In case you didn't notice, the following quotes are from the Duluth newspaper: "For the second-straight year, race officials put out a black flag along the course telling competitors to be cautious of the warm conditions. The flag was raised at 8:30 a.m., an hour after the marathon’s start and two hours after the start of the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon." and "Last year’s Grandma’s Marathon, run in humid conditions, saw 533 runners visit the finish line medical tent. Thirteen needed hospital attention. Saturday’s 31st Grandma’s Marathon, run in warm temperatures, had 509 medical tent visits. Twenty-eight runners were sent to St. Mary’s Medical Center. 'We can’t say that this is the hottest Grandma’s or even the busiest Grandma’s for our medical staff, but we did have more runners than last year requiring hospital attention. We had some runners who were a lot sicker,’' race medical director Steve Harrington said."

I didn't see any black flags either, and I'm kinda glad I didn't. I don't think my brain needed any additional reasons to pack it in. I was already having a hard enough time convincing myself to keep going.