the hot turtle and the princess

So, the Chicago Marathon. I saw that the meltdown and havoc was even on the front page of the NY Times. I was there to watch Shoreturtle (who did manage to finish with an excellent time just over 4 hours- without the heat he probably would have been 30 mins faster) and Princess Runner, who was running her first marathon, and was stopped from finishing. I saw her at mile 12.5, and while hot, I believe she could have finished.

The city is full of disappointed and angry runners. Don't believe the reports that there was plenty of water-- for the first 6,000 maybe-- but after that there was nothing that the organizers (who raised about $4.5 mill) promised-- calories necessary in gatorade. Runners like shoreturtle carried 2 bottles, but you need so much more to complete a marathon.

It wasn't a surprise 20 degree heat front-- for days everyone knew it would be record heat.

The sound of endless sirens went on for hours.

We met up with a group of running bloggers, some who finished and some who didn't-- and all just felt it was brutal and awful.

There is a point when they should stop the ever-growing registration-- way before 45,000 racers.

As a spectator, I only saw 1 volunteer at mile 2 or 12---- even if someone needed help or aid. There were thousands of spectators at first, but by 12:00 at mile 12 the place was deserted. Those are the first time and slower runners that really need the support more.

More later--- including that I got to meet the infamous Gordon from Blog This, Pal. We talked comics and TV for several hours over beers and tator tots.