Back from the Windy City...

Well, I'm back. I'm working on getting the pics up to my web site. I can't believe I took almost 200 pictures! Geez!

I gotta say that Chicago was a great city. We had so much fun, and barely scratched the surface on places to visit or restaurants to try. However, I think we did a pretty good job of it.

Personally, I'm still a little down about not being able to complete the race. I have read numerous stories about what happened in Chicago. There seems to be 2 camps: Blame the officials or blame the runners. Obviously, I fall into the "blame the officials" side of things.

You see, I did everything that was required of me. I trained. I didn't decide to get up and go run a marathon that morning just on a whim. Becky and I have been dedicated to this cause. We put in countless hours and miles in adverse conditions. We ran in Dallas in hot and humid temps just like these (see any of my running blogs below). And we did this by listening to our bodies and being responsible. We didn't push ourselves beyond what we could do... we planned each and every run.

Even on our worst runs, we would say, "At least Chicago will be cool and not humid." We also said that it will have water every 2 miles. That's how we trained. We would run about 2 miles and hit the water fountains at White Rock Lake. So even though the conditions were bad, we still expected water to be available for us.

That's why I personally blame the organizers. The Hawaii race official was there and he said they have water stations every mile because they have, traditionally, the hottest marathon. They also start at 5 AM. The Chicago officials push the blame on the runners for taking 2-3 cups of water and in a lot of cases, pouring the water over their heads.

Why are we getting blamed for that? This is normal when you run in extreme conditions. You have to cool yourself. People were at the hospital with body temperatures of 107 degrees. You also have to drink more than a dixie cup of water when you're pouring sweat. I just don't get it...

Anyway, I'm probably going to go for the White Rock Marathon on December 9th. I've pushed too hard and too long for this to just go out and end on a "Fun Run," as they turned the Chicago Marathon into.

Believe me... there wasn't anything "fun" about that...