My Pittsburgh Marathon Relay Experience, (Alternatively: How I almost died in a bus fire)

OK, that title may be a bit dramatic.  Let me start from the beginning:

On Sunday, I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay.  The name is relatively descriptive, but here's exactly what that means: 5 people comprise a team that together completes the 26.1 miles of the marathon course.  The first year medical school class had two teams competing.  I ran the second leg (4.8 miles) for my team and LOVED doing it.  Along the course there were so many supporters in addition to some amazing local bands (Around mile 3, one group was singing "Don't Stop Believing" - very motivational).  I know I haven't really written anything about running, but I have been following a structured training plan for about 2 and half months now.  Unfortunately, I've been battling an unstoppable upper respiratory infection the past few days, but even still I was very happy with my pace.  When I got to the end of my leg and handed off to my teammate, I was feeling great - proud of myself for actually finishing with no stopping/walking/significant slowing down.  I got my medal and headed toward the shuttle bus pick-up that would take me back to the start of the race where I had left my car.

The line for the shuttle bus seemed to go on forever; I think a lot of spectators use it to see their runners at multiple points in the course.  Two different buses pulled up, filled up, and left before I finally got on one.  After standing and waiting for the first runner to hand off to me then running 4.8 miles, sitting down felt pretty damn good.  I settled into a seat near the back of the bus and thought, and we were off.  A few minutes into the ride while we were at a red light, I noticed in a store front window that the reflection of the bus was surrounded with a thick smoky fog.  It did not, for even a second, cross my mind that the "fog" was coming from the bus.  One of the guys who was sitting in the last seat of the bus called out, "Hey bus driver!  I think you might be smoking back here."  The bus driver may not have heard him, or simply may have ignored him, but regardless, the bus lurched forward.  As we drove down Carson Street, I noticed a pedestrian was point at the back of the bus.  There was no mistaking it, he was yelling "Fire!"  The bus driver pushed down on the accelerator, and smoke came up through vents in the floor of bus.  There was only one thing to think at this point: Oh, shit.

Feeling a bit more proactive about the whole thing, the back of the bus got the driver's attention and he pulled over.  We evacuated, luckily no crazy evacuation strategies were needed, because I can tell you right now that was not going through one of those ceiling emergency exits.

This was just not going to happen for me.

We all stood on the side of the road while the bus continued to smoke.  Slowly, as it cooled down, the smoking stopped.  At this point I was (1) cold, due to the combination of rain and my own sweat, (2) tired, and (3) hungry, and cursing myself that I didn't grab a complimentary banana when I finished.  We stood.  And stood. And stood some more.  Some of the other marathoners got so anxious about standing that they formed a mutiny, yelled at the bus driver about not proactively seeking assistance (he radioed that we needed help, but did a really bad job of stressing any type of urgency), and then decided they were better off walking.  My car was parked 4.2 miles away (google maps confirms this).  Walking was just not going to happen.  Instead I made friends with my fellow stranded runners, and talked about those weird five-toed shoes and Pittsburgh-area hotels.  Finally, 1 hour and 15 minutes later (yes, I stood in the rainy cold for 75 minutes!), another bus came to rescue us.

I suppose that "near death experience" is a little exaggerated, but still it was definitely a less than pleasant experience.

In other news, I'm done with actual classes - one exam to go before summer!

Brittany