Boston Postrace Shitshow

Go Long wrote:

The BAA sent you not one, but two emails in the days leading up to Monday telling you the weather would be bad, you might get hypothermic after the race, and to have a plan about how to get warm. Do you expect them to be waiting with towels for you as everyone crosses the finish line? Take some personal responsibility, or have some resourcefulness. Or don't run marathons in the freezing cold rain. Sheesh.

Please, enlighten us, what would be your plan to get warm after the race as you are out in the pouring rain with no place to get shelter?

Towels, maybe not, but is a hot beverage so hard to put together?

Beautiful Day wrote:

Run, hopefully wearing the sensible stuff addressed in the other thread. (Embro, folks, really.)

Embro?

Sorry, not that easy wrote:

Go Long wrote:

The BAA sent you not one, but two emails in the days leading up to Monday telling you the weather would be bad, you might get hypothermic after the race, and to have a plan about how to get warm. Do you expect them to be waiting with towels for you as everyone crosses the finish line? Take some personal responsibility, or have some resourcefulness. Or don't run marathons in the freezing cold rain. Sheesh.

Please, enlighten us, what would be your plan to get warm after the race as you are out in the pouring rain with no place to get shelter?

Towels, maybe not, but is a hot beverage so hard to put together?

Herein lies the problem. You are looking to other people to have all the answers for you and solve your problems. Sometimes conditions don't allow for others to solve your problems and you have to take matters into your own hands. BAA had med tents just about every mile for the last part of the race. How many other races have that? None of the other marathons I've run. They give you a thick heat blanket at the finish, rather than the plastic sheet. They did their part but you have to do yours. Have some understanding that these were extreme conditions. Have fun in ten years telling your friends and grand kids you were a part of it.

Da year I crushed it da weather wuz even worst & I wuz riddled wit injuries. So stoppa yer cryin buncha babies.

If youse wuz truly as fast as youse claim youse trot over to the elite tent after da race wit me and enjoy hot (spiked of course!) drinks, food, and my fav, happy race ending massage. Plus I sing a bit of Spandau Ballet. Cuz Im awesome.

#Losers

It's almost like these guys didn't do the race by their own choice.

They sound like the guys who injure themselves with overtraining and then complain about the treatment a doctor gives them.

Complaining about this is pretty ridiculous. This race is only 5 years removed from an Islamic terrorist attack at the finish line and you think they can just start tossing up tents, towels, bringing in extra trucks etc to the finish area at the last minute? I can not imagine the number of police and government reviews they have to go through for every little thing. I'm sure there was no time for last second changes due to that.

Now having said that, logistics is one of the main reasons I avoid Big City marathons. I ran Boston one year and everything is a pain in the tail simply due to the large number of runners. Packet pick up, eating dinner, hotels, pre-race and post-race... it's all just a huge headache.

I prefer the mid size races where the race is big enough to have folks to race with, and decent organization, but not so big that the simplest things turn into a huge ordeal.

Getting some tents when rain is predicted is not a “last second change.” Anticipating that a 14 x 14 foot changing area per gender is insufficient for 25,000 - 30,000 people is not a security risk. Placing blanket distribution BEFORE water, bananas, meals, etc. would cost nothing.

ataglance wrote:

This race is only 5 years removed from an Islamic terrorist attack

The f*ck is wrong with you. Stay away from our city with your islamophobe misinformation.

ClusterForkAlso wrote:

Getting some tents when rain is predicted is not a “last second change.” Anticipating that a 14 x 14 foot changing area per gender is insufficient for 25,000 - 30,000 people is not a security risk. Placing blanket distribution BEFORE water, bananas, meals, etc. would cost nothing.

The race director said, "I don’t think anyone could be more pleased with how things turned out.". You have to keep in mind that this race is more about HIM than YOU.

........... wrote:

Beautiful Day wrote:

Run, hopefully wearing the sensible stuff addressed in the other thread. (Embro, folks, really.)

Embro?

Is that short for embrocate, or the oil/lotion that cyclists use to keep their legs warm?

Yes, the most basic, simple, long-proven, still-used, brilliant, effective, no-brainer thing in the world still used to this very day by, uh, cyclists such as those who live in N. Europe and have crap weather most days of the year but they still get out there.

Such as the stuff linked below. No reason to pay tons, though, a lot of stuff at your local CVS or Walgreens will get the job done, too. Or, find the stuff that you remember the smell of in your high school locker room, or that found its way into your jock and burned like crazy because you were an underclassman. Whatever. Use this stuff, don't touch your eyes or junk, and live a better life - at least when it's cold out and you're trying to compete.

https://www.madalchemy.com/shop/

I don't think the organizers should be expected to make the race perfect without any risk of discomfort whatsoever in a year when there were such highly unusual conditions. Yeah, I was cold for a few minutes, and after I got my clothes, I didn't want to wait in line for the changing tent so I changed in a doorway alcove of a business that was closed. And I had the advantage of running 3:09:42 out of Wave 2, Corral 3 on a day when probably most Wave 2 runners were more like 3:15 to 3:45, so I was one first ones to make it to my gear bag tent and was helped right away.

