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Jo after completing the 2007 London Marathon
Jo on Marathon Trail Again in Chicago
13th November 2007
Jo Linwood, a former College student whose previous marathon-running exploits have been covered in The Review Online, has been at it again.
This time it was off to the ‘Windy City’, Chicago, for the 30th Anniversary running of the Chicago Marathon.
Jo tells us that the Marathon ended in somewhat farcical circumstances. With a raging heat-wave from the start gun - it hit 79° F at 8.45am - the race organisers found it hard to cope, and the aid stations ran out of water at mile 4. Great! Just what the athletes needed!
However, Jo found it to be a great course, albeit with little shade! Support from the spectators was fantastic ("whoop, whoop!", "You are awesome", "let's go runners!"), with cheer-leaders, ‘Elvis’ (or a look-alike), and Mexican dance troops keeping the runners entertained along the way.
Jo recalls, “All was well until 20 miles, when officials cancelled the race! We were then continually told to walk, which the naughty child in me tried to ignore and, while continuing running, I got several tellings-off by officials until, around the 23 - 24 mile mark, it seemed OK to run again, even though the sun was beating down at over 90 degrees.
So I took it easy, running the last mile in and crossing the finish line in what understandably turned out to be a pitiful time of 5 hrs 47 mins.
I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones, though, not only to finish, but to have ended the day sipping champagne in Millennium Park in celebration!
It seemed to make it all worthwhile – and it was a good memory to take away from an unusual and challenging Marathon”.
Click on the link below to see all of Jo's race photos.