Run #111 Still hoping to be a marathoner someday
So I'll do my usual play-by-play...
3:45am Jada wakes up crying about a dream. I take her back to her room and lay on the floor til she falls asleep. She goes back to sleep and I try to get a little more sleep, dozing a few times until 5:15am, when I finally just get up and prepare.
6:15am Joel (hubby) takes me to the race. But not before we had to shoo away a "lady of the night" taking care of business in a car blocking our garage door. Humorous, this life in the city. (foreshadowing that this day was gonna BLOW. 
)
6:45am I arrive at the Chicago Endurance Sports private tent, suddenly realizing how GREAT it was to be a part of a training program, although I'd already reaped the benefits before. There was water, Gatorade, and nice "prep" foods. NICE! Our private gear check line was ONE PERSON DEEP, so I checked my bag with ease, and the gear checkers were so nice and full of support. I looked around and found my pace group. We nervously waited around, listened to the advice of our coaches to slow it down from our usual pace, hydrate even more, etc....she reminded us that we'd trained in the heat and we knew what to do, we'd be alright. Coach Jenny was like the Mama Bird sending her little birds off for their first flight. FLY! FLY!
Before heading to the start line, me, Megan and Lou decided to ditch the team photo for a stop at our private port-o-potties, just to take in the smell. (ok, not really for that reason.)
So we're at the start line. I can't even SEE the start line. It was incredible. I looked behind me and I can't even SEE the end of the pack either. There were so many people. I had a cheap-o portable digital camera that was the size of a matchbox, so I put it up in the air on took pictures of the spectacle. (will post later) So then we start moving a little bit, walking. I guess this means the race has started. We're walking. And walking. And walking. Anticpating. Wondering. But no second guessing. We were here and ready. FINALLY, up ahead, there's the start line. Here we go! Here we go! Here we go! We're OFF! So we're running. My Garmin is telling me, slow it down a little bit, so we slow down. Vroom, under a bridge and underpass, where the Garmin is rendered useless for pace tracking. (It was off quite a bit due to really tall buildings, but oh well.) We still took it a little slow, and had to slow ourselves down a few times. First aid station, YAY, grab some water, then some Gatorade and keep rolling.
We're cruising along, all is well. The crowds were phenomenal, wall to wall people all along the way. To all the local people who watch channel 7 news, that guy who always stands outside the studio in bright suits? I saw him standing out there waving! That kinda cracked me up. There were cowbells ringing, horns blaring, people yelling on loud speakers, people yelling my name (b/c I wrote my name on bright pink duct tape and taped it on my shirt). Wow, I wish all runs were like this.
So we start to head north out of downtown into River North and up. We approach the second aid station and I see them turning the tables on there sides. Huh? It didn't register with me until they said "we're out of Gatorade, only water! Go ahead for Gatorade. OH HE** NO! The SECOND STATION????? I looked behind me to make sure I wasn't at the back of the pack, and of course not, there were thousands of runners behind me.
So we kept running and I was feeling weird. Not too hot, but I just started wishing I had my iPod. We were somewhere in/near Lincoln Park Lou and Megan stoped for the bathroom and I decided to go on, for fear of losing my mental edge. So I trudged on alone. I remember watching people run over to the water fountains in the park. By the 3rd station and still no Gatorade, I was starting to go thru my one supply real quick. I saw people running over into this apartment complex that had a decorative fountain. There were people in it, dunking their heads and even drinking from it. I still had some water and 'Ade so I kept going.
So I'm running, and what's this? A turn? Oh cool, I hadn't even realized we were on Addison and we were at our northernmost point and heading south. This area was so fun! We were in "Boystown", and if you can't figure out by the name, well, there were men on stages dancing, some in ful drag including wigs. They were so entertaining and upbeat. However, this area of the race was terrible in terms of water stations. At this point I noticed residents bringing out water in pitchers, even bringing out personal cases of water. It was every man for himself, once a case was opened, runners pounced on it. At this point, I was out of Gatorade (by around mile 7 or 8). I searched the stations on either side of the street and there was NONE. I called Joey and told him that when they come at Mile 15, BRING GATORADE AND WATER. LOTS OF IT!!!
Thank God for the citizens of Chicago. They bought water for us, dragged hoses from their yards out, little kids were spraying people with houseplant misters, you name it, I saw it. As we turned onto North Avenue, we were going to pass Fleet Feet. Sweet relief, I thought! Surely this running store would know about the shortages at this point and something would be done. There was Elvis, singing on a stage. That was cool, and I'm not even a fan of Elvis. So we turn onto Wells and WHAT? Still no GATORADE at the station? I was LIVID. There were other runners in tears, runners who faithfully believed the past claims that you could run CHicago without having to carry your own fluids. They were crying from frustration and disbelief. I had trickles of water left. Someone on the right was opening a new case of bottles, and NOT someone from an aid station. POUNCE! It was Lord of the Flies, everyone grabbing. I got the second to last bottle, with no scratches or scrapes, either. I drank half and filled one bottle up on my fuel belt.
