Marathon Pundit: Chicago Marathon: Keep Pinkowski in charge

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn, like myself, knows Chicago Marathon Race Director Carey Pinkowski pretty well, and I have to agree with Zorn that Pinkowski uttered a whopper of a misstatement at Monday's post-marathon press conference:

Is there anything we could have done better? No. We anticipated the weather. I'm very proud of the way things went...

Well, he shouldn't be. Even if this was the only aid station that ran out of water and Gatorade, and it apparently wasn't, Pinkowski owes Sunday's participants and the aid station volunteers a deep, sincere apology. After all, runners had to shell out $110 to enter the race.

Many people, runners and non-runners alike, are calling for Pinkowski to resign. Here is Zorn's take:

His PR stumbles notwithstanding, Carey Pinkowski is still the guy I'd want instituting those reforms.

I agree. And let me put the situation into perspective. When Pinkowski took over as race director in 1990, the race was still suffering from the stigma of being cancelled in 1988 after its chief sponsor, Beatrice Foods, abruptly pulled out. By 1991, the marathon had no title sponsor, and half of the race course was pushed onto Lake Shore Drive, out of the neighborhoods because residents viewed the race as an extreme annoyance. Slowly Pinkowksi got the race, bit by bit, back into the neighborhoods, where for the most part it was eagerly welcomed by inhabitants of the many Chicago communities it now passes through.

In 1994, LaSalle Bank (which was acquired this year by the Bank of America) became the title sponsor, and it later purchased the race outright--keeping Pinkowski in charge. In the early 1990s, the marathon averaged about 8,000 entrants, within a few years after LaSalle took over, the number of participants doubled, then doubled again--up to the point that the race sold out at 45,000 entrants. This year that 45,000 cap was reached six months before race day.

All this time, I have to reiterate, Carey Pinkowski was at the helm. While the "back-of-the-pack" grew, the elite side of the event was not overlooked by Pinkowski, who was an All-American runner for Villanova University before he entered race management. In 1999 Khalid Khannouchi set a new men's record for the marathon in Chicago; Catherine "The Great" Ndereba in 2000, then Paula Radcliffe in 2001, did the same in regards to the women's world record for a 26.2 mile effort.

Keep Pinkowski and let him, in Zorn's words, "institute those reforms."

Zorn has run three marathon and can write with authority on the subject. The same can't be said for his co-worker Mike Downey. (Free registration is required for the link.)

Nearly 10,000 of the people who filed entries for this 30th annual race were smart enough not to run it.

Here's a little known fact about major urban marathons. Many of them, such as New York, Marine Corps in Washington, and of course Chicago, sell out months in advance. The first two use a lottery system to decide who gets in, but once you are chosen, you have to pay up. Chicago, as I wrote above, was booked up in April. A herd instinct drives people to sign up for races that they may be thinking of running, or they have every intention of running, but aren't able to on race day. Injuries are the chief reason people stayed home when this year's Chicago Marathon came around, but non-running distractions--new jobs, new responsibilities, illnesses, a pregnancy, or a change of mind months earlier brought that no-show count up to 10,000. Take a look at the other sold-out Chicago Marathons, and you'll find a similar number of absentees. Runners are a determined lot--too determined sometimes--so it's my firm belief that very few decided to throw in their non-sweaty towel when they heard Sunday's weather forecast