Marathon

First off, since a lot of you have been asking, Steve is fine after running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. He finished in just over 3:22. Considering the heat and the problems that others were having, this is an excellent time. True, it is about 30 minutes over what he trained for and would have run if it were normal temperatures, but I am just very, very glad that he came through with no major problems. Steve looked good through the whole race, but he said that after mile 18, things got bad for everyone. He started in the “A” group, which basically means you are one fast individual. The only people before him were the Elite and the Top 100 group. He said EVERYONE was walking at about mile 18/19. He finished looking really good, but had some effects of heat exhaustion and was pretty sick once he sat down outside of gear check. Luckily, my dad saw a cop he knew and we were allowed to get our car right up to where Steve was to load him into the car (a little hairy to have cops stop traffic on Lake Shore Drive so you can get in your car, but whatever works). While we were waiting for the dads to come get us, we saw about 50 ambulances come and go from the medical station. Sirens were constantly going. People were laying everywhere. It looked like a disaster simulation that high schools have for the fire department, but this time it was real. We heard the announcement that the race was shut down about 30 minutes after Steve finished. I think that it was a good call. Despite all of the problems, the Chicago police and fire, as well as suburban ambulance companies that were called in, all did a remarkable job.

Because, thankfully, Steve is doing great (other than puking Gatorade out the window of the car on the way home), here are some pictures.

Katie and Dad waiting for Steve at about mile 3. We already missed him at this point, so we were waiting for the runners to thin so we could cross the street. People were already soaked through their clothes at this point.


Runners on their way to Greek Town.


Steve in Greek Town at about mile 17. He looked great.


Outhouses in Grant Park.


The finish. Looking at him, he looked fine. I only knew that he would be feeling bad because his time dropped significantly from the half-way point.