The email below is what the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon sent to participants yesterday.  It is not the kind of thing you want to read.  I recall the heat of joggling last year’s Madison Marathon nearly wiped me out.

Heat Advisory

Attention LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Participants:

The weather forecasts for race day – Sunday, October 7 – are indicating that we could have a warm and humid day with temperatures expected to be in the 82 F / 28 C range on race day (according to weather.com). We recommend you stay tuned to local weather forecasts to properly prepare for the race.

Medical Director George Chiampas suggests the following preparation for race day:

• Dress appropriately – avoid cotton fabrics, long sleeves and long pants. Wear lightweight, breathable fabrics that will help to keep you cool.

• Wear sunglasses and waterproof sunscreen. With the amount of time you will be on the course, you want to be sure to protect your skin and eyes.

• Pay special attention to hydration. Drink plenty of fluids the day before and morning of the race. Drink enough fluids to maintain your baseline body weight, but be aware of overhydration. If you begin to gain weight above your baseline, you are drinking too much water and depleting your sodium level which is important to maintain.

• Be sure to stay hydrated during the race. Make note of aid stations and prepare to utilize them. You will need to drink more to compensate for the rapid depletion of your body’s fluids in the heat.

• Plan to adjust your pace for the weather. The humidity and heat will require more of your body so a slower pace than planned is recommended in order to get you to the finish line without overheating.

• Most importantly: PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BODY DURING THE RACE. If at ANY time your body gives you signals to slow down or stop, abide by them. Be aware of your heart rate, body temperature and hydration. If you feel light-headed, dizzy or overheated or experience chest pain, visual disturbances, cramping, vomiting or headache, slow down or stop and consult the medical personnel on the course immediately.

There will be a cooling/misting tent next to the Medical Tent at the Finish Line to assist with post-race cool down.

We want everyone to enjoy race day and that means being in the best possible condition to complete the course. Take it slow, pay attention to your body’s stress signals and be aware of medical staff and aid stations to help you along the way.

This will be a much tougher race if the temperature gets that hot.  I’ve never minded heat too much but it definitely makes you run slower.

Check out this post done a while back for some tips on how to run in the heat.

Hour 23 and finish

It was hot. It was humid. Michelle had a 4+ mile run ahead of her. She hadn’t slept much, hadn’t trained much and had already completed two other runs. She had a 5 minute lead on the guy from Team Continental plodding behind her.

The sun was like needles piercing her unprotected forehead. Someone should have given her a visor or sunglasses. It’s one of the tips of running in the heat.

She held off her foe for a couple miles but he gained. She slowed and he finally caught up. They ran together a bit but eventually he pulled ahead. Team “We’ve Got Balls” was officially in last of all the teams still on the course. She ended up finishing about 8 minutes after the next closest competitor. But my speedy brother was next. He was poised to make up some ground.

Unfortunately, Team Continental’s next runner was also pretty spry. The two of them headed off into the blistering heat on a path devoid of shade. It seemed as though their shoes might melt right into the trail.

At the half-way point we met Paul and gave him some water. He’d already made up three minutes. But that was all he would make up. The sun and heat slowed him slightly, but he still posted an excellent time for 7+ miles. He gave it all he had and did it under an hour.

John Kelly was up next. He previously ran a great leg and looked confident entering the next. Two miles into his 6+ mile run he had already made up 30 seconds. Even the droning of the 17-year Cicadas couldn’t disrupt his focus. But Team Continental was equally determined. Despite being short runners they still managed to hold their lead. JK finished his leg pacing just over 8 min/mile. But we were still 5 minutes behind.

The Brewmaster was up next and we needed him to just hang on. It was a 5+ mile run and represented more miles than he had ever run in the span of 24 hours. He ran strong and kept us in striking distance. At the end of this leg, Team Continental had an 11 minute lead.

But my speedy sister Fay was up next. She ran track at Loyola University back in the day and she’s kept up her running ways. Her run was 7 miles on a confusing course. This one had the most turns of any we’d done thus far. We saw her at mile 4 and she looked good but didn’t look like she’d made up much ground.

Team Continental finished this leg at 4:43 pm. We watched as they made their transition to the last leg and we waited. 4:45 no sign of her…4:46 nothing… 4:47 she’s in sight. At 4:48 we make the transition and I’m off. We are the last team by a full 5 minutes. I had 9 miles to make up the difference.

