Lake Superior did not provide her air conditioning today at Grandma's Marathon. Instead the wind blew from the West and the heat rose to dangerous temperatures (87 degrees at the finish). I hope you enjoy the short video; you'll learn what it's like to run a "black flag marathon". The Northstar Nerd ran a personal worst by almost 50 minutes (5 hours 17 minutes), but I finished. Next Winter, I promise I will never again complain when cross-country ski racing in a sub-zero Loppet! The cold will feel heavenly!
Follow this link for a higher res version of my video. Most photos were taken by my family, but some are from the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Duluth News Tribune.
Finally, view my 2010 Grandma's Marathon Man Cam Photos. The weather was much nicer (i.e. cooler), and I improved on my 2009 result by one hour!
Paraphrased from the Duluth News Tribune:
The medical director, Steve Harrington, almost shut down the race down while it was in progress: "Race protocol calls for the medical director to confer with executive director Scott Keenan on matters of an unsafe race. They discussed the option of stopping the marathon and having runners brought in off the course by bus, and Harrington said it very nearly happened."
There were 577 runners treated at the finish-line medical tent. Most were treated for hyponatremia (low sodium) and hyperthermia (heat stroke), with one runner showing a temperature of 108 degrees.
Gold Cross Ambulance had 83 calls with 53 transports, including 36 to Duluth hospitals, the most in Harrington’s time with the marathon.
Black Flag Marathon on PhotoPeach
I ran it and it was rough, tough day to be out there, but the sponges and ice at the stations saved me
Posted by: Katie Clark | June 21, 2009 at 03:16 PM