At this point I really began to run-walk. Run 5 walk 2. Run 4 walk 2. Run 3 Walk 3. Run some. Walk some. Walk. Walk. Come on Lindy! Run. shuffle shuffle shuffle. WHAT, STILL NO GATORADE? NO, I DON"T WANT TO GO TO THE NEXT STATION, I WANT IT NOW, PLEASE!!!!!!
At the half marathon point there was a woman with a very small baby who looked to be adopted..or not hers. Anyway, she was cheering so loudly and gave me a high five. That was cool. THANK YOU, LADY! I started running again and at Racine and Adams (just a few blocks from my "home" Pockets, firemen were hosing runners as we went by. I'm in my home turf! Wer'e running and running and running. And walking and walking and walking.
Just. a. little. bit. more. and. I'll. have. some. Gatorade. WHew! So my phone starts ringing..."Where are you??" Joey asks. I wonder if they thought they missed me. I dunno. I'M AT OGDEN, I"LL BE THERE IN A FEW. shuffle shuffle shuffle.
GATORADE!!!! GATORADE!!!! Oh sweet GATORADE!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU GATORADE, PLEASE DON"T LEAVE ME AGAIN!!! Jada! Zoe! Mom, Dad, Joey, brother Jamie, sis-in-law LeAnn, co-worker Marjie!!! HELLO! So I stand there and guzzle and chat. Guzzle/chat/guzzle. OH! Hello i-Pod, aren't you a sight for sore eyes! So after about 5 minutes or so, I was on my way. I ran off hearing their cheer, turned the corner, turned again to head down Jackson...and when I was safely out of sight, I WALKED! hahahaha, nah, just to get my iPod right and readjust my newly filled bottles, which now seemed so heavy since I'd been running on "E" for so long.
So I'm run-walking, take a GU, and I start feeling renewed. I cross the 25K mark or 16-mile mark (can't remember which one), and then at Whitney Young High School....WHAT? GATORADE after all this time, since the first aid station? I said to myself "SELF!!! YOU BETTER TAKE THAT GATORADE AND SAVE YOURS FOR LATER!" So I took a big swig....of Gatorade concentrate! BLECK! There was not the right combo of water in it. I still drank half of it before having to toss it, which I hated to do.
So I'm running along now, at a good clip as my Garmin tells me I'm back at my usual 12:00 pace. We're approaching Halsted, hmmm, I thought we were turning here. Guess I'm remembering it wrong. I'm really in a groove now. Look at all these people walking, so I'm ducking and dodging all around them, realizing that I can't do this for the entire race, or I'll run an extra mile or two. WHY IS EVERYONE WALKING??? Duck, dodge, you go girl, you are really in a groove now. THANK YOU GATORADE!! duck doge, WTF?!?!?! Wait a minute! NO ONE ahead of me is running. Wait, why are there people ahead of me as far as I can see, we're supposed to turn? I stop and look behind me. And YEP! I was the ONLY one running. I was right by the Sears Tower. I stopped someone and asked about our turn and they said "the race is shut down, we have to go back to Grant Park."
Marathon dreams dashed.
So I called Joey, who apparently had already heard the news and had tried to call me. He had been told that the runners ahead were going to be allowed to go on. All you could hear were sirens EVERYWHERE. So I just walked on back, probably for a few miles (I'll check on mapmyrun later). Lo and behold, I'm at Jackson and State, and there's Celia, my pace leader for the first half of our training. She was about to get on the train and head to the southern end of the race. I told her what was going on and all the madness of the run. We walked back to Grant Park, where they gave us medals, calling our efforts a "Fun Run." They threw out boxes and I overheard one guy saying "I know you're tired, but please take your chips of your shoes or you will be charged for it."
And the rest is Chicago Marathon history. I did see my friend Annah finish. She finished over an hour over her pace.
Hot. Unorganized. Mess.
I'm trying to see what I can do to salvage my training, but I have not money to register for another nearby race, let alone the logistics of getting me and the family there.
I'll write more later on this, I'm sure.
I'm still sooo angry to hear all the denials of what we experienced out on the course. The race director and officials should be fired for this debacle. They took what has grown to be a reputable race and trashed it.
Kudos again to the great citizens of Chicago who took matters into their own hands.
-Lindy
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Wordlaw | Bib # 12299 | Chicago, IL - USA | Age 36 | F START 0:24:54
5K 0:39:28 (3:28 over pace)
10K 1:20:06 (8:06 over pace)
15K 2:03:00 (11:24 over pace)
20K 2:47:56 (19:08 over pace)
HALF 2:58:43 (21:22 over pace)
25K 3:40:02 (34:02 over pace)
30K ---
35K ---
40K ---
FINISH ---