Whether the Weather...

The forecast for the marathon Sunday looked really favorable - until yesterday. When I woke up and checked weather.com, the prediction had actually improved. Weather models had been calling for lows in the 50s, highs in the upper 60s and some cloud cover. Yesterday morning the model had changed to show highs only in the middle 60s and complete cloud cover. Woohoo! I was elated.

Then just before my run last night I heard the weatherman on the radio call for a high of 77! And lows starting in the lower 60s. And he predicted sunshine during the day. That was a ten degree jump! By the time I got home last night, weather.com had been updated to show the same thing, WGN TV offered identical information, and the final word, The Chicago Marathon had already sent out a weather advisory e-mail warning of warmer than optimal weather on race day.

It gave me an eerie feeling, because this same kind of thing happened a year ago: Everyday the forecasted temperatures creeped higher and higher until we woke up on race morning to a steam bath, and I was sweating just standing still before the race. And oh, the irony, that just today in the Tribune, there was an article about how pleased the race officials were about the cool, gloomy forecast. The headlines said things like "Marathon won't be 2007 redux."

Ok, maybe I'm overreacting. A little. After all, the predicted temps should still be 10 to 15 degrees cooler than last year. They're also calling for a steady breeze all day. The humidity should be lower, and overall temperatures will, hopefully, be cooler near the lakefront where the majority of the race is run.

There's a low pressure front moving across the northern midwest this week. The sooner it gets to Chicago, the sooner the weather will cool off. It's currently supposed to arrive Monday night/Tuesday morning. Let's hope it finds a strong finishing kick at gets to the area a little early!