I'm glad I didn't plan to run the Chicago marathon. I would have felt awful not being able to finish, although it sounds like it was brutal.

I was reading some pretty snotty comments in this blog entry (http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2007/10/respect-the-dis.html). It's nice to know that as a fat, slow person I should just stay home and leave the running to the "experts."

Wow, that's pretty harsh!

One that kind of stuck out at me was the fact that people should be carrying their own water. Is that normal, that you have to bring and carry your own water for a 26+ mile run in the heat?

Personally, I wouldn't expect to have to carry my own water for a well organized race with water stops at every mile. The only reason I would do it is if I had my own particular type of drink I wanted.

What is the "water in the hat" trick?

What is the "water in the hat" trick?

I think, and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but the water in the hat trick is when someone takes the water and dumps in into their hat and puts the hat back on, thus cooling themsleves off that way.

Someone may be able to describe it a bit better, but Ive seen this down previously.

Respect the marathon! Disney did run out of water and cups near the 20 mile mark last year. In 2008 they plan to have four response vehicles to replace fluids at the water stations that run out. But think about it, with wall to wall runners and walkers will the quick response vehicles be able to get through the course in time to make a difference? As a volunteer this year at the Disney Triathlon our van was turned away by Disney Police and we were unable to replace water station volunteers. Of course bring your own fluid replacement system. You don’t need three or four bottles full; one that you can refill would be sufficient. My opinion is that you should take some personal responsibility for your own marathon survival. With such a large organization as the Disney Marathon, one would be remiss if they thought it would go off 100% with out a hitch. When things go wrong they can easily snowball. I plan to have my bottle full when I leave the parks. If this means I am filling my bottle at the park drinking fountains so be it.

The following are two sites that talk about hydration strategies:

http://aimsworldrunning.org/guidelines_fluid_replacement.htm

http://nutrifit.co.uk/Conference/articles/Article%20EJSS%20Jeukendrup.pdf