But you kind of have to fend for yourself a little, too. There were plenty of medical helpers in the finish area with wheelchairs and blankets for those who were truly in trouble. Otherwise, toughen up and just help yourself and be thankful. It's a great race, well organized, truly outstanding given the number of people involved, especially given that the vast majority finish within a couple hours of each other because of the qualifying times, not strung out all day which would be easier to manage in a way. The reason you have to keep walking to get your water, medal, blanket/cape, food, and gear bag over three blocks is to keep people moving so they don't back up at the finish line.

Go Long you are probably the guy that spoils dinner parties and says disparaging things about the dead and dying. We get it.

I was there. My plan was to finish the race and get my gear bag and get to a warm place as quickly as possible. Does that sound reasonable? What would you do differently, oh brilliant one?

Here is what happened. I crossed the line and made the long walk to the gear tent. According to Google Earth that was about 640 meters. I got the poncho at 200 meters. The walk took a good 10 minutes. At the bag tent (wave 1) there were probably 1000 people waiting. It took another 45 minutes to get my bag. It was not well organized (bags thrown in bins of 100 or so) and just retrieving my bag once I gave them my number took several minutes. I had some back up clothes, and could have met my party outside the finish area. But they said. Over and over and over, that we could not return to the bag claim area after we left. So I could have sacrificed my dry gear. There was nothing special in there, but I don't like wasting my clothing. So I waited. The only thing I'd do differently is make sure that the bag pick up gear is throw away so if face with another circumstance like on Monday I can walk away from it.

I bet you are a fat and stupid hobby jogger and I pity you.

Um, Boston was the dinner party and YOU are saying disparaging things.

Slim and intelligent hobby jogger wrote:

Um, Boston was the dinner party and YOU are saying disparaging things.

Nice attempt at deflection. 2/10, keep trying.

I don't think the organizers are to blame for all the hypothermia cases. However, it wasn't clear that there was even a warming tent available. I ended up downstairs of some hotel with massage tables, probably a hundred or so of them with tons of volunteers helping. Not sure if that was technically the warming tent or not as it wasn't a tent.

Before the start, rules were changed to allow you to carry extra clear bags in addition to that 1gal ziploc. So basically, if anybody was cold before the start it was 100% their own fault. Yeah there was mud in athletes village, but that was expected so I prepared for it by bringing something to sit on plus the extra shoes.

I finished around 2:40 so before 99% of the others. I felt that I got the space blanket quickly enough, didn't seem like it was too far from the finish. After that I walked around looking for a heated bus I had been told about, to get warm as we were shaking by this point. We were eventually pulled into the warming room which was downstairs in a hotel. It was not at all obvious to find I'll add. We were given hot chicken broth and massages. They took my clothes off for me and gave me a dry shirt, but I don't imagine that they gave most people shirts as I was fairly early and they probably didn't know how bad it would get later. I was beginning to stop shaking by the time the massage was done (it was a very light massage, not done by pros or anything fancy). We were headed out to try to locate family but decided against going outside as we still had on wet clothes. I didn't have access to a gear drop bag because we were dropped off at the start and we went to the warming area before we found any family.

People keep asking me if I'd go back...I say that I won't go back next year but definitely within another 4 years. Would be cool to race in better weather when the crowd support is 100% and I can do more touristy things around Boston.

I didn't check any gear with BAA. Never do. I wear crap clothes and shoes that I don't want anymore and throw them off shortly before the start. Wore a garbage bag as well on Monday. When I finish, I usually enjoy the day and chat with other runners a bit. But this time I just kept right on running past all the food and stuff (grabbing my medal in mid-stride) and didn't stop until I got to the hotel. Indeed, I dashed thru the lobby to the elevator, jogged down hall into room, and then dove into a warm shower. Feel bad for fellow runners who couldn't get out of cold wet gear quickly enough.

Paris Beat You To It :D wrote:

This is exactly how they did it at the Paris Marathon a couple of weeks ago.

By all accounts it's the second largest marathon in the world with over 42000 finishers this year and I didn't even have to wait 10 seconds for my bag.

I'm glad to hear it worked as well as I imagined it would.

Hopefully other RDs notice and make the switch.

This was the worst part of the race for me. I thought I had a good plan to deal with the weather: throwaway clothes on until right before the start, start conservatively so I don't bonk, and get warm clothes ASAP after the finish. What I didn't count on was the half hour after I finished that it took to get my gear bag. I was wishing I hadn't checked a bag, since I could have hopped on the T and been back at my hotel by then.