So, we stood at the start line with the wind howling, trees bending over, signs blowing over and waited for the start. And waited. And waited. My rain jacket was no longer keeping the rain out. Rain came in through the neck area and through the vents in the sides of the jacket. I began to shiver. The shivering continued. 10 minutes went by. 15 minutes passed and still no start. People began to leave and walk to their cars in the parking lot. The rest of us stayed huddled together, shivering and noticing the conditions were deteriorating, not improving. Finally after a 25 minute delay, the race was underway! We were just glad to be moving with hopes of warming up.
It was a very difficult race. At one point I nearly blew off the race course. I blew right into a man on my left. I apologized for hitting him and he grabbed my shirt, saying; "I was afraid you were going to blow away". Running over the suspension bridge over the Mississippi River was a tad scary. It was quite windy on the top of the bridge.
By mile 7 or 8, conditions had actually improved a bit. The rain had let up, it was still very windy, but at least it was better than the first hour of running. I decided I could complete the full marathon. So, I maintained a comfortable pace (not that any of this race was comfortable), that I felt I could keep for all 26.2 miles. Pushing into the wind had taken its toll already.
At mile 9, we began to see runners coming from the opposite direction saying the race had been called for everyone. Everyone would finish at mile 10. Really? Now, I wished I had known that, because I would have run faster. I ran hard that last mile. Once at the finish line, I looked around for friends or family. I couldn't find anyone, so I decided to go back out on the race course looking for Carolyn and Danny. I ran the opposite direction for 3 miles. Along the way, I told volunteers at the water stops (who did not know the race had been called) to please let runners know about the official call of the race.
I ran back to the suspension bridge (up to the center of it for a better look for my friends), and then turned around and ran back to the finish. So, I managed to get a 16 mile run out of the day. It's probably the most difficult 16 miles I have ever run.
Once through the finish area again (still not able to locate anyone), I made my way to the food tables and the gear check. The entire area was flooded. The ground was covered with water and/or mud. Most people were slogging through with their shoes on. I decided to wade through the mud and water barefoot. After all, my feet were already cold and wet. At least I wouldn't add mud to my shoes.
I found my way to the shuttle bus and hopped on board with all the other muddy, cold and wet runners. The shuttle buses took us back to the start area parking lot. As the bus began driving, it passed by 3 runners. The bus driver opened the door and asked if they needed a ride. They replied; "No, our car is down there". Down where? We all peered out the bus windows. All we saw was a very large tree which had fallen. Oh! And a very smashed car underneath. Now that's a bad day.
Once back at the start area, I wasn't sure where to pick up the hotel shuttle bus from there. The parking lot was flooded in many parts. Many of the racers appeared to be disoriented, looking for their bearings. I was doing the same, when much to my delight, Howard and Shelley pulled up in the car. I was never so happy to be in the safety of a warm car!
As we left the parking lot, they pointed out the cars with water up past the wheel base, and the one car submerged in water up to the windows. Apparently, the car was unable to distinquish pavement from a grassy area because of the rain. Once off the solid pavement, the car quickly sank into the rising water. The driver appeared to have escaped through the driver's side window.
Here is what the race directors put on the official website this morning (Monday, day after the race):
"When the event started, we had every intention of allowing everyone to complete the entire distance. Both courses were runnable and we believed given the latest weather reports that they would continue to be so. Unfortunately, the combination of (1) the storm dropping over 5" of rain (as compared to the 3" that had been expected) and (2) much of that rain falling immediately before the start of the race (in part due to the delay that resulted because the police were understandably late getting to their positions because they were busy working a multitude of traffic accidents) caused a flash flood that swamped a long stretch of the north section of our course just minutes before the first runners were to arrive.
When we received the reports of the flash flooding approximately 30 minutes into the race, we immediately responded by safely altering the course to avoid the flooded area. We wish we could have re-routed to another 13.1 mile course, but for many reasons that was not a viable option. We apologize for not effectively communicating the mid-race course change to you via our aid station volunteers, but the storm knocked out our radio communications, leaving many of them ill-informed, as well. To make matters worse, our finish line sound system was also put out of commission by the storm, so information could not be effectively delivered post-race, either.
As for the marathon course, we received word soon after the flooding report that the wind and rain had caused two large branches to fall onto and across our course - obviously a dangerous situation. In addition, the medical station on the south end of the marathon course could not operate effectively in the dangerous conditions. As a result, we felt we had to stop all of our competitors at 10 miles."
