Handling The Heat.

Perhaps the most dangerous of all obstacles in a race is dealing with excessive heat. This is especially magnified when doing a marathon. Whether you're a world class runner trying to keep your near sprint up for the slightly over 2 hour run, or you are like me, just surviving for over 4 full hours, the sun is not a friend but rather foe.

Last night I was up until nearly 3am. For the better part of three weeks, I have had a nasty congestive situation. Coughing as if I've been smoking 3 packs of cigs a day, I woke up at 9am, had breakfast and hit the road for 11 miles. I've been patiently waiting earlier in the week for my cold to clear up, but between the stress of a project that would have gone awry had it not been for me to take the lead for the vendor, and the constant travelling, my cold has just stayed around.

This is the first year where my legs have been in great shape. Figures that a cold would now try to make a statement. If it's not one thing it's another, right?

Today was a hot day too. Looks like New York is in the middle of an "Indian Summer". The mercury reached 85 degrees. I was only going to run a 10k, but I am sorely in need of re-establishing my base again, after all these inconsistent weeks.
Fortunately, my 11+ mile run was easier than I had expected, even with the heat. However, I showed no shame. I stopped at fast food places, even funeral parlors, to glom some free water for my route (All funeral parlors have water coolers, and they are open all hours of the morning, especially on Sunday. For whomever reads this, let this be a great tip if you are running through the city).


However, I wasn't alone in my precarious running conditions. Today was the Chicago Marathon. At least two people from my online running club, Derek & Mike, were scheduled to run this event. And from what I hear their weather was far worse than mine.

Here's a recap of the Chicago Marathon as re-printed from the Chicago Sun Times earlier in the day:

Man collapses during shortened marathon, dies

October 7, 2007

One person is dead and more than 300 people have been taken to either
hospitals or medical stations following The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on
Sunday.

For the first time ever, the marathon was stopped prematurely because of the dangers posed to runners on the hottest day in the history of the race.

For the first time ever, the marathon was stopped prematurely because of the dangers posed to runners on the hottest day in the history of the race.

According to marathon spokeswoman Marianne Caponi, 312 people were
taken to hospitals or treated at medical stations throughout the course of the
marathon.


A fire truck sprays water on participants of the LaSalle Bank
Chicago Marathon, which was cut short because of the heat.

According to marathon spokeswoman Marianne Caponi, 312 people were taken to hospitals or treated at medical stations throughout the course of the marathon.

With temperatures reaching 88 degrees -- the hottest in Chicago’s
history on this date -- many people cut their run short.

Caponi said there were 35,867 people at the marathon’s start, and 24,933 completed the race.

Compared to last year, tens of thousands of fluid servings
were added throughout the course along with 15 extra cooling buses and ten
extra “drop-out buses,” which enabled the more than 10,000 halted runners to
exit the course for free on the CTA.

Runners who had not reached the halfway point -- the 13.1-mile mark
near Halsted and Adams -- were stopped about 11:45 a.m. and rerouted towards
Grant Park, Caponi said.

"This is the first time, and it's the warmest day we've ever had," she said. "We felt it was in the best interest of the runners to shut the course."

It is not yet clear what caused the death of a 35-year-old Michigan
man who was running in the marathon.

Chad Schieber, of Midland, Mich., collapsed during the race near 1500 S. Ashland
Ave., according to a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Schieber was taken to West Side Veteran's Administration Hospital, where
he was pronounced dead at 12:50 p.m., the spokesman said.


Chad Schieber
Bib # 12689 Midland, MI - USA Age 35 M
START 5K 10K 15K 20K HALF 25K 30K 35k
0:15:25 0:33:37 1:09:12 1:40:55 2:15:43 2:22:44 2:53:15 3:35:12 dnf
TIME Chip Time: Clock: Pace: 11:32
Placement
Overall: n/a Gender: n/a Division: n/a

A contingency plan was put in place earlier this week by the city and marathon organizers, who determined that the course would be closed and runners would be brought back to Grant Park if the temperatures went up and runners' speeds went down, Caponi said.

There were 700 medical volunteers -- 100 of them doctors -- assisting
runners in the marathon, Caponi said."

First off, what happened to this poor man is horrible. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

The first marathon I ever ran was the New York City Marathon. It was 1984, and I was 19 years old. Only an hour after the race had started the temperature was 79 degrees and the humidity reached 98% (still the course record). A runner from France, Jacques Bussereau, died slightly after reacing the 14 mile mark in Queens. Over 300 others were hospitalized. As a result of this tragic situation, the New York Road Runner's Organization pushed the event a full week, to the first Sunday in November. This was done to avoid any possible "Indian Summers" from occurring during the event again. But ten years later, it happened yet again.

In 1994, I wasn't running at all. Just getting fat and lazy. But for the 25,000 plus runners, their actions would be sufficiently harder than mine. The temperature was at 68F by the end of the first hour of racing, and the humidity was at the 2nd highest ever (78%). On this day, two people died of cardiac arrest, with several hundreds being hospitalized. There was also a third runner, a local runner from Maspeth, Queens, who had initially died, but EMS workers performed a miracle job, and revived him back to life.

Marathoning, obviously, is no easy thing.