Lessons Learned from Chicago ’07

Now that it’s been at least a couple of days since the Chicago debacle, and we’ve all had a chance to check up on the runners we know to make sure they made it through okay (thoughts and prayers goes out to Chad Schieber and his family), and we’ve all had a chance to voice our opinions as well as read those of others on what the proper course of action should have been, I, for one, am ready to chalk this unfortunate incident to a freak of nature (after all, it was the record high in the 30-year history of that marathon!) and move on. Yet, before I do, I want to just share some of the things I’ve learned over the past few days that will help me as I prepare to run my own marathon in less than a month (yikes!). Hopefully, we runners can all gain something positive from such an overall negative experience.

Five Things I Learned From The Chicago Marathon
1. I will never run another marathon without a contingency plan.
2. Running on a hot and/or humid day, I will never take more water than I need at a water station.
3. On race morning, I will always check the weather report before heading out the door and adjust my goal and running pace right from the start.
4. Before every race, I will check the course map to figure out the best way to get home from different parts of the course in case I need to drop out.
5. I will always remember that no matter how much I’m paying or how much training I’ve done, running a marathon is still a privilege, not a right. As such, I will remember to be grateful to the volunteers and the crowd support, because they’re all out there giving their time and energy to help me run the best possible race.