At first, I resigned myself to being the last finisher.  I imagined the scene.  Thousands of people lining the finish area cheering for the last few runners.  I’d sprint in, head held high, bean bag joggling in front, with a big grin on my face.  My team would mob me and everyone would just go nuts.  Yes, we would finish last but dammit, we gave it our all.

I jumped out to a pretty good pace (7:15 mi/min) in the first couple of miles.  It felt good juggling and running and smiling at all the kids walking around Northwestern University and along the beach.  Chicago is a great place to be on a sunny weekend day.

At mile 3 I saw my van mates.  They were cheering and offering me water.  I passed on the water because I knew Michal would’ve passed.  If he can do 19 miles without water I certainly didn’t need it for 9.  Then a strange thing happened.  My team told me I was only 2 minutes behind Team Continental.

I began to think, “Could I really catch him?”

Then I saw what 2 minutes really looked like.  Yes, I really could catch him.  So, I ignored the pain and picked up the pace.  He kept getting closer and closer.  Was he slowing?  Maybe.  About a mile and a half later I caught up.  Thought about drafting behind him but rejected that.  I wanted to finish as fast as possible.

As I passed him, he looked surprised and disappointed.  He didn’t want to finish last either, especially to a juggler.  He stayed with me for about a quarter mile and faded.

When I got on the familiar Chicago Lakefront beach trail it felt good.  I knew this path.  I knew how much farther I’d have to go.  I let the legs take over, looked around and just enjoyed the moment.  Entering the finish area gave me goosebumps despite the fact that almost no one was around to cheer.  We weren’t the last team but we were second to last.  The winners had finished 2 or 3 hours ago.

I crossed the finish line and saw my entire team.  The digital clock showed 5:55.  We finished!  I threw a bean bag super high, spun halfway around to face my team, took a quick bow and caught the ball back into the pattern.  The Great Midwest Relay was over.

Team Continental came in about 7 minutes after me.  They had a heck of a time considering they only had 8 runners total.

Epilogue

We ended up finishing in 28:55:21.  That put us in 88th place out of 120 teams that started.  Not bad for our first time.  Hopefully, next year we’ll get to start with people our own speed.  It really sucks running against teams that are much faster than you.

Thanks to everyone on team We’ve Got Balls.   You all did great and it was a lot of fun.  If you ever get a chance to do a relay race, I highly recommend it.  It’s different than solo running and feels great to finish.

After my last run, it was off to Zion, Illinois for breakfast.  The Star Lite restaurant was the lone choice.  Fortunately, Applebees was closed.  Kudos to the Star Lite because they had a pretty good breakfast, but more importantly they freely gave up their electricity to power my phone.  Not enough to start posting again but enough to take phone calls.

A joggler’s breakfast included

1.  Two eggs over easy
2.  Two fluffy pancakes with butter and maple syrup
3.  Two pieces of perfectly cooked bacon
4.  Two pieces of sausage
5.  Side of undercooked hash browns (bleah)
6.  Diet Pepsi

Thumbs up overall but when asking for a second re-fill of the soda, I was told they would have to “charge full price which is $1.60 and that’s a lot of money.”  I skipped it and got a Diet Vanilla Coke Zero at the grocery store.  That was only $1.42.  “…a lot of money” indeed!

After restocking our Gatorade and water stores we went to the last transition area and waited and waited and waited.  We all took short naps on the library parking lot.  We were still like cold-blooded amphibians warming ourselves in the sun.  I didn’t sleep much.

To pass time, I played a bit more on the ukulele (American Girl), threw a Frisbee, juggled and played a little foot bag.  Turns out the Brewmaster has some foot bagging skills.

Around 12:15 pm, Mora entered the transition area and my van was up.  She gave us about a 5 minute lead on the only other team still with us.  That gave us our goal for the race…avoid being the last team to finish.

I lost all power on the cell phone that I’d been using to do those hourly posts so I wasn’t able to give a race wrap-up.  Then on Saturday and Sunday, too tired to post.  Here’s what happened during the second half of the race.

Hour  13 and beyond.

When it is your team’s turn you focus much harder on the race.  For example, you have to figure out how to get to the next transition area.  Following written instructions without a map is like trying to see an elephant just by reading about it.  It’s a wonder we only got lost on a few occasions.  We definitely need to bring a map next time.

You also start to think about your next run.  Relay races feel different than personal races.  There is much less stress.  Sure you get out there and run as hard as you can but your exact time is not terribly important.  If you run a minute or two slower or faster it really doesn’t matter in the scheme of things.  A long relay like this is all about finishing.

