Wow. I just got an update from a friend who ran Chicago yesterday. Apparently, when the race began at 8 am, it was already hot by Chicago standards. Yesterday's race sounds like a completely different race from the one I ran last year. Completely disorganized! By the mile 10 water stop, they were completely out of water and gatorade. Runners were heading into the convenience stores to buy more, so they could keep going!
Someone tell me, if the race organizers were watching the same weather forecasts as the rest of the world, why on earth could they have not been more prepared? So, did the race organizers realize it was going to be hotter than normal, but just shrug and say, "Oh well, if we run out of fluids, then we'll just stop the race!", instead of going out and getting more? Thank God my friend and her crew had their fuel belts and had just refilled!
She said that somewhere between mile 17 & 18, cops lined each side of the street and a helicopter hovered over them and announced that everyone was to go to Grant Park because the race was being cancelled due to the extreme heat! Ummm, extreme heat? Maybe for Chicago, but for those in Houston, we train in the heat all summer. To quote one friend, that was winter in Houston. LOL! She said it was mass chaos.
Anyway, my friend and so many others are disappointed, angry and still in disbelief because of what happened. All those hours of training, only to be rewarded with a totally chaotic and unorganized experience. Ugh! I just can't believe a race of that size could be so unprepared. The heat is one thing...it's out of anyone's control. However, the water situation - that is completely unacceptable!
6 comments:
I lined up with 11 minute milers when the marathon started and were already struggling with water on first water stop. I got no water on the second stop.
It sounds just unbelievable. Such a huge disappointment. :<(
I'm with you -- the stories coming out of that race are unbelievable. I know it was warm (for Chicago anyway), but to be already out of water by the time Holden got to the second stop?? Very poor planning.
From what I gather, they generally supply each water stop with twice as much water as they ever use. Because of the forecast, they added 200,000 extra cups and servings of water to that total. And, it sounds like the only stop that actually ran out was the second--the problem after that was that the volunteers couldn't pour the water fast enough to keep up with the demand.
And, they ran out of ambulances, in spite of the fact that all of the suburbs sent theirs in as well, which is why they called the race. Which was the correct move.
I think part of the issue was they had enough water after the halfway point...they didn't stock up enough at the earlier stops.
My guess is they anticipated needing more in the back half as the heat would rise, but they didn't anticipate that they would shut down the race because of the lack of available water in the front half.
I ran a 10k in Klein a couple of years back. Similar issue; they had the water in jugs but couldn't get them filled quickly enough. Imagine the chaos of 20 hands all grabbing for the same cup.
They can say they had enough water but couldn't fill it fast enough - but it didn't solve the problem at all. In my case, not a big deal - 6.2 miles. But you can bet I've never run that race again.
My Coach from Power in Motion did Chicago, and said the same thing about the water being told no water. ugh! How terrible for all the runners. Glad u did it last year sans the drama.
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