What I thought was strange about the story was characterizing an 88°F high as “stifling heat”. Although the lack of sufficient water is very strange, and undoubtedly lead to the difficulties described. I wonder how the hell that happened.
They don’t have Star Trek Tri-corders on them.
They know damn well that running a marathon is going to involve physical discomfort and btw, heat aliments (stroke, exaustion) will also hinder your decision making abilities.
I was at the Minneapolis Marathon this weekend, where the temperatures were incredibly hot and muggy, but the marathon was not shut down. Many people were treated for heat-related problems on site, some were taken to local hospitals for treatment including one woman who collapsed by the water tables at the mid-point. Here, too, they ran out of water.
Why do marathoners push themselves? They trained damned hard all year long for this. They trained in harsh conditions, too. Those who were dropping yesterday were not necessarily the “ordinary citizens” but most that I saw were solid athletes – those running in the 3hour-4hour packs. They were probably pushing a little too hard…
I can understand the drive to finish something you started. Hell, lno was running his very first marathon yesterday. And yes, he DID finish, despite the stifling heat. Local folk realized there was a water shortage (which was a real bitch for the people at the tail end of the pack – anyone running a time of 5:15 or more was going to be waterless) so folks started getting water for runners, ice, watermelon and handing it out. Talk about community pitching in!
Heck – in the 75 y.o. + category… one of our marathoners, 2nd in the class, happens to be 84 years old. He finished with a time slightly under five hours.
So… yeah, the weather is what it is. The kenyans (and the Ukranians, apparently) and the other elite athletes finished in their regular time frames. People come from all over the country and all over the WORLD to run in these things. Some WILL push themselves hard. Heck, in the Elite/Masters classes, these are qualifiers for the Olympics and for Track…
We’re not sure he ran himself to death yet, I think… autopsy results are due this afternoon, right? 
It wasn’t just the heat, it was also extremely humid. The temperature alone doesn’t sound that extraordinary but apparently the heat index was through the roof. It was a steam bath.
If someone is trained to be able to take it then I don’t have a problem with them. I have a problem with the ones who stupidly try to push themselves to do something they should know they are physically incapable of in dangerous conditions and then expect public services and sympathy when they keel over.
No. I was simply saying that yes, they were true.
This is Chicago, not Roseville, MN. There are a lot of ambulances in the area and I heard no such complaints about lack of EMT services.
Well, except up in Wisconsin where one Mr. Favre and friends were found to be choking for nearly half an hour.
Yankees. I used to run 10 miles every single day at high noon in Montgomery, Alabama throughout the Summer. We’re talking, temperatures well past 100, with very high humidity. It ain’t the weather. It’s the runner.
A short, and certainly not exhaustive list of reasons why runners run:
- To become healthier.
- To look better.
- To feel the endorphins rush (long distance running provides a pretty powerful natural high).
- To get off the damn couch.
- To meet new and like minded people.
- To improve their self esteem.
- To force a victory of mind over matter.
- To allow them to eat pretty much whatever they want (I run, on average, 50 miles a week and you should see my diet. It’s absolutely atrocious. I deny myself nothing, but I’ve still got a six pack that you could grate cheese on).
- To feel a sense of accomplishment.
- To have fun.
Running a marathon may be gruelling, punishing, and exhausting, but it is certainly not pointless. Yeah occasionally people die, but that’s just the risk you take. People die doing pretty much every sport worth doing. Rugby players risk breaking their necks in 80 minute long celebrations of masochism and thinly disguised homo eroticism all centred around the trajectory of a pig’s bladder. Jockeys risk being trampled to death, boxers risk being beaten to death, all in pursuit of the physical and psychological rewards they get from their sports.
I have never taken the slightest interest in automobiles, and I don’t suppose I’ll ever understand why some people feel the need to risk crashing into concrete embankments and becoming human Tiki torches in contests to see who has the fastest car. But the appropriate response, upon hearing that another NASCAR driver has succumbed to the laws of physics, is not to say something like, oh…I dunno “Stupid fucker shouldn’t have been speeding. It’s his own fault he’s in that position.”
'Cause some people might interpret that as heartless.
Well, didn’t you just? You stated you couldn’t believe the claims. You took reported news accounts and decided, for whatever gut reason, that they were not credible. So when someone provides additional reporting that seems to back up the news accounts, you can’t really fall back on the defense that you had no way of knowing. Of course you didn’t know–but you made your mind up anyway. Nothing wrong with that–but you gotta acknowledge it.
I tend to do the same thing–I’ve said news stories sounded like bullshit to me. I’m Knee-Jerk Sally over here. But sometimes I gotta eat crow–and that goes the same for anyone else who presumptively pronounces a story “bullshit” that ends up up being true. Luckily I’ve gotten used to the taste. Heh.
I personally cannot imagine running a marathon, but I can imagine the kinds of things my body would be screaming at me if I were. I might have a hard time sorting out the “If there’s not water at the next stop, you must drop out for your own safety” messages from the “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND” messages I’d have been getting from the first quarter-mile onward.
Seriously, though…I’ve heard a lot about the pain of marathoning and need to get through through the mental and physical blocks. Is it possible that runners mistook their body’s emergency signals for the kinds of signals they regularly have to ignore when running?
When I think about that last question, the OP seems especially unkind.
Forgot one here. In many ways, it’s the most obvious:
“Because they like to run.”
That’s why I did it. It felt good. It made me strong. It allowed me to learn much more about my immediate surroundings than I would have otherwise.
Roseville isn’t some quaint little village, it’s part of the metro. It borders both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Your point is taken, for what it’s worth, about the expendability of those 30 ambulances in Chicago, but I live in a metro too, so don’t try to get all city elitist on me.
I saw that. Heh. That was funny. There are two games a year where I root for the Bears and that’s when they play the Packers. Thanks for taking some piss out of them. The Cheeseheads were getting way too full of themselves around here.
I didn’t state that I didn’t believe the claims. I stated that IF the claims were true, then I can’t believe people wouldn’t stop running.
To be quite honest, I still don’t know if the claims are true. Other than what I have heard on the news, I have one second-hand account, and that’s it.
“Warning! Runner 63, third warning!”
I didn’t ask why people would run a marathon, per se, I asked why they would continue trying to run themselves into the ground when they were clearly not physically capable of completing the race.
ETA, that is pretty much exactly the way I feel about race car drivers killing themselves as well. Darwin in action.
Now THAT would be an awesome innovation. I would totally watch that.
And oh look, the death was not heat related.
Heart condition, huh? No, I don’t suppose the running and the heat would ever aggravate a heart condition. I say he’s a dumbass for trying to run a marathon with a bad heart.
And really, can you think of any sports that wouldn’t be rendered eminently more watchable by immediate execution of poor performers?