Route27

This summer I among with a close group of friends have trained for this marathon with Chicago Fit headed by coach Ken Antles.

All summer we trained in hot weather, or try to avoid by starting our runs at 6 or sometimes 5 in the morning. The hottest day on record for October 7th - the day of the marathon was not kind to us. Here are some of our 2007 Chicago Marathon times, mostly way off of our target or predicted times. (See our times at the end of this post)

In case you haven’t heard about the conditions of the race, here are some media stories about this Marathon:

Death, Havoc and Heat Mar Chicago Race
New York Times, October 8th.

As temperatures soared into the upper 80s, hundreds of runners in the Chicago marathon fell ill and at least one died on Sunday, prompting officials here to halt the annual race for the first time in its 30-year history.

Marathon cut short for first time ever
Chicago Tribune, October 8th, 2007

Some runners chalked up the aborted race to bad luck, but many others seethed about a lack of fluids along the way.

“I had no water until Mile 8,” said Blayne Rickles, 57, of Denver.

The most welcome relief came in the form of spectators buying bottles of water near Mile 13 and handing them to exhausted runners, she said.

“The city was fabulous, but the race was horrible,” Rickles said.

Runner Dies, Two Critical After Marathon

Sports.aol.com, October 8th, 2007

An autopsy showed a heart condition, not record-setting heat, killed a Michigan police officer who died during an unusually hot and humid Chicago Marathon .

Several other people collapsed, and at least two remained in critical condition Monday, as record heat and smothering humidity forced race organizers to shut down the course midway through the event.

My Personal reflections on the Marathon:

A good frirnd of mine, Martin Spit, inquired into the conditions after he’d heard the news. My reply to him was the following:

I survived. Went into survival mode at mile 18… I don’t care about my 4:24 time I’m just happy I finished – it was that type of a day. It was carnage on the course; I stopped counting after I passed 12 unconscious runners on the side of the road. The heat really added to the suck factor. 250+ people went into hospitals, thousands were treated by paramedics, it was tough.

I did beat shitbird and Eric. I was lucky to be part of the group that had ample water throughout the marathon. Industrious… I will defend the organizers… I haven’t read the reports on that yet but have been hearing rumors about empty water stations – I would not want to be part of that part of the pack.

The race start seemed pretty normal not so different from my previous four marathon starts. TJ, who was also preparing for the heat during the marathon, and I were eating a lot of salty foods for the past two days and I had a 16 ounce gatorade just prior to the start. I was running it with Todd and we were having a normal time of it. He actually finished with a great first time of 4:05. We ran past our first support group on Addison and Broadway. It was a good boost to see them, but I already started to feel the heat and I realized that running with a container for water would really help, so I asked my wife to get a bottle of water. I was to see her near mile 18.

The next relief came from Morgan. I knew where to look for her from seeing her on the last marathon near her house. She was near where I expected her and she handed us a cup of ice. I don’t have scientific proof to back me up on this, but I believe these little details have made the race much better, even survivable for me. I used the cool the back of my head and neck - it was great.

I separated from Todd as he is a naturally faster runner and kept at it for the rest of the race without seeing any my other friends running with me. At half time I was still on track for an under 4 hour finish so I decided to keep with it despite the raising temperature. I was determined to tough it out. The four hour barrier is an important goal of mine - and I still vow to break it.

I was still doing fine on time at mile 16, but my mind started playing with my by mile 17. I was angry about forgetting that the course goes out further west. I couldn’t wait to see Mara and friends on Ashland. At this point I made my first change in strategy. I have taken a gatorade drink from each of the stations and a cup of water to pour on my head and neck. I changed from running through water stations to walking through them, taking several cups of cool water, pouring it on my head, chest, back of the neck. Sometimes I took two or three cups to pour on me, it seemed to help a lot.

My 2008 Lasalle Marathon water and drink availability experience
I read the stories and heard them first hand - there was a water shortage for the slower runners before mile 8. I have not experienced any problems with lack of water or drink. Furthermore I am forever great full to the Chicagoans that come out and volunteered to offer ice to the runners. The lady in Pilsen with ice bags -t hank you. The folks with the bright green metal buckets of ice - THANK YOU. And many others who sprinkled us, gave us cold water and ice, thank you!

There were three major points that helped me get through the race. The first one was the water bottle from Mara at mile 18. I was able to use fill this up between water stops and keep cool by squirting water on my head as I ran.

