Tuesday, November 03, 2009VISAR Crew take on the Chicago Marathon

Mark SandersFunds raised to buy Satellite Phones, Airtime and Storage Boxes

Chicago Marathon 0730 11th Oct 2009

Weather – dry, zero degrees C. lunchtime high of 4 degrees C
Virgin Island runners - BVI = 7 USVI = 8 (the challenge is on!)


You can imagine the horror as we closely monitored the weather forecast as the big day approached. With mention of rain, even snow, it was not a pleasing prospect and certainly conditions that we were ill equipped to deal with. When we arrived in the windy city on Friday evening, it became immediately obvious that Chicago took this event very seriously – perhaps more so as a result of losing their Olympic bid to Brazil in recent weeks. From the moment you come out of the jet way at O’Hare, you are into the event, with billboard posters the size of a house hung on every vertical surface that could accommodate.


After we had all been to the expo on Saturday, and collected our competitors bags containing all sorts of goodies, including the all important bib number & electronic timing chip which will accurately report the runners ‘actual’ start time (can take up to 10-15 mins to get across the line) & progress around the race course, we all headed to the various sporting goods stores to purchase extra layers – Sweatshirts, running tights, hats & gloves for the forecasted conditions the following race day – this really goes against the rule NOTHING NEW on the day, but what is a Virgin Islander going to do – freeze! It was anyone’s guess what we actually needed, or could in fact get away with, without sustaining severe chaffing during the hours of exertion to come, but after long consideration I think most of us came away reasonably happy, albeit disturbed at the thought of running in tights!


It was all a blur the morning of the race in our hotel suite, as we left the girls to sleep in - Paul, Erick and I scrambled for the only bathroom in the place, I received some very strange looks as I shaved around my nipples, in order to get the athletic tape to stay attached through the duration of the race – a lesson well leant from the many hours of coast road training and subsequent bleeding in that area! When ready, we headed down to reception to see what sustenance we could finish our carb loading with from the early morning spread laid on especially for competitors – bananas & muffins were the order of the day, and with these stashed around our persons we headed for the start. The minute we stepped outside, we knew that the cold was going to be tough. The predawn Chicago streets were already full of apprehensive marathoners making their way to Grant Park and the start line – 46,000 runners all anxious to get their drop bags checked, and into their respective starting areas. The starting sequence was to be – wheelchairs, Elite runners, Coral A,B,C,D & ‘Open’ for the masses.


My NY City 2007 time qualified me as a seeded competitor, and placed me in coral C , so I said goodbye to the others and started looking for my allocated starting place. Unfortunately it was complete pandemonium, and I somehow managed to get myself fenced in, adjacent to coral D start, along with 200 other coral C runners who were now getting very agitated 2 minutes from the starting gun. It was only a 4’ high metal fence which the vaulting of, under normal circumstances would pose little problem considering the level of fitness present, but everyone was thinking the same thing – hundreds of hours training for this, could so easily have been in vain with the slightest misjudgment in these hand/foot numbing conditions – we basically had no choice, and one by one we all went over amongst a bombardment of discarded sweatshirts flying through the air, as coral D started. I too slid out of my $9.99 Walgreens “I love Chicago’ sweat top which I had owned for all of 15 hours – to my dismay it took my outer running vest with it, complete with the essential runners number attached! I dived to the side of the road and hurriedly unraveled the fluffy entanglement and extracted the vest and slid it back on – now to get going! Strangely enough, at this stage all the PMT (pre marathon tension) completely disappears, and you are now just a part of the sea of runners, all with their own personal challenge ahead. I always have to fight off the temptation to go out fast (be it 5k or full Marathon) with hours of street pounding ahead this would be very silly. I settled into an 8.15 pace which felt good, and probably sustainable.

The good thing about an early morning race, is that you are usually well into the event before you fully wake up, and therefore get some good miles under your belt before the full extent of days horrors sink in! I was initially hoping to at least match my NYC time of 3.51 as the mile markers went by in my semiconscious daze, then, as luck would have it, I came up on the 3.40 pace team – the pace teams are serious distance runners employed by the sponsors, in order to assist competitors to better manage their pacing and achieve their best potential. At this point, I remember saying out loud “ok guys.. take me for a run!” if I could focus, relax a little and stay with these guys, I should better 3.40 as they had started before me, and we were all running on chip time. I stayed with this pace team for the next 6 -7 miles, and although I suspected it was the wrong thing to do, I started picking up my pace a little more, sensing that I had legs enough for slightly faster – this was dangerous, as I usually suffer from serious leg cramps around 20 miles, and this extra push could have a heavy price to pay. Breaking away from this pace team meant I was on my own again, figuring out a sensible and sustainable speed to move at, all the time conscious of the ‘fade potential’ towards the end – as they say, any fool can run 20 miles, it’s the last 6 that’ll get you! I hit the half marathon mark and checked my watch – 1.47 this was ok, and remember mentally calculating a finish time of around 3.40 which was pleasing.


