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Sorry I am a little late with this.
To tell you the truth, I really don't know how to feel about this experience.
I had been training for nearly a year for this race. I thought I had a real chance at running a 4:10 or so marathon. My weight was in the 175-180 range leading up to the race. Not at goal, but on my way.
The weather forecast for the race kept getting hotter and hotter in the 10 days leading up to the race. The race organizers sent out heat warnings by email in the days leading up to the race. They also handed out flyers with a heat warning during the packet pick-up. The forecast was for high humidity and temps in the upper 80s.
With this forecast, I knew the 4:10 was way out of the picture. I decided that 4:20 should be doable, a 10 minute per mile pace. I had run training runs of 20 miles at 9:40 pace.
Walking to the start line on race morning, I sweat through my singlet. Ugh. It was 76 degrees and 86% humidity at 8am race start. Ditched the singlet before the gun went off.
The first half of the marathon went well. At the half way point and later the 25k point, I was on perfect 10 minute per mile splits. That's where the story starts taking some weird twists. It was at this point that the "pacers" (people whose job it is to run a constant pace to finish the race in a certain time, other people then know they can "follow" the pacer and achieve that time without having to pace themselves) started "coming back" to my pace. First, I passed the 4:15 pacer and then the 4 hour pacer. I double checked my times and I was definitely running 4:20 pace.
By now, it was 10am. 88 degrees. Humid. No breeze. No shade. Hot. Sickening hot. The water stops became "walk" zones. Everybody was walking. The aid stations were not keeping up. You had to wait for water/gatorad to be poured. It was only later that I learned that for people running 4:45 pace or slower actually found water stops with no gatorade or water for the first 10 miles of the race. (the race organizers should be ashamed). It was now that the sounds of ambulances was constant. The med tent cots were all full and had people waiting for treatment. There were people getting sick (throwing up) all over the place. More people were walking. I saw a 3 hour pacer walking.
I kept my pace for a couple more miles but realized that the heart rate was going up fast. I gradually kept slowing my pace until I was "running" 12 minute miles. Even slowing down this far, I could not keep the heart rate down. So, about mile 20 I had to start the run/walk cycle to keep myself out of trouble. I figured I still had a 4:40 or so marathon left in me, even if I walked most of what was left.
That's when the announcement came. The race has been canceled. What? Are you kidding me? I've trained for a year. I didn't believe it. I kept the race/walk up for another mile or so. That's when the police and fire personnel blanketed the course and told everyone that the race clocks had been turned off and that there was no point in running. We were to walk to the finish. Next, they began to threaten those who continued to run.
So, from this point on, the last 4 miles or so, I walked. It turns out the clocks were not turned off. I ended up with a chip time of 5:13. My worst marathon yet.
I'm numb to the whole event. I got a finisher's medal from a canceled race.
A years worth of work and build up for nothing.
Sorry for the gloomy report. Just haven't been able to function a whole lot this week. Tired. Sore. Indifferent.
RichF
To tell you the truth, I really don't know how to feel about this experience.
I had been training for nearly a year for this race. I thought I had a real chance at running a 4:10 or so marathon. My weight was in the 175-180 range leading up to the race. Not at goal, but on my way.
The weather forecast for the race kept getting hotter and hotter in the 10 days leading up to the race. The race organizers sent out heat warnings by email in the days leading up to the race. They also handed out flyers with a heat warning during the packet pick-up. The forecast was for high humidity and temps in the upper 80s.
With this forecast, I knew the 4:10 was way out of the picture. I decided that 4:20 should be doable, a 10 minute per mile pace. I had run training runs of 20 miles at 9:40 pace.
Walking to the start line on race morning, I sweat through my singlet. Ugh. It was 76 degrees and 86% humidity at 8am race start. Ditched the singlet before the gun went off.
The first half of the marathon went well. At the half way point and later the 25k point, I was on perfect 10 minute per mile splits. That's where the story starts taking some weird twists. It was at this point that the "pacers" (people whose job it is to run a constant pace to finish the race in a certain time, other people then know they can "follow" the pacer and achieve that time without having to pace themselves) started "coming back" to my pace. First, I passed the 4:15 pacer and then the 4 hour pacer. I double checked my times and I was definitely running 4:20 pace.
By now, it was 10am. 88 degrees. Humid. No breeze. No shade. Hot. Sickening hot. The water stops became "walk" zones. Everybody was walking. The aid stations were not keeping up. You had to wait for water/gatorad to be poured. It was only later that I learned that for people running 4:45 pace or slower actually found water stops with no gatorade or water for the first 10 miles of the race. (the race organizers should be ashamed). It was now that the sounds of ambulances was constant. The med tent cots were all full and had people waiting for treatment. There were people getting sick (throwing up) all over the place. More people were walking. I saw a 3 hour pacer walking.
I kept my pace for a couple more miles but realized that the heart rate was going up fast. I gradually kept slowing my pace until I was "running" 12 minute miles. Even slowing down this far, I could not keep the heart rate down. So, about mile 20 I had to start the run/walk cycle to keep myself out of trouble. I figured I still had a 4:40 or so marathon left in me, even if I walked most of what was left.
That's when the announcement came. The race has been canceled. What? Are you kidding me? I've trained for a year. I didn't believe it. I kept the race/walk up for another mile or so. That's when the police and fire personnel blanketed the course and told everyone that the race clocks had been turned off and that there was no point in running. We were to walk to the finish. Next, they began to threaten those who continued to run.
So, from this point on, the last 4 miles or so, I walked. It turns out the clocks were not turned off. I ended up with a chip time of 5:13. My worst marathon yet.
I'm numb to the whole event. I got a finisher's medal from a canceled race.
A years worth of work and build up for nothing.
Sorry for the gloomy report. Just haven't been able to function a whole lot this week. Tired. Sore. Indifferent.
RichF
. They are grueling, even in the best of times on the best of days. You sweat, toil, train and sweat some more for MONTHS only to have all your efforts pinned to ONE DAY of the year. The physical build up is tough enough, but even more so, the emotional. 
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