[emartin10]

Thanks guys and gals. It was indeed brutal. Aid stations were running out of water and gatorade. The people of Chicago were fantastic - they were out in the streets with garden hoses and ice trays. The firefighters opened all the hydrants. They ran out of paramedics. It was horribly horribly run. I had planned on running the whole race with my dad, and he got so dehydrated by mile 4 (we both hydrated REALLY well on Sat.) that he decided to stop (the first aid station was out of Gatorade, and the second aid station was completely shut down). He ended up going into a grocery store, downing 3 Gatorades in the aisle, and ended up keeping on. He got to mile 17 when they diverted him off the course. He was actually thrilled with how well he bounced back, and I'm really proud of him. I blame the race organizers completely for the fact that we didn't finish together, he was so crushed when the second aid station was shut down, it really just killed his race. At the point where the second aid station SHOULD have been, people were running into a Botanical Garden and drinking out of the fountains. It was chaos. I wouldn't do this race again simply due to the fact that the Race Director is saying there was adequate water supply, and that the runners shouldn't have been taking more than 2 cups per aid station. It's just ridiculous to think that when it's that hot and humid, that runners would skip aid stations and not drink or cool off. He is also just spitting in the face of all the runners by saying there WAS an adequate supply of water. He is a moron.

My knee did in fact give out, and it hurts really really bad, but I gimped my ass through it. I did fine with the heat. I had a fuel belt and filled it at every hydrant for cooling purposes. So even if the weather was better, I still would have had a slower race due to my knee. I was struggling when I hit the mile 25 sign, walk/running, and an angel jumped out of the stands and started running with me, talking me through it.
"C'Mon 5430 (my shirt was from one of my tris run by 5430 Sports in Boulder), You can do this!!!"
"Don't stop, it's just around the corner!"
She talked me through it, asked me questions, took my mind off of the pain. I would have struggled if she hadn't helped, she was an angel.

I leave for my honeymoon tomorrow, so I'll get the knee looked at when I get back, but I think it's pretty bad.

It was a tough first marathon, and it'll take some time for me to decide if I'd ever do another one. I'm super glad I finished, it was a big accomplishment. My dad and I went to Ditka's Steakhouse and ordered some phenominal steaks to celebrate. It was a great day overall, the race was poor, but the Hilton Chicago and Ditka's were phenominal, and my family was great too. It was very successful weekend, and I'm glad to say I've got 26.2 under my belt. Never again at Chicago though.

E