Any RA'ers affected? "Las Vegas marathon runners say they were sickened" (Read 1784 times)

kcam


    I'm thinking of adding diarrhea to Monkey 2012.

     

    Explosive would be the best.

     

    My sister ran the half marathon and she observed runners tossing their used cups in the 'water trash cans' as it was dark and they thought they WERE trash cans. If this is SOP at RnR events I won't be running another one.


    #artbydmcbride

      Yes, trash cans near a water table collect all kinds of stuff from runners; kleenex, used cups, mittens used to wipe snot ..........Smile

       

      Runners run

      zoom-zoom


      rectumdamnnearkilledem

        Yes, trash cans near a water table collect all kinds of stuff from runners; kleenex, used cups, mittens used to wipe snot ..........Smile

         

        No wonder the water tastes funny... Tight lips

        Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

        remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

             ~ Sarah Kay


        Why is it sideways?

          This is the natural outcome of the movement towards marathoning as "event." Sure, racers would be upset by all of these things--backlogs in the course, people cutting the course while getting married, sharing bibs, etc. But the vast majority of people don't care because they did their Vegas parade, got their 13.1 sticker, and went on their way. Sure, some people got explosive diarrhea, but that's part of the risk you take when you take part in any event. Think Bonaroo, Carnaval Cruise, Macy's Day Parade. There's gonna be a traffic jam, people are gonna be sick, there's gonna be some kind of clusterfuck, and in the end it won't be that enjoyable, but at least you'll have a story to tell and something new to complain about to your friends instead of politics, your job, your kids, your parents.

           

          Welcome to (half) marathoning in the 21st century.

          xhristopher


            My sister ran the half marathon and she observed runners tossing their used cups in the 'water trash cans' as it was dark and they thought they WERE trash cans. If this is SOP at RnR events I won't be running another one.

             

            I usually try to toss my cups in the trash can in longer races so it's certain I would have polluted one of the water troughs.

             

            As Randall says on the popular Honey Badger web documentry, "That's Naaasty." But, you know, Competitor "Don't  Care."

              I'm thinking of adding diarrhea to Monkey 2012.

              Will there be a special tent for that, too?  Or will you hand it out as a raffle?

              "I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."

              -- Dick LeBeau

              spinach


                My sister ran the half marathon and she observed runners tossing their used cups in the 'water trash cans' as it was dark and they thought they WERE trash cans. If this is SOP at RnR events I won't be running another one.

                 

                I have done that in the past.  It was a trash can and I had some trash (my used water cup) and so I tossed it in what I thought was a trash can.  Oops.  That is one of the advantages of being near the front of a race, there are fewer runners ahead of you who might have made that mistake. Now I just drop the cups on the road and let someone there clean it up.

                 

                I had long ago decided I won't be running any RnR events any more so this news from Las Vegas won't any impact on my decision not to run another RnR event.

                Trent


                Good Bad & The Monkey

                  Will there be a special tent for that, too?  Or will you hand it out as a raffle?

                   

                  Totally random lottery.

                     

                    Welcome to (half) marathoning in the 21st century.

                     

                    Interesting. I think we've entered a phase where the price of the event may be a contra-indicator of "quality" - quality here defined as something a "racer" would enjoy...a race with a lower entry fee is more likely to be unencumbered by excessive crowds, bands, hoopla, etc. A race for the sake of racing.

                     

                    Think Roxbury Marathon vs. any RNR marathon as a sort of extreme.

                     

                    MTA: maybe this has "always" been the case.

                    Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and rogues
                    We're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes


                    A Saucy Wench

                      lol.. I think the grossest thing I ever saw in a race was the portland marathon...maybe 2007?  They had gummi bears at one of the water stops.  Well the order of things went portapotties,  then huge punch bowl filled with gummibears that you could stick your hand into and grab bears.   I witnessed people coming out of the portapotty and sticking their hand in the bears. The next year they had the gummi's in dixie cups.

                      I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

                       

                      "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

                      zoom-zoom


                      rectumdamnnearkilledem

                        This is the natural outcome of the movement towards marathoning as "event." Sure, racers would be upset by all of these things--backlogs in the course, people cutting the course while getting married, sharing bibs, etc. But the vast majority of people don't care because they did their Vegas parade, got their 13.1 sticker, and went on their way. Sure, some people got explosive diarrhea, but that's part of the risk you take when you take part in any event. Think Bonaroo, Carnaval Cruise, Macy's Day Parade. There's gonna be a traffic jam, people are gonna be sick, there's gonna be some kind of clusterfuck, and in the end it won't be that enjoyable, but at least you'll have a story to tell and something new to complain about to your friends instead of politics, your job, your kids, your parents.

                         

                        Welcome to (half) marathoning in the 21st century.

