The Chicago Marathon was this past weekend. Level Legion was well represented out there, and we got word of quite a few New Englanders running it. We had boots on the ground and got some footage of this major race. Diana Davis was deputized as a Level correspondent and captured some clips of the leaders, along with some footage of Jason Bui and another mysterious BAA runner. Also included is a quick interview with BAA elite David Bedoya.

Lindsay Willard - BAA - 2:57:17
Ruthanne Waite - SRR - 5:36:51
Adrian Bellando - SRR - 4:15:35
Jason Reilly - BAA - 2:42:13
Christina Haddad - 3:53:28
Annie Schirmacher - 3:41:14
Benai Kornell - 4:04:35
Jeff Barbieri - 3:23:53
Laurie Pouliot Ferguson - 3:17:46
Lindsey Wolfe - 3:32:43
Andrea Desantis - 4:05:35
Ross Tulloch - 3:07:00
Amiel Bowers - 5:49:09
George Thompson - 4:11:15
Jason Bui - GLRR - 2:43:35
David Pinsonneault - 2:47:18
Dan Smith - BAA- 2:31:36

Wow, that’s a lot to check up on. I’m sure we missed some too. Did you run it or know of someone else we missed? Add it on in the comments below. If you did run it we’d love to know how you did.

Thanks again to Diana for getting this to us.

As far as the runners themselves, we should be hearing from Jason Bui about his race pretty soon. David Bedoya was out there to help pace Dan Smith and Dan Martin. According to David, the goal for both was about 2:26, but they fell a bit short of that (still running a speedy 2:31 and 2:30, respectively).

Another local who made the trek was Lindsay Willard. It was a tough one for her, but despite the incredible difficulties experienced, Lindsay gutted it out and finished with a more than respectable time. Here’s what she had to say about her experience:

Certainly disappointed about Chicago after the training season I had devoted to the big day, but I learned from it and I’m going back to the basics. Hoping to heal up a little in the coming days and run Mount Desert Island next Sunday. I’m very sore and had great trouble keeping food down for the last day and a half, but I don’t have the bad lactic acid in my legs that would have come from a much faster finish. In the end I was just trying to pick up my feet and not have my stomach churn again. I knew from previous marathons where I had much worse conditions like stress fractures, torn miniscis, pneumonia, bronchitis… If I ever dropped out, I would be haunted by that mile marker in any future marathons.

My training was intense this Spring and Summer, including recovery from my April knee surgery. I was trying out new sports drinks and recovery supplements since I tend to have nasty acid reflux in marathons and tempo long runs. I was nursing a pulled hamstring from the last month as well. I think the combination of too much Advil for my hamstring micro tears, the new electrolyte drinks and chews, and not drinking much since the race was so chilly, just backfired into system failure.

I had to get blood work, an IV, and help for hypothermia and very low blood pressure and glucose levels in the medical tent after finishing. My legs kept seizing on the cot and I was pretty out of it.

Gotta respect that effort. Knowing Lindsay, we wouldn’t be surprised to see her crush it at MDI.