LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon: Against the Odds

When I wrote “Brett Stevens Runs for Life Part I and Part II” and “Executive Recruiter in Atlanta:When You’re Hot You’re Hot”, I never expected that the titles I chose would come to reflect the events that would happen on race day. Days after the race, I’m sitting here thinking that maybe I should consider a career change. Maybe I could take a job answering phones on a psychic hotline and and charge $5 a minute for my predictions. :)  All kidding aside (I love my job!), much of the negative events that happened during the marathon could have been avoided if the logistical planners of the race had done their job better. At least, that is the opinion being expressed by news media and bloggers now that the race is over. But, as they say “hindsight is priceless”. Hopefully, the problems that occurred during race day can be avoided in future marathons, as race officials begin to examine what went wrong.

As you probably have heard by now, at approximately 11:30 a.m. on October 7, 2007,  Chicago marathon officials called off the 26.2 mile race because of dangerously high temperatures. Nearly 100 runners were hospitalized and hundreds more were treated by EMTs for dehydration and heat stroke, as temps rose to 88 degrees on Chicago’s city streets. Sadly, a 35 year old policeman, who was running his first marathon lost his life on that day, although reports now say he died because of a heart problem. The marathon that so many had begun with excitement and optimism quickly became a race of survival and survivors.

Brett described the experience as a “scene out of Normandy”.  “It was unreal, people were dropping like flies! It was a reality check for Brett. “As I ran past bodies lying on the street, I knew that as a 44 year old guy, I’d better keep my focus on pacing myself and keeping myself well hydrated”.

“Executive Recruiter in Atlanta: When you’re Hot You’re Hot”. - With temperatures sky rocketing to over 100 degrees in Atlanta, Brett Stevens, President of The SearchLogix Group, may be the “hottest executive recruiter” in the U.S! “I’m hoping that training in this hot weather  will help me in October when I run in the Chicago marathon.” - Brett Stevens 

Brett said he didn’t realize that many in the race, behind him,  were arriving at water stations only to be told that they had run out of water and Gatorade.

Did organizers fail to realize how much they’d need? They had nearly two million cups of water on hand, but that wasn’t enough for those who wanted to drink it and many others who used several cups of water to douse themselves with it to cool off. “Three Questions Hanging Over Chicago Marathon” by Jay Levine, cbs2chicago.com

 

“That’s something we haven’t seen in any of the history of the 17 years that I’ve done this.” - Carey Pinkowski, executive race director.

 

Last night I heard a tv newscaster say that nearly 8 million cups of water were available to runners. How many cups were actually available? I’m sure it’s a question that race officials will want an answer to as they begin to explore what went wrong on race day.

 

Brett said that by the time the race was called off, he was well beyond the point of “no return”. Race officials gave runners who had passed a certain point in the race, the option of whether or not to continue the race. Brett chose to continue, hoping that the months of training he’d done to prepare himself physically for the marathon would help him reach his goal - the finish line. We are happy to announce that Brett finished the race and did it with a great finishing time!

Brett Stevens finished the race with a great time of 4 hours, 15 minutes, and 53 seconds 

and raised over  $5,000 for the Prostate Cancer  Foundation!

 

Here are Brett’s marathon stats from the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon website

Brett M Stevens  |  Bib # 27751  |  Kennesaw, GA - USA  |  Age 44  |  M
START	5K	10K	15K	20K	HALF	25K	30K	35K	40K	FINISH
0:05:26	0:28:02	0:56:19	1:24:04	1:53:36	1:59:45	2:22:36	2:53:47	3:26:47	4:01:38	4:15:53
TIME Chip Time: 4:15:53 Clock: 4:21:18 Pace: 9:45 Placement Overall: 5739 Gender: 4098 Division: 753