I’m not sure what happened next, but within about half an hour I came up on the 3.35 pace team – this was exciting and at the same time quite scary, as I hadn’t expected to be into this sort of time, and now seriously doubted that my legs would hold out for the full distance of 26.2 miles. I remember thinking – what the hell, no point in slowing down now as the damage would have already been done. So I maintained this pace around the chilly Chicago streets, being treated to shocking blasts of cold air as we rounds each city block. You have to take your hats off to the spectators, bands and event volunteers handing out Gatorade, water, bananas & power bars – it was bad enough for us running in these conditions, but how were those people standing dormant at the curbside, getting colder & colder and still cheering? It is incredible to receive this sort of support from the estimated 1.5 million spectators lining the streets – wearing your name on your vest may seem like a cheesy idea, but when you are feeling weary & low, and a group of cute girls start yelling your name – trust me, it helps!


The pain of distance was now starting to kick in, I varied my running style for a while in an attempt to rest, relieve and shake out the leg muscles that had worked the hardest. I felt daft, and must have looked a little strange moving along the street in this fashion – a bit like John Cleese from the ministry of funny walks. I may have look funny, but it did seem to help the main muscles relax and recover a little, which was the aim. By this point there were quite a few competitors walking or stopped, stretching out tight or cramped legs, it felt good to be passing people and reducing the numbers head, and hoping that this wouldn’t happen to me before the finish.

There are about 20 aid stations along the marathon route, and I intentionally hit only about 40% of these - it was a cold day with not too much sweating going on, I was very conscious of becoming over-hydrated which is an easy mistake to make. My favored ‘refueling technique’ was to grab a cup of Gatorade way down the line of volunteers, to avoid the inevitable bottleneck at the beginning, as thirsty runners tend to stop dead and restrict movement, I would also slow to a walk for about 3 seconds as I drank – a lessoned learned the hard way from previous attempts where more fluid is taken on either up your nose, in your eyes, certainly all down your front but only sometimes in the mouth. Better lose a couple of seconds and get the job done right! I would then repeat this with the water line next door, in order to wash the sweet sticky Gatorade taste away. The only food I took on during the race was half a banana (great for the legs) and half an orange. In the later stages of a marathon, it becomes a mind game – stay mentally focused & strong and the body can do amazing things.

It would be all too easy to toss in the towel and walk at this stage – some do, and there is no shame in that. Now at mile 23 my left lower leg started to show signs if cramping which is not unusual for me. It wasn’t bad yet, but knew it was only going to get worse and may end up taking my stride way down as I am forced to deal with it. I gritted my teeth, and muttered “don’t do this to me – not now!” and focused through on muscle spasms. The next few painful miles passed slowly as my mind drifted into subconscious distance comparisons with my local training runs – hell 3 miles, that just passed Nanny Cay..easy, what - just 2 miles, that’s only to the Chinese in SC bay! Just a mile to go…that’s just along the coast to the Church, piece of cake!! and then I rounded the final corner and could actually see the finish line – and what a beautiful sight it is too! This uplifting moment brought a charge of adrenaline that enabled a short burst, enough to pass a few addition runners on the final straight. As I went across the line I made doubly sure my chipped foot made firm contact with the sensor mat, and I clicked my stopwatch. I was very pleased to see 3 h 35m 47s as the recorded elapsed time.


It is important to keep moving after you finish – this helps the body recover quicker, and saves you from being slammed into by other competitors coming in behind you. You are then wrapped in a foil blanket, a shinny medal is hung around your neck, there is also food available as you body is pretty empty by now, and God bless Chicago, a Goose Island brew is thrust in your hand, and you suddenly find yourself standing in the park, inappropriately dressed in the freezing cold, with thousands of strangers drinking a beer at 11.00 on a Sunday morning!


The event had been absolutely fantastic. The only down side, was that the seeded coral runners seem to finish very close to each other (as one would expect I guess), but no provision had been made to get our drop bags back fast enough to deal with the volume – I joined a line 100 yards long and waited under the trees in the shade/cold breeze for nearly 45 minutes – it was now over a hour since I had finished, and I was getting dangerously cold and shivering uncontrollably. When I got my bag back I got dressed as quick as my numb hands would allow, leaving my running gear on underneath – I wasn’t feeling too good when I caught up with the girls at the meeting point/party. With my body already in a post race low, and now the intense cold of inactivity, I was almost in trouble. The girls could see that I was hurting, as I had blue lips and still uncontrollable shivering - they were all kind enough to give up their much need scarves and wrapped them around me until we made it to the rendezvous point at mother Hubbard’s bar, where, after several pints of Guinness in the warm, things started to look much better!


The other runners in our group filtered in during the afternoon – greeted with loud cheers from the entire bar - We had all finished which was out goal!


46,000 registered runners . BVI runners as follows –
Name Time place
Mark Sanders 3h 35m - 5,020
Paul Hubbard 3h 48m – 8,066
Kay Reddy 3h 55 - 9,934
Yegane Guley 4h 22m – 16,545
Hannah Piggot 4h23m - 16,829
Adele Perrot 4h 34m - 19,790
Eric Sywak 6h 04m - 32,138


USVI Runners – Well to be fair…..they took a little longer!