After a record-high overnight low, the temperature was 75 degrees at the start, soaring to a record 88, with the dewpoint in the mid-sixties throughout, real-feel temperature above 90 much of the time. Race organizers cancelled the race at the 3:35 time mark, sending anyone not yet at the 18-mile point (our guess) back to the start/finish area. My sweeties got caught in that dragnet and were unable to finish the race, though they did get medals. Given the conditions, they have mixed feelings about it, as it might have been difficult to finish within the marathon time limit anyway.
I was ahead of the cutoff, at about mile 20.5 when we got the news. First we heard that the race had been cancelled, so we could stop running. No one did. Then we were instructed to walk to the next water stop and wait for busses to take us to the start/finish. No one believed that for a second - we kept running and walking. Finally we were told to keep going, but ordered to WALK to the finish. We heard that order over and over again as we walked and jogged the last few miles. Apparently the organizers were tired of sending out ambulances; one 35-year-old man actually died, and over 300 were sent to local hospitals.
MY good news is NO PLANTAR FASCIITIS PAIN. Holy smoke - 26 miles and no pain. I thought I felt it at mile 14, but it went away. YAY YAY! It’s a double yay day. I’m not (quite) silly enough to think it’s gone for good, but I’m extremely happy with my newest custom orthotics from Ron at the Brace Place at St Croix Orthopedics in Stillwater. He made them specifically for running, and today they ran. My time was quite unspectacular at 5:07:09, but I’m happy with it considering (1) the extreme conditions, (2) my lack of marathon training, and (3) the orders to walk the final four or five miles.
I got Illinois, my 15th state and 26th marathon. Uff-da. It's a masterpiece! More tomorrow, crash now.
Salad on the road:
Organic romaine, pickled beets, stuffed olives, organic walnuts, avocado, blue cheese, organic olive oil, raspberry vinegar. Estimated Weight Watcher points = 4. In Tupperware :-)
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Chicago: Marathon from Hades
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2 comments:
Hi Don,
Congratulations on your latest marathon accomplishments! That goes for your "sweetie" and daughter, as well.
Supporting Eunie in here marathons helps me to appreciate the mental, intellectual, emotional benefit of it all. Our early mentor is a classmate of ours from Eugene High '49, now living in Bend. He has the coveted Buckle frpm the Emmigrant Pass Endurance 100 and has comp;ete4d several. I can't recall when he switched to 50 milers.
Your personality has such a positive shine in your blogs. I admire your consistency, detailed completeness and diversity. You must be many times faster on the computer than I am to have such rich regular contributions. I could learn much from you.
I have a busy day now so must move on. Yeaterday I started by 2nd 28 day cyle of Rev/Dex after a 6 month interlude. I feel fortunate to be where I am after my smoldering diagnosis in July 1999.
If all goes well, we'll see you at the support meeting. You had better have a picture of that salad I just looked at.
Gene
Don,
Nice job. Not sure it gets any tougher than this year's TCM, Chicago or Lakefront.
Glad to hear you're pain-free.
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