It was a hottest day on record for the Twin Cities Marathon. Buzz along with The Rookie joined more than 15,000 registered runners for the 26th annual trot around Minneapolis and into St. Paul. The heat was unrelenting and was cause for many to drop out (literally and figuratively) as well as much slower times. Buzz finished in 3 hours and 50 minutes (or so) while The Rookie completed the course in just over 4 hours. 
In related news our friend, "Crazy Legs" Kravits survived the carnage and heat to complete this year's Chicago Marathon. He never took the magnitude of this event for granted and responsibly scaled back his efforts to adjust for weather and safety. Congratulations Crazy Legs. You're a testament to hard work, perseverance and smart race management!
COMMENTARY About The Chicago Marathon
Speaking about race management: by now many of you heard The Chicago marathon was shut down due to the dangerous heat. It is the opinion of this runner (and that of many others) that the Chicago Marathon race officials got it wrong.
First and foremost, this race has grown too big. My guess is sponsorship dollars were more attractive to the organization than the attention paid to running a good and safe race. When anything gets too big, exposure to catastrophe increases while, at the same time, emergency procedures get impeded;
Second, as I hear it, there was not enough water on the course. This is very, very, very bad. Race officials have the weather forecast and ample resources. Heat issues aside, it's ALWAYS better to have too much water than not enough. Here again the size of the event may have inhibited Chicago's ability to properly hydrate the masses and manage the crisis. Shame on them;
Third, they should have extended the cut-off time by as much as 2 hours to accommodate for the hot conditions. This time extension could have (should have?) been communicated along the course (at all aid stations);
Fourth, communication on the course could have (should have?) been made earlier and often. The race officials knew before the race began that heat would be a problem. All the aid stations should have been prepped to remind runners of this danger and tell them to slow down, walk, hydrate and manage a slower, smarter race. They could have communicated an extended cut-off to prevent people from unnecessarily pushing themselves to hard in extrodinarily hot conditions.
Unless the Chicago marathon did something different this year, every single runner should have read (and agreed to) an acknowledgement and waiver form recognizing the risks and danger of distance running and confirming they have trained and are in appropriate physical shape to undertake this extreme physical activity. For this reason, the race officials should have been safe to keep the course open... if they were properly prepared.
My advise to Chicago would be to trim the race size to something more manageable (10 - 15K) via lottery or some other mechanism; continue to improve on-the-course communications and use these communications to help runners manage their race; be better prepared; and have contingencies in place that help the runners finish safely and enjoyably... not cut bait and run.
And one last comment: Make no mistake, running a marathon is not a friendly neighborhood 10K fun-run. As a friend of mine puts it, "there is a reason Phiddippidies died". Weather is unpredictable, but the physical and mental demands of running 26.2 miles will always be tough. So Chicago, let the runners run and yes, let them suffer, but don't simply pretent to wash your hands of the matter. If you invite them, they will come. And now the Chicago Marathon, an previously repectibel event, has a big mess to clean as a result for neglecting the 20,000+ reasons they hosted this event in the first place.
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