Marathon Kills People

Today they ran the Chicago Marathon--or, well, most of it. It started in the early morning, and the course happened to go right by our house! So sitting down to breakfast we heard cheering. Of course, we had to get dressed and go out to see. We cheered too, and took some pictures. What was amazing was just how many people had got themselves into this outrageous endeavor. They just kept on flooding past, some of them running easily and some of the red-faced and dripping. Mind you, our part of the course was pretty early in the race.

After a while we got tired and went in. I mean, you could get tired just from watching all these people.

Later we saw some people with marathon numbers on the el. They don't look tired enough to have just run a marathon, I said to Pocket of Bolts. On the street, we heard one of these people having a conversation with a guy. He asked her time and she said, I only got to mile 22 and then they canceled the race. We walked on past and had a debate about whether something had happened and they'd actually canceled the entire marathon (PoB's position) or whether she had just been too slow and they had closed the course so they could open the streets of Chicago back up (my position).

As it turns out, and regrettably, PoB was right on this one. Due to record high temperatures and humidity (it was 88 today, and the humidity was miasmal), one runner apparently dropped dead, and they canceled the race about four hours in. Who knows that we may not have seen that guy and cheered him on? It's even possible he is in this picture. A sad thought.

I have always been against the idea of marathons, though that doesn't mean I don't see the fascination. It's just--well, the first guy who ran it dropped dead too. We just weren't meant for that kind of thing, you know? Sure, some people are but--well, wow, is all I can say. I ain't running one.