bears, Bulls, and Cubs are.
Bears, Bulls, Cubs wrote:
Are you guys nuts?
You really have to ask that question?
Bears, Bulls, Cubs wrote:
Carey cannot control the weather. Period. It sucks that this happened. Nobody couldl have predicted temperatures like this for Chicago in October! One of the biggest reasons the race is so desirable is that you can count on it not being warm. This year was an anomoly.
Or maybe a sign of things to come.
Perhaps we should sue "Let's SUE Chicago".
I have no idea what you ran, but I was just under 4 hours and never had to fight over a drop of water.
Well, if the called it at 3.5 at the halfway mark I think they were worried about the 6 hour crowd.
Alan
man up people wrote:
There was nothing wrong with the way this was run. I'll man up . . . dropped out at 14 for leg reasons but hydration was fine. 54 years old and I just screwed up my traing. A well organized race with great volunteers!
Get a load of this guy in the Chicago Tribune "Why did they cancel it at Mile 20? Couldn't they cancel it at Mile 5," said Arzu Karimova, 28, a market researcher from Chicago. "I put my entire summer into this. My entire marathon is gone. I'll never have another first marathon experience."
Gee, I wonder if we shouldn't ever have marathons in July? Get a life pussy!!
Well, you may have a wrecked first marathon pal, but at least you are alive to run a second. At least one person is dead and not running again. Suck it up.
I was at mile 21 all day. I was supposed to be at 23 watching friends, but set up an impromptu aid station - water, gatorade, sponges, gummis and ice. I bought more than 100 lbs of ice from Walgreens. Srangers were throwing money at me to get more. Every runner took the stuff. I had cops coming over to me asking for ice and my help with downed runners. A policeman thanked me for saving one man's life because it was 30 minutes before an ambulance could reach him (actually, it was a firetruck first). No one knew what to do - the medics were stretched that thin. All the ambulances in town were taken. ALL OF THEM. And the cops couldn't put people in squad cars either, due to some dumb rule. The ambulances have been blazing their sirens all day long.
On defense, I can't say that the organizers didn't factor in more fluids (after all they were aware of the heat b/c they used the backup plan of shutting the race down). What I don't think they planned enough for is the monster demand. People were burning up in corrals for 30-40 minutes and took tons of water the first couple aid stations (most people skip the first couple stops). When people started walking en masse, they had all the time to take more. When I am running, I am lucky if I can grab 3 cups while running through a station. I bet people upfront took more than their fair share today. I wonder how many people forgot the people behind them and just dumped dozens of cups on their heads?
This race has for many years been one of the best organized in the country (with Boston). There are some things they can control, and some they cannot. 88 degrees, all sun, no shade in the second half, no wind. They saved a lot of people's lives by cutting it short.
Look at it this way: you have several thousand marathon rookies in this field, many new to running, period. In 2004, 7% or so of the Boston field didn't finish in that heat wave (I was one of them). Today, with rookies and much slower runners (up to 2 hours slower on average), this was bound to happen. All the water in the world isn't likely to change that.
This was just a bad luck day for Chicago. This kind of heat is fairly unusual for Oct. 7. That being said, I've always thought Chicago should move the Marathon back to the LAST Sunday in October. There is a much lower chance of HOT weather like this, and we all know, it can't be TOO cold in late October - even in the 30s would be great weather.
Yeah, last year was later date than usual and really nice and cool.
hands down best aid station was the 1 with the sponges.. thank you.. didnt save my life but may have saved my race..
No doubt that the weather was brutal. But the
organizers knew the weather was going to suck.
Could the event have been started earlier, say
6 or 7? I don't know. God bless the numerous
runners that were hospitalized and a quick recovery
to all. See you next year!
thanks for the sponges!
I would like to sue them for having the world's worst results page. Why can't these people have just a long list of the top 100 or something.
As far as the organization goes, the athletes should be prepared for the conditions. They can look at the weather just as easily as the race organizers can, and plan accordingly.
after the sponges at 21 I was praying for sponges the rest of the race.. they never came..
What I did find amzing were volunteers overing blocks of ice.
not knowing what to do I took it. sucked on it... then tried to put it on my head It didnt melt so then i though maybe I should put it in my pants... no good...
may have been a bit dilusional at that point. finally i just tossed it to the ground. useless. what a cruel joke.
Wait... hold up... marathons are hard and may subject you to adverse conditions????? wtf?
I know teacher wrote:
Perhaps we should sue "Let's SUE Chicago".
Why? Just because they haven't had a hit in years?
Yes wrote: Why not make them RACES again? Toughen up the qualifying times to 2:55 for men and 3:10 for women?
as sheryl indicated wrote: One word: greed.
I love it: 80% of the board is all about bowing down to the wondrously efficient and all-powerful Free Market with its invisible hand(job). But somehow when it comes to races, it's suddenly screw the free market - bad things happen when people are free to choose. We need regulation to maintain/restore the purity of the sport, protect it from the masses and that deadly sin which is responsible for all that's otherwise good about America, greed!
Lawsuits - yeah, let's lay blame. Who's to blame for the weather? Lets' milk it for all we can. Only pathetic Americans would think 'lawsuit'. Like the moron woman who sued McDonalds because she spilled her coffee on her lap. Must be somebody elses fault. Pathetic.