Denison Yacht Sales in 10th Annual Palm Beaches Marathon

Thousands of shiny medals glistened as the sun rose Sunday morning over Flagler Drive, and eventually, those finishers’ medals will symbolize what the day was about for thousands of distance runners. But at least for a few hours, a more ominous set of symbols was lined up just a few feet away.

Six wheelchairs awaited at the finish line of the 10th annual Palm Beaches Marathon. All they needed were weary runners requiring assistance to reach the medical tent.

It didn’t take long for those wheelchairs to fill up.

The second-hottest Palm Beaches marathon in race history began with 77 humid degrees and spared not even the fittest of the fit.

Miami’s Bryan Sharkey sprinted to the finish tape to victory, then immediately collapsed on the asphalt and was wheeled to receive treatment. He was so weary, he didn’t recall running the last mile, but he did recall what was running through his mind while receiving an IV.

“Why do I do this? Why do I do this?” Sharkey said 45 minutes later, finally able to smile at the memory.

It was such a difficult day that runners started showing up at the medical tent as soon as the race began, said Margaret Steele, a nurse manager at St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Dehydration, cramps and delirium accounted for the bulk of the busy morning, she said as yet another limp runner was helped into her tent, each of his arms draped around the shoulders of a companion for support.

Meanwhile, organizers swapped out the yellow caution flags on the course and replaced them with red flags to warn runners to adjust their pace as the sun beat down.

No one had to tell Jennifer Sober, a personal trainer who was taking three cups of fluids at every aid station: one cup of water, one of Gatorade, and another water to dump on her head. That and a conservative approach enabled her to win the women’s title, joining Sharkey as a first-time marathon champion, with a time of 3 hours, 24 minutes, 9 seconds.

Sober is from Deep Creek Lake, Md., where it has been 20 degrees for the better part of a month.

“I was miserable there, and I was miserable in this heat, too,” she said.

Even the most accomplished runner in the field may have been affected. Marathon legend Bill Rodgers of Boston was running the half-marathon when his mind drifted and he missed the turnaround, continuing on Flagler Drive with those running the full marathon. He doubled back once he realized his error but figures he ended up running two miles too far.

“It’s a hard day, definitely,” Rodgers said. “Everyone will be slower. It’s just inevitable.”

Out of the men’s and women’s winners in the full and half-marathon divisions, Sharkey was the only winner of the four whose time — 2:43:47 over 26.2 miles — wasn’t the slowest to win his or her respective division in event history.

Sharkey paid the price, sprawling on the road as responders moved in. He began to rise, then collapsed again and was lifted into the chair by three aids, one of whom gingerly lifted each leg onto the chair’s foot flaps. With his head dangling backward, Sharkey blankly stared skyward as he was taken away.

Although it wasn’t the celebratory image organizers wanted to mark the event’s 10th birthday, the weekend by other measurements was a success.

For the first time, organizers ceased accepting applications for both the marathon (after 866 signed up) and half-marathon (with 2,592 entries), in addition to 964 marathon relay runners divided into teams of four and a few hundred more who competed in Friday night’s 5K and 10K.

On the same weekend that marathons were canceled in Dallas and Memphis because of icy conditions, West Palm Beach’s event was about what could be expected of a race that ends at a giant sand sculpture of a Christmas tree.

“We advertise the beaches, We advertise summer. We advertise South Florida this way,” race organizer Frankie Ruiz of U.S. Road Sports & Entertainment Group said. “It’s not like we’re advertising with snow-covered finish lines. Sometimes you get lucky. Other times you don’t.”

Another unlucky break occurred seconds before race announcer Dave Ragsdale was about to give the command for wheelchair racers to start.

Police decided not to give the go-ahead until the entire course was barricaded, negating organizers’ plans of securing the final few miles while runners were covering the first few miles. The race finally began at 6:47 a.m., 17 minutes later than planned.

It was yet another hurdle for those who trained for months for this day and were not about to give in easily. West Palm Beach’s Molly Ragsdale, 50, is Dave’s wife and a personal trainer whose clients lined the sidewalk to cheer her on. Not finishing, she said, was not an option. She placed second in the marathon.

Runner-up in the men’s division was Carlos Abellan, a Spaniard studying in New York who also paid a price.

“My legs are so painful now, I can’t talk,” he said. Actually, he could, likely offering a refrain uttered more than a few times when he was asked if his first marathon might be his last.

“Right now, I feel like hell, so I don’t want to think about other marathons,” he said. “But I guess tomorrow, I will think better and I will think about other marathons.”

Perhaps by then, he won’t be holding onto the sight of Sharkey, the man he couldn’t catch, get taken away in a wheelchair.

Instead, he’ll be holding onto his shiny medal. Proof he, and many others, made it after all.

Source: Palm Beach Post