Lakeshore Marathon

I ran the half marathon in 2004. I was in probably the top 10 people in the half and there was NO one at the turn-around point to direct us!! I realized this shortly after and asked at just about every water stop, but no one had a clue. Ended up continuing to the halfway point on the marathon course at the north end. Race director apologized afterwards, but I see things only got worse in 2005...

I ran this marathon in 2005 because I missed out on the LaSalle Bank Marathon in 2004 due to an injury and wanted to see if I still had it in me to run this distance. I was very disappointed with this race. Coming back from an injury, I wanted to run a race that was well-organized because in addition to the normal effects runners suffer during a marathon, I was dealing with being a little out of the game. The mental effect of knowing that you should be finished because mile marker 25 was more than a mile ago and yet the finish line is still a mile away was devastating. I have never walked in any race, short or long, but I had no choice this time. I just felt defeated. When I found out the next day through the Chicago Tribune that the race was a mile longer than it should have been, I was very angry. Plus, aid stations were not properly set up. I ran past one station where the table was just sitting there, not put together, with boxes of water and Gatorade next to it. There was a time when I went 3 or 4 miles without an aid station. It was just a horrible race. I will never do this race again, even if they promise it will be better.

I ran all 4 of these and it is really too bad that such a beautiful course no longer has a marathon upon it in the spring. The weather ranged from awful the first year to wonderful in years 2 and 4 to hot in year 3, but the course is one of the best I have run (when the distance is not a mile too long).