                         

                        I see your point and agree with a lot of it.  Though I will say after having run the race in question a year ago that last year it went off pretty much without a hitch, in terms of race management.  As far as the actual race went, it was my HM PW...in large part due to the elevation, nights of not sleeping well in a strange bed, and 2nd hand smoke hell.  I still had a good time and was prepared for these things to be factors.  At any other large race without the smoke and elevation issues my actual race performance would have been better, for certain.  And I went in with the primary goal to have fun meeting and running with far-flung friends from RA.  Even though I didn't really "race" that race, it was still one of my favorite race experiences.  It seems to me a lot of people run the Monkey with similar goals...not to PR at the distance, but to race somewhere new and with good friends.

                         

                        Last year several RA runners managed PRs and BQs at Las Vegas...so a well managed "event" race doesn't have to be mutually exclusive to a race that can enable people to excel.  And for what RnR charges for these races, there's really not room for them to fuck it up as badly as they did this year.  Apparently the med tents ran out of supplies.  Race or event--that is inexcusable when there are 44k thousand people who could potentially need medical assistance.

                         

                        Even before seeing the result of this year's mismanagement I doubt I would have run another RnR race...I'm just not willing to pay that kind of money to see some crappy bands for a minute.  After learning all that I have about last weekend's disaster I would now go out of my way to avoid a RnR race. 

                        Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                        remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                             ~ Sarah Kay


                        Why is it sideways?

                          I see your point and agree with a lot of it.  Though I will say after having run the race in question a year ago that last year it went off pretty much without a hitch, in terms of race management.  As far as the actual race went, it was my HM PW...in large part due to the elevation, nights of not sleeping well in a strange bed, and 2nd hand smoke hell.  I still had a good time and was prepared for these things to be factors.  At any other large race without the smoke and elevation issues my actual race performance would have been better, for certain.  And I went in with the primary goal to have fun meeting and running with far-flung friends from RA.  Even though I didn't really "race" that race, it was still one of my favorite race experiences.  It seems to me a lot of people run the Monkey with similar goals...not to PR at the distance, but to race somewhere new and with good friends.

                           

                          Last year several RA runners managed PRs and BQs at Las Vegas...so a well managed "event" race doesn't have to be mutually exclusive to a race that can enable people to excel.  And for what RnR charges for these races, there's really not room for them to fuck it up as badly as they did this year.  Apparently the med tents ran out of supplies.  Race or event--that is inexcusable when there are 44k thousand people who could potentially need medical assistance.

                           

                          Even before seeing the result of this year's mismanagement I doubt I would have run another RnR race...I'm just not willing to pay that kind of money to see some crappy bands for a minute.  After learning all that I have about last weekend's disaster I would now go out of my way to avoid a RnR race. 

                           

                          Agreed with this--especially the part about medical supplies. And this movement towards this type of event is not necessarily a bad thing--I mean, heck, it is part of the reason running is getting so popular.

                           

                          I guess I'm just saying that if you want to go looking for explosive diarrhea-like-happenings in an event with 44 thousand people, you are pretty likely to find them. Especially if they are all chomping Gu and drinking Cytomax. So, I'd say half of what is brought up on this thread is probably avoidable and correctable stuff that R&R messed up, but maybe half of it is simply par for the course and only came to attention because of the bad organization that integrated the marathoners with the slower half-marathoners halfway through the course and got people upset and looking for more bad stuff to be found.

                          zoom-zoom


                          rectumdamnnearkilledem

                            but maybe half of it is simply par for the course and only came to attention because of the bad organization that integrated the marathoners with the slower half-marathoners halfway through the course and got people upset and looking for more bad stuff to be found.

                             

                            That routing thing is just one of many things they changed from last year that made this year's race a clusterfuck.  Last year both races started together and slower runners could actually get to their appropriate corrals from the get-go...because there were 16k fewer people to navigate.  The full marathon folks were diverted to the 2nd half of their race right before the HM runners headed to the finish.  That seemed to work well.  Not sure why RnR messed with a good thing. Confused

                            Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                            remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                                 ~ Sarah Kay

                            Slo


                              Large Medium or Small.

                               

                              Event, Grass roots or Homegrown.

                               

                              As long as I have my choice I'm happy.

                               

                              After participating in a planning committee for an inagural HM this year it does seem the bar has been set by the events. This only cuts into the amount of money we are able to raise for our chosen charity. When the expectation is to have music, chip timing, immediate results, gatorade, gu, parties...it gets quite expensive. On the other hand, we have a larger pool of people to pull from because of these events.

                               

                              I also learned that not only getting water to the station, getting it into cups and keeping a supply of half filled cups is a huge logistic. Trash cans and hydrants work pretty well.

                               

                              Though I hate to see (don't we all)  anyone get sick, I would like it to be the fault of Competitor though I'm pretty sure we'll learn that there is a buffet table behind the sickness. (just a gut feel...pardon the unintended pun)

                               

                              I did a no frills, grass roots type trail marathon last weekend. We threw our own little party before and after. I had a blast. I have no desire to run with 40,000 people.

                                 The diarrhea is what makes this weird.

                                 

                                Diarrhea makes everything weird.