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.