I am trying to figure out how much the heat slowed the field this year in Chicago. I am putting together a handicap chart for Boston this year and I am having a hard time figuring out how much faster Desiree Davila would be on a perfect day.
I am trying to figure out how much the heat slowed the field this year in Chicago. I am putting together a handicap chart for Boston this year and I am having a hard time figuring out how much faster Desiree Davila would be on a perfect day.
Yeah, I wonder how much faster Liliya Shobukhova could have run than her 2:20+ PR and the 2:23 ladies (ho hum). I'm a few hours south, did a long run that days with a few layers on, and it was a near perfect day (esp. compared to Chicago '07). Everyone expects these crystalline conditions in Chicago every year, but go try to run any other marathon-- rolling hills, turns, windy, cold, hot, rainy. Should we have a "handicap" for those races too? Chicago is about as close to perfect as it gets in the US (with the exception of Cal International and Houston being faster). The accumulation of years of marathon stats does not lie: http://www.arrs.net/TB_Mara.htm
Here are the stats for the day:
I was out there and it wasn't bad, but the longer the day wore on, the worse it got (obviously). It may have touched 70 by the time the elites were crossing, but the saving grace of the day is that there was no humidity.
Thank you. I appreciate the input. I heard that a lot of elites had problems and were crying about the conditions. I see that it was simply weak athletes.