February 2008

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When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?

-John Maynard Keynes

Of Running and the Weather

Today I ran in the 5th Annual 5K/10K Walk/Run to benefit Children's Hospital Foundation of Richmond, VA. I finished the 10K race in 54 minutes and change, I didn’t catch it exactly but it is essentially the same time I had in the last 10K I ran (the Carytown 10K back in late May). The weather was beautiful – clear, sunny, a high around 70 today.

Which reminds me. In the wake of last weekend’s Chicago marathon, there has been a flurry of conversation regarding marathons and the responsibilities of the organizers of these races, especially marathon and especially in extreme weather conditions. The fact that a runner died during the Chicago race has really raised emotions and concern, though the autopsy shows that contrary to initial suspicions, race conditions were not to blame in the death of 35-year-old runner Chad Schieber. (It has not yet been determined why a runner died in the Army 10-Miler in DC and surrounding areas last weekend.)

Even in ideal weather conditions, runners need to hydrate a lot. All athletes should consider this:

Performance starts to decline when you lose 3 percent of your body weight in sweat. For a 150-pound person, thats 4.5 pounds. Beyond 3 percent, performance falls off even more sharply. Dehydration becomes a life-threatening condition when it reaches 15 to 20 percent of body weight, usually through illness.

If you think that sounds like an extraordinary amount of weight to lose in a single sporting event, you clearly aren’t familiar with how extremely taxing some sporting events (like marathons) actually are on the body. Distance runners are typically very thin – 3% of body weight doesn’t translate to that much fluid loss. And drinking water is not enough. Most experts recommend sports drinks instead of water for runs over half an hour or so. This is why many races supply (and get sponsorship from) sports drinks. Personally, I’ve had Powerade provided at every race I’d run in the Richmond area besides this morning’s, and I am told it will be available at each water station for the upcoming Richmond Marathon.

This brings us back to preparing for these runs. Mayor Richard Daley defends the race organizers in Chicago, quoted in the Chicago Tribune saying that the cancellation of the Chicago Marathon four hours into the race was just “an unfortunate incident" – which means it requires no blame or accountancy, of course. Also from the Tribune,

After polling their 15 aid-station captains, race officials stood by their claim there were enough fluids, despite widespread complaints from runners who said they went without in the record-setting heat.

But not every aid-station worker agreed.

Volunteer Sharon Pines said she was surprised to learn race officials already have completed their investigation. Pines said she and other volunteers at the mile-10 aid station "ran out of everything" and had to reuse cups from the ground. They took a cooler to a nearby restaurant three times to replenish water needed to make Gatorade, she said.

The way I see it, the fact that this is even a question means that officials were not adequately prepared and stations were not at full capacity. There is no way around that. So the next step for race organizers was to assert that their lack of preparedness was not the real issue. Mayor Daly:

"You get out there, you have to take responsibility -- a bike rider, anyone who does sports outside in warm or cold weather."

Yes, Mr. Daly, that is true. That’s why marathon runners don’t go out and run 26.2 miles on their own, without making arrangements for somebody to provide them with a traffic-free route, plenty of fluids and (if necessary) medical aid. They instead pay a registration fee and sign up to an organized race. That fee, incidentally, is not being refunded, despite the fact that expectations were not met and runners had to seek relief in stores and public fountains.

That last link above gives an excellent quote from one runner: "I thought if I could prepare, they should be able to do it, too."

There is a level of individual responsibility to know what kind of weather conditions one is capable of racing in, yes. But when the race is in October, it means runners have been training all summer long, in the heat. They can handle running in hot weather. That is not inherently dangerous. It is the lack of proper fluids that makes it so. Keep in mind that the Chicago Marathon is the fifth largest race in the nation. It has more than 30,000 finishers each year. The budget is in the millions. There is no excuse for their lack of preparedness.

Posted by Wulf on October 13, 2007 at 04:45 PM

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When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?

-John Maynard Keynes

Of Running and the Weather

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