More on the Chicago Marathon

I found this post from a volunteer at the second aid station. They were given 10,000 extra cups, and told not to refill their tables. Incredible. I feel for the volunteers there. When I came through, several runners were yelling at them. I personally thanked every volunteer I got water from - that job has got to be tough.

Doing the math things don’t add up. 10,000 extra cups for 36,000 runners? That is not much at all. Even the numbers from race officals only add up to a few extra cups per runner for the entire course.

I’m still determined to finish a marathon this year. To that end, I registered for the Grand Rapids Marathon on October 28th. I have a feeling I won’t be the only person from the Chicago Marathon up in GR. Timing-wise it couldn’t be better. All my long training runs were three weeks apart at the end (17+ miler, a 9 miler than an 8 miler). I’ll tack on a 9miler this weekend, 8 miles the next and should be in good shape for the race.

Overall, my body is doing well after the beating yesterday. No more sore than after any of my longer runs this summer. I’m pretty sure I’ll head out tomorrow morning for a mid-week run.

Update: I finished watching a press briefing with Carey Pinkowski and Shawn Platt. Some interesting observations.

• When asked what could have ben differently, Carey said they didn’t anticipate runners using water at the aid stations to cool themselves. They thought runners would go to cooling stations. They also put out sponges and extra ice. All of these were put into the later stages of the race, which (in my opinion) is where they failed. By the time they realized this, it was too late to move them.
• Carey was asked flat out if he was going to apologize to runners, he first dodged the question, talking about how he got a standing ovation at the post race party when he explained why the canceled the race. The report re-asked the question adding if they were considering a refund. He muttered that they were analyzing the possibility of a refund, but never once used the word “sorry.”
• This me completely speculating but several questions got at the “what about a refund” question. His dodginess around this seemed more from a standpoint of “that decision is still being made and I don’t want to commit to it” than a flat out refusal to answer. That said, they’d talk more about that later.

If I had to say where the mistake was made, it was thinking it was going to be hot on the second half of the course - none of the official cooling stations were on the front half - my first open hydrant was somewhere on Adams west of mile 14. What happened was it was hot at the start and they didn’t have cooling set up there. People used what was available, but in all reality, the course was not prepared for the conditions.

To put a point on it, I maintain closing the course was smart. Lots of people would have gotten hurt (maybe myself included). The reason the course had to be closed is not the weather, but how they reacted and/or failed to react to the weather.