Chicago Marathon
I participated as a medical volunteer for Chicago Marathon. Chicago Marathon is one of the six races of World Marathon Majors (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York). 45,000 runners participated for the race. Chicago Marathon is one of the biggest race in the world. The marathon is one of the fastest race because the corse is relatively flat. It was very nice weather for running this year. Temperature was mid 50s-60s.
Medical Volunteers
1,400 medical volunteers were participated for the event this year. I was very amazed that such a number of medical professionals were volunteered. These medical professionals were Medical Doctor, Athletic Trainer, Registered Nurse, Physical Therapist, Massage Therapist and their students. It was great to be a part of such a big even as a medical professional. I worked at Aid Station #20 that was located at 25th Mile.
Cramping, Cramping, Cramping…
I saw many runners who suffered from muscle cramping because the location was close to the finish line. I took care of them as much as I could. Most of them went back to running after treatment to finish the race. They wanted to finish the race since they had trained so hard for long time for this race. I totally understood their feeling.
Working together again
I worked as a certified athletic trainer (ATC). It was great to work with other medical professionals. It was very honer to help such great runners. Also, I was very glad to work again with Dr. Nicola from UIC. I had worked with him for 10 years at UIC as an athletic trainer. He is well a known doctor for runners in Chicago area and has served for running events as MD for years.
From Japan
Medical doctors from Japan were at the race to observe the medical support system of the race. I had a chance to meet them at the Aid Station. They will host Nagoya Women’s Marathon in April. I hope that information they got from this race will help them to host their marathon race.
Great Experience
It was awesome experience to work as a medical volunteer for Chicago Marathon. I learned a lot of new things from this event. It was great to work with other medical professionals and to get to know each other. And, all runners did great job!