Runners Cope Well With Heat

It was another hot one at the Chicago Marathon, says Amby Burfoot—but participants had few problems.

October 12, 2008

A year ago, the Chicago Marathon was blasted by a Perfect Storm of bad marathon conditions—high heat and humidity at a time when many runners were just acclimatizing to the brisk fall conditions. The result was the most chaotic big-marathon meltdown ever: a "closing" of the course; record admissions to the medical tent and area hospitals; a heart-attack death; and numerous complaints that the marathon hadn't lived up to its responsibility to provide for the entrants.

While other marathon directors mostly came to Chicago's support, pointing out that they too would have had trouble dealing with the extreme heat and humidity, it fell on Chicago's shoulders to bear the burden. Race director Carey Pinkowski and his associates increased water stops and weather alerts and many other things in the wake of the 2007 Marathon, but also figured they'd likely get a break from the weather in 2008. They did. But not much of one, as sunny, warm conditions again greeted the 35,000 starters.

Still, the humidity was much lower, a key factor, and nearly a dozen interviews with marathoners who finished anywhere from 2:06 to 4:30 indicated that this year's runners had few problems on the course. When Stig Soerensen, 39, left his home in Greenland for the long trip to Chicago, there was already snow on the ground. But he wasn't troubled by the warm weather in Chicago, and finished in 2:54:55. "This is a very good marathon," he said of his first Chicago. "The course is very fast, and I found everything just perfect. The temperature didn't bother me. You just have to drink a little more."

With more than two dozen marathons behind him. Creighton Faust, 35, of Bethlehem, PA, knows the ins and outs of successful marathoning. He came to Chicago, for the first time, hoping to run "under 3 hours and enjoy myself." He achieved half his goal: He finished in 2:59:45. "I can't say it was as much fun as I hoped," he said. "The weather wasn't ideal, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. There were plenty of fluids at all the aid stops, and they had five or six misting stations and plenty of sponges. We needed it today."

Jillian Mastroianni, 26, of New York City, had hoped to run 2:55 at Chicago on a perfect day. She realized that she would need to adjust her expectation for the conditions, and came up with a plan that worked perfectly. She finished in 2:58:33 and commented, "The weather was much better than last year. Last year I was hurting from 6 miles on. That made me decide I should run smarter this year. I was strong all the way through. I ran even splits. The water tables and everything else on the course seemed fine."