Strange mishaps can easily derail a marathon.
At the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon 10 years ago, the female winner was disqualified for using headphones for a few miles. At last year's Cleveland marathon, the top prize was taken away because the winner wore a T-shirt over his bib number for part of the race.
And a few years ago at the Illinois half-marathon, some of the lead runners went the wrong way.
"We were distraught over that happening," said Julie Mills, elite athlete coordinator for the Illinois Marathon.
As the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon builds a reputation among elite runners, the race directors are beginning to pull out the stops to make the race as professional as possible and avert disasters.