When a Marathon Goes Wrong - Chicago
Lesson Learned - Carry Your Own Water Bottle: I ALWAYS carry my own water bottle with water and packets of powdered sports drink with me, even on events where I have paid a staggering entry fee. On my first marathon I arrived a checkpoint at Mile 20 that had water but had run out of cups. I had only to fill my own water bottle. Another year I left the water reservoir out of my Camelbak and really regretted it - I wanted water at points between water stops to wash down bits of energy bar and had to wait.
Spectators Help: The spectators were the big heroes at the Chicago Marathon. Participant after participant reports that the crowd brought them water, ice, sports drink. It's a great idea to have friends and family ready to meet you along the course to supply you with basics if the race runs out of them.
Heat Sickness: The Chicago Marathon had one death, and dozens sent to the hospital with various forms of heat sickness. I'll stick my neck out and say this would have happened regardless of whether there was plenty of water and sports drink on the course. Drinking right is not enough to stop heat sickness. Slowing down, seeking shade, icing yourself, and stopping is needed to prevent heat sickness. All things you are unlikely to want to do after training for months for the big event. There is no way the event organizers could have made people slow down or stop. They tried to shut the course after 4 hours and direct people back to the finish, but over 10,000 ignored them and shoved on to finish the full course after it was closed. Know When to Stop Walking
Provide for Your Own Safety and Comfort: When you register for a big marathon or half marathon, don't expect all of the amenities to be there, especially if you are a walker or slower runner. Be prepared to take care of yourself for water, sports drink, and energy snacks. Be prepared to be moved to the sidewalks or have the course change. Be prepared to alter your pace and plans to suit the weather. Accept the kindness of strangers. Help others who are suffering along the way. Make it about the experience, not the finish time.
Slow Isn't the Problem - Inexperience Is: Plenty of runners blame the slower people for the problems, as if being a walker or walk/runner means you haven't trained fully. That may be the case, especially for first-timers. But some of us slow folks are seasoned marathoners who are well-trained. If you haven't done your full training, it is immoral to start anyway. The medical disaster of the Chicago Marathon stripped the city of ambulances for other medical emergencies and put a big crunch on emergency rooms. Don't rely on the event to scrape you off the course when you collapse. How Not to Train for a Marathon.
I was a walking participant in Sunday’s Chicago Marathon. My friend and I live in Florida and had trained in heat and humidity, so we were in much better shape than others. We were actually on pace, (3 hrs, 13 min at the half), to hit our goal of 6 1/2 hours, but since it took us 22 minutes to get to the start, we were not permitted to finish the race, and we were really upset about it. Thanks to many of your tips, I have completed 6 previous marathons. We were well prepared for the heat – we carried our own water bottles and were fortunate enough to be able to call friends and my husband to resupply us with gatorade along the route. It is unbelievable to me that there was no gatorade or water at the first two aid stations and only one or the other at some of the rest of the stations through mile 16. The race officials then made matters worse by saying that they had plenty of fluids. That was true only for the faster runners. When they shut us down at mile 16 1/2, everyone was pretty much walking, and most just wanted to be able to finish. After 5 months of training and the expense of flying and staying in Chicago, we could not believe the race had been cancelled. Race officials knew it was going to be hot and sent out e-mails at the beginning of the week warning of the heat and telling everyone to hydrate and set realistic goals. That was echoed at the expo and on loudspeakers prior to the start, so there was no reason to run out of fluids. They also did not have any hoses going for the first 16 miles which would have eliminated the need for the faster runners to take cups of water and pour them over their heads. That said, I cannot say enough about the people of Chicago. They were on the course handing out bottles of water, ice cubes, gatorade, candy and spraying us with garden hoses. The city did not have hoses on until mile 16 when everyone was heading to the finish area. Responsibility is extremely important in a marathon. It is the participants’ responsibility to train properly, adjust goals for the conditions and slow down or drop out if necessary, and it is the race officials’ responsibility to provide adequate fluids for everyone at least through 6 1/2 hours which is when they said they would shut down the race. Chicago race officials failed miserably, but the citizens should be very proud of themselves.