Finally, when it’s your van’s turn forget about sleeping.  We started this race phase at about 2:00 am and no one slept.  Anticipating your own turn, driving the van, looking for the next transition area keep everyone occupied enough that you don’t sleep.  Keep that in mind if you’re doing one of these relays.

During this fourth phase of the race we had some excellent performances.  My brother Paul cruised through a 7.7 mile leg finishing in under an hour.  Birthday boy John Kelly kept pace with another team’s runner and legged out 6+ miles in a solid 8 min/mile.  The Brewmaster kept it close with his 3 mile run and my sister Fay had a great time in her 6+ mile run.  Then it was my turn, a short 4.0 miles.

For this run, I felt great!  I started quick and kept it up the entire way.  With no distance markers or other runners around, I couldn’t tell how fast I was going.  No matter.  I just ran and juggled as fast as I could.  Half-way through I saw another runner who had started about 5 minutes before me.  He was walking.  Must’ve bonked.  I set my sites on him and picked up the pace.  As I passed him he gave out a groan and a sigh.  Poor guy.  Why do runners do this to themselves?  At the finish area I saw my entire team.  That was great.  Smiling wide, I entered the hand-off area and snapped the baton bracelet on Lisa’s wrist.  She was off, I was temporarily done.  My time 27:30, no juggling drops.

Now, it was time to get a little breakfast, take a nap and wait.

Coyotes, darkness, vans getting lost. This is fun! Of course, I’m in the van so I don’t get the full experience. The thing about night time running, it’s so scary you run much quicker.

I’ll be losing power soon so no more updates until the end of the race.

I’m up next. Unfortunately, I’ve lost a couple of my joggling bags!! I now have to run with a completely new set and they’re not even Gballz.

Oh well. I’ll do the best I can. It’s getting pretty dark (9:00). I’m wearing a green light and will be running on trails. Hopefully, I wont get hit by any deer. A runner in one of the last legs on a different team got bumped by one. That reminds me of Newport.

Hour number 6 – We’re in the race

Michelle was the first person from our van to run. It was only 3 miles so we had to get to the hand-off area pretty quickly. The instructions are good but they aren’t quite perfect. For the second time we made a wrong turn. Did you ever try to do a road trip with only written instructions as your guide? It’s tough.

But we made it to the next stop about 10 min before Michelle. We welcomed her in with some juggling and she handed off to my brother Paul.

He finished his 3.4 mile leg in under 24 min. In the last quarter mile I joggled along side him to coax him in.

Now, birthday boy John Kelly is running his first 6 mile leg. I think I’ll go get another round of group juggling going. I’m anxious to run.

Hour 4
After the great bowling outing it was time to wait, and wait and wait. There is a lot of waiting during these relay races.

I juggled a bit more just to keep fresh and put on my running clothes, black spandex shorts, white, dri-fit ‘We’ve Got Balls’ t-shirt, white cotton socks, a weathered DePaul University baseball cap, and my trusty Brooks Adrenaline.

To pass time we watched the other runners finish. I got out my ukulele and played various tunes as they came in. My playlist consists of classics like ‘Vacation’, ‘Runaround Sue’, and ‘Only the Good Die Young’.

We met up with our second van and chatted with them for a few minutes. Then our 6th runner Mora came in as ‘Me and Bobbie McGee’ strummed. Then we were off to the next station.

hour number 3

We finished lunch and made it to our first transition point. According to Van 1 we are in “last place”. Sounds like a bit of an exaggeration.

We didnt know what we were going to do until we saw the Lake Mills Lanes….Bowling! I’ve never run a race like this.

My first ball hits the pocket…leaves the ten pin standing. Miss the spare. I’m a juggler not a bowler.

strike on ball number 3!

It occurs to me that Brian Lopez is just starting on his long 7 mile run. Poor guy… Oooh, I’ve just hit my second strike!

We go on to win game one. Our team together rolled 121, 123, 148. In game two, we lost despite my game high 189 which featured a run of 4 strikes in a row. Maybe I am a bowler.

hour number 2

While we wait in Mill Lake, we eat at Mulligan’s Mill of Joseph Megan’s. Six runners, six Miller Lite beers. Now this is a race a joggler can embrace. But only 1 for this juggling runner. I’ve gotta stay sharp for my 9 mile finale.

What does the anchor leg of a 190 mile relay race eat? Ham and swiss on toasted marble rye, fries and a lite beer.