Life in Salt Lake...and beyond: Chicago Marathon 2007

Rina and I just returned from a long weekend trip to the windy city for the 30th anniversary Chicago Marathon (www.chicagomarathon.com). We met Tom, Wyn, Geoff , and Chicago Rena (Geoff's girlfriend) there and enjoyed some unseasonably warm temps through the whole weekend. The Saturday before the race we were swimming in Lake Michigan while back home in Salt Lake it was snowing on the benches.

Tom and Geoff "swimming" in Lake Michigan.

Sunning at the beach in Chicago - October 2007!

At the Expo.

Tom - fueling up for the race.

The marathon was the largest field of runners for Chicago (45,000), but due to the heat about 10,000 registered runners didn't even start the race.

Geoff, Tom, Wyn, myself pre-race. Sweaty pits already!

We were sweating at the start line waiting for the gun to go off, and it only got hotter from there, so we played it smart and ran easy, walked through the aid stations, drank a ton of fluids, and actually felt pretty good at the end of the whole ordeal. As we were finishing the race we learned that the heat had affected so many runners that the director decided to cancel the race at about three hours and forty five minutes after the start! The Chicago fire department helicopters were swooping low announcing through the megaphone that the race was canceled and requesting that all runners stop running and walk to the nearest aid station where they would be bussed to the finish line. Runners were dropping all over the place announced by observers yelling "Runner down", and "We need a medic!". Ambulance sirens were non-stop once the race was well under way, and it was rumoured that not only were the marathon medical staff taxed, but the city ran out of ambulances and required the aid of ambulances from surrounding suburbs to transport over 300 people to local hospitals. It was like a war zone. Read the NYT article at New York Times website.