What goes through your head when the big race gets canceled?

[Bobby Ampezzan]

Folks, I'm a features writer for the Democrat-Gazette. I'm working on a story about what goes through our minds when we wake up the day of the big race and it's canceled due to weather.

I have been training and writing columns for a Tough Mudder that was to take place in Texas last Sunday. It poured and thundered and, that morning, they called the race.

Any thoughts? Have you ever experienced this?

Ever seen anything on this topic in print? In books or a magazine?

How crucial is the capstone event in a training cycle?

(If you'd rather talk than write, my TX is 501.378.3536.)

[MarathonBoy]

I was three hours into a six hour drive and got a personal call from a volunteer that a race had been canceled due to a blizzard. It was nice that they took the time and effort to do that and saved us the rest of the drive and possibly getting snowed in there anyway.

My answers are 1) pick another race as soon as possible and stay trained up and motivated, and 2) always have multiple short, medium, and long-term goal races so you can be flexible and adjust along the way.

[MarathonBoy]

Thread Hijack:

Little Rock's best blind runner Dave Wilkinson will already be in Fayetteville this weekend and would love to run the Chile Pepper if he can find a guide. Until you have done this, you can't imagine how fun and rewarding it is. Think about if you couldn't run or race unless someone helped you out, and you might be willing to try it.

Call me at 951-3773 or Dave at (918) 527-0688 if you are interested.

Thanks in advance.

[Mac]

I had ran the Inaugral Washington DC Marathon in 2002 in Honor of Sara Low. I then signed up to run the 2nd one on 2003 and the race is held in March. In 2003 we went to war. Two days before the race we left for Washington DC. I got to about Knoxville, TN when I got a call that the marathon had been cancelled. I immediately pulled over and called our friends who we were going to stay with just outside of DC to confirm this and they said it was true. Michelle and I decided to press on and at least visit our friends. When we got there it was in the newspaper about the company cancelling the race with concerns about terrorist might inflict pain on us runners(as if running 26.2 miles was not enough pain). What happened next was that a local running club got with a running store and decided to put on an unofficial race. They put out inquiries to find out how many would run. It ended up that about 500 people would do it. They got all the volunteers, water, food, police support, etc, and put on the race. We did have to watch the traffic at some intersections, but most were covered. We ran the official-certified course. Best damn marathon I have ever ran. Came in 11th in a time of 3:23:54. (Guess what, that was a Boston Qual time, but it didn't count). About 4 weeks later they sent us our Official-Unofficial Marathon Finisher Medal. The company that put on the race (original one) filed for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.

[dhmac]

Haven't actually had a race cancelled on me but was in Boston in '07 when even the day before they were considering cancelling THE BOSTON MARATHON because of weather. I couldn't understand why 30 mph sustained winds with gusts to 50 mph; rain; and, temps in the upper 30's could possibly make them consider such a thing. lol

The weather broke a little the next morning and the race went on as scheduled. Rain and wind did resume but not until something like 4 -5 hours after race started.

To have any race cancelled would be bad enough but Boston would have been really bad. Unlike Marathon Boy, I was already in Boston, had a car and my hotel rented and a vacation for the rest of the week scheduled.

[MarathonBoy]

A guide has been located.

Bobby, thanks for use of this thread. And like a good episode of Seinfeld, the story goes like this: Dave and I ran Boston that year.