Monday, October 08, 2007

Twin Cities Marathon Report

Boy, I sure picked the right one to sit out. It was sticky, hot, humid... I've never seen so many zombie faces! My friend Robert said that people were walking as early as mile 10 and 12. That's crazy!



There were a few of course who toughed it out with a smile:




... and the spectators looked great...




But all the people I train with and know were between 30 and 90 minutes off of their normal pace. Even the announcer kept commenting on how she'd never seen so many people still coming across the finish line at the 6 hour mark.

Kudos to the fan who still managed to stay live and cheer for his wife in this outfit. Oh, wait... omigosh... we KNOW that guy!!!







Over in Chicago, I called my girlfriend Diane to see how her race went and she told me that even the first water stop was already out of water, and the temps were rising up -- she saw 95 on a bank's thermometer, and then again, no water at mile 17 either... . She said there were so many ambulances screeming...

Finally, the medical staff could not keep up with the need for them, and the race was "called" at about the 4 hour mark. So everybody had to either get on a bus or walk in. No more running. I can only imagine the phone calls that race director is getting today... but what can you do? That had to be a pretty tough call. 40,000 people do that race, although I read that 10,000 registrants didn't even start. But at least 20,000 disappointed runners... wow. One confirmed dead and three in critical condition. Just too hot a day.

Diane did walk in around 5:15 and receive a medal at least. She was a good sport and declared, "oh, well, at least I got to be a part of history!"

Congrats to all of you who raced in the heat - that was amazing.

13 comments:

Steve Stenzel said...

It was great bumping into you out there!! And thanks for putting up the great photo of us! I realized when I was going through all of my photos that I didn't have any with the head off to prove that it REALLY was me under there! What a hot flippin' day! Thanks for making it more exciting!

Laurie said...

I'm so glad we finally found each other! It is always nice to see you :)

21stCenturyMom said...

Mr. Pharmie sure is a funny one!

Glad you had such great company for spectating. And yeah - good race to skip!

Iron Krista, "The Dog Mom" said...

I'm so impressed at your sherpa committment! You are such great trooper going out there after your surgery! Hope the road to recovery continues to go so well!!

Taconite Boy said...

Thanks for cheering Jen. As always it was great to hear your voice in the thick of things!

Jumper 2.0 said...

Hey, what's with the PDA? (and i'm not talking blackberry)

Great pics and great to see you again Jen.

the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

yes - good you're saving yourself for next year. Sounds like you're feeling a bit better - that's great!

brendaj said...

My friend coaches a team of runners she brought to Chicago...needless to say many of them didn't get to see the finish line unfortunately. Crazy!

Tri-Dummy said...

Great pics!

RunBubbaRun said...

Glad you took it easy and stayed on the sidelines. It was a little crazy out there..

The chicago Marathon was pure Choas.. Maybe I should just run the TCM next year instead.

NIce pics of everybody..

greyhound said...

Awwwwwww. Trimama and Tac Man are so cuuuuuuuute.

Glad I wasn't running that day. We are still waiting for fall, it is stanky and humid, and I.hate.everyone.

Pharmie said...

Thanks again for coming out to cheer and for the great pic to prove that I didn't just pose for pictures with some random chicken!

Bolder said...

great looking spectators. two of my favorite people!