RACE DAY....I FINISHED!!!!! (edited 10/8)

And MAD MAD PROPS to everyone out there who finished. If you're reading this and you don't live in the Chicagoland area, the temp at about noon today was 91 degrees. At least that's what a bank sign said, so I am going with it.

IT WAS BRUTAL!!!

Now here's where I feel for some of the folks who did not come better prepared. This is not to rip on them at all, because sometimes you just don't have the benefit of friends that gave done this before. Here's what I did that I didn't read about anywhere (and the people who suggested it):

1. Frozen bottle (for a bike) of Accelerade. (Dave Otwell)
2. a gel bottle for 3 gel packs. I added water this morning and was good to go. Adding that water removed the gag factor. ("Nancy" at the running store...not her real name...it's marathon related, so don't ask)
3. 5 powerbars yesterday and 1 this morning. I was totally carbed up. (Dave Barstow)

Thanks to all of them.

Anyway, by the time I got to the first water station - No Gatorade...just water...good thing I came ready. second water station - No water, no Gatorade. Again, I still had enough to keep me going. I really, really feel for the people out there that didn't have a fallback.

I became one of those people at around mile 16 (station 8). Again, no hydration. By the 10th mile, I ran out of my Accelerade. Tossed the bottle I was using, served its purpose, which was dumb since some stations didn't have cups later on.

Things went south for me at about the same time that they said the course was closed. My left hip started to burn a little at about mile 10, but then at about 19, my right knee started feeling like a long needle was being inserted. Was I compensating? Anyway, we were told about about mile 20 that the race was cancelled. What they didn't say is that runners that didn't make it past the halfway point by 11:30 were going to be re-routed.

Be that as it may, I was already at about mile 17.5 by then, well past halfway. At 19 I started walking. Good thing too as hydration for the next 3 miles was a little spotty.

Let me gives kudos to the volunteers that hung out at miles 20 and later. Strong work on the part of them. On top of that, the spectators...man those people were still out there. That was really awesome.

Let me break my reverie by extending my condolences to the Schieber family. Chad Schieber, 35, died during the race today.

So, I found this little quote in an article online:

"Almost 10,000 of the 45,000 registered runners chose to not race in the heat despite more mist stations, cooling buses and water-soaked sponges."

Mist stations? StationS? There was ONE...at about 25.5. Anything else was an opened hydrant or a caring spectator who had a hose spraying out onto the runners. Mist stations, my ass. I mentioned mist stations to one of the organizers at the Expo on Friday and he kinda looked at me as if to say "I wish..."

Alright...so how long did it take me? About 6 hours. I had hydration and sore mechanics to worry about. Before the bad news at 20 (and the left hip tightening up), I was on pace to finish at 5:11 or 5:18-ish. Pretty darn good for those temps and my break from the training plan.

So, the hip and knee, I'll be taking it easy for the next week. And then I'll set up an appointment about the hip. There might be some issues there.

Alright...that's all for now. I think I may just retire this puppy now. We'll see.

And just throwin' it out there, there's no way that I can do another marathon with my hip like this. Maybe short distance, but nothing to the extent of a marathon.