Unfortunately, shortly after I saw my supporters which gave me a huge boost, the wheels came off. This happened at the same time as it did last year. I started to hit the wall. I was fighting through it when I started feeling dizzy. Of course a mind battle within a battle of the wills ensued trying to determine whether this was my body tricking me into thinking that I was getting heat stroke, or whether I was really getting too hot and needed to cool of the core.

Two factors played into my decision. One, I started seeing something I haven’t seen before - at least 12 unconscious runners lying on the side of the read. I have seen a runner down at the DC Marine Core marathon in 2003, but never in this great numbers. Second, my father in law planted a simple seed in my mind before the run: “if you dont feel well - stop”.

At that point I decided to stop pacing for under four hours and go into survival mode. I stopped running and started walking. I felt really hot. I began to feel sick. To my luck, someone opened up a fire hydrant before chinatown. With fond memories of sneaking around the cops and the fire department as a kid on the south side I ran for it, stuck my head down, and waited until I cooled off.

I continued my walk/run strategy until I was spotted by my brother, the third big factor in my race. He brought more water relief and ran with me for a while. I never thought that having him run with me for a little while would re-energize me so much. I felt much stronger and better after having him with me. It was a great boost in allowing me to finish strong.

Thanks everyone who was there on the sidelines - it helped a lot. I know for a lot of us it may be disappointing to be so far away from our goals on that day. I am happy to finish, finish strong, and have a good story… to anyone who really cares to listen about a long run on a very hot day.

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SOME RESULTS:

Andrew Kucharski | Bib # 14149 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 35 | M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:07:07 0:29:16 0:57:06 1:24:54 1:53:03 1:59:13 2:21:26 2:52:36 3:31:16 4:09:09 4:24:09
TIME Chip Time: 4:24:09 Clock: 4:31:16 Pace: 10:04

T. J. Radtke | Bib # 8150 | Reston, VA - USA | Age 37 | M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:06:58 0:26:50 0:54:40 1:25:11 1:57:00 2:04:02 2:29:38 3:04:53 3:42:43 4:23:32 4:38:13
TIME Chip Time: 4:38:13 Clock: 4:45:10 Pace: 10:36

Ken Antles | Bib # 5405 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 37 | M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:02:47 0:26:12 0:51:54 1:19:52 1:54:42 2:00:59 2:27:49 3:05:16 3:45:20 4:29:48 4:45:09
TIME Chip Time: 4:45:09 Clock: 4:47:56 Pace: 10:52

Eric Bohms | Bib # 6031 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 36 | M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:02:47 0:26:12 0:52:15 1:20:41 1:52:58 1:59:35 2:26:00 3:03:00 3:42:21 4:27:37 4:42:59
TIME Chip Time: 4:42:59 Clock: 4:45:46 Pace: 10:47

Steve Kindred | Bib # 7433 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 37 | M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:02:47 0:26:13 0:51:41 1:17:24 1:44:18 1:50:04 2:10:09 2:35:11 3:00:20 3:26:55 3:37:52
TIME Chip Time: 3:37:52 Clock: 3:40:39 Pace: 8:18

Brad Conver | Bib # 6421 | Reston, VA - USA | Age 39 | M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:04:44 0:27:15 0:54:31 1:23:29 1:56:42 2:03:54 2:32:30 3:11:04 3:49:38 4:31:14 4:49:21
TIME Chip Time: 4:49:21 Clock: 4:54:04 Pace: 11:02

Lynne Roberts | Bib # 7018 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 36 | F
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:02:47 0:26:13 0:52:15 1:18:07 1:44:36 1:50:23 2:11:43 2:41:16 3:11:23 3:43:30 3:56:50
TIME Chip Time: 3:56:50 Clock: 3:59:36 Pace: 9:01

Todd Hirschtritt | Bib # 16113 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 31 | M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:07:07 0:29:16 0:57:06 1:24:53 1:52:17 1:58:01 2:19:16 2:47:40 3:18:13 3:51:45 4:05:39
TIME Chip Time: 4:05:39 Clock: 4:12:45 Pace: 9:22

Marla Wasserman | Bib # 16327 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 31 | F
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35K 40K FINISH
0:14:54 0:31:54 1:03:17 1:35:09 2:09:27 2:16:19 2:40:45 3:11:48 3:44:15 4:17:37 4:32:08
TIME Chip Time: 4:32:08 Clock: 4:47:02 Pace: 10:22