While I'm ecstatic that I did not run the Chicago Marathon today, I know a lot of runners out there did and each one of them has my sincere respect. Whether they crossed the finish line or not, in my book, they are all winners for even having the guts to try. I obviously wasn't there so I can't give an opinion as to what went wrong or why, however I felt the need to acknowledge the event and say how deeply saddened I am by the outcome of one runner as reported in this article. I hope this is the only one, even though it's one too many.
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My hat also goes off to the volunteers and the medical staff working diligently to provide aid to those in need.
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I'm sure more stories will arise over the next few days, providing fodder for non-runners who assume this happens at every marathon and that marathons are dangerous. I only hope that something like this doesn't happen again and that no more deaths are reported.
2 comments:
I haven't heard about the Chicago run til you mentioned it. We got the cool weather and they got the heat, go figure. I hope all are well there and I hope you get a break in the weather for the Columbus run.
I too found myself hearing the comment, "people are crazy for running marathons." I have to agree that we are an odd lot, but I think of it as a good kind of crazy. The man that died in Chicago was found to have a heart defect, but that does not make the other 400 or so suffers any less important. I tried to imagine what reaction I would have had had that been my marathon that I had trained six months for. I ended up just being grateful mine is still ahead of me, though that in and of itself is not a guarentee that it will go off as planned.
In the end, I think that is one of the things that draws us "crazy" runners back again and again. No matter how prepared one is, there is always an element of unknown in any race. My congrates to anyone that set out to run Chicago, no matter how it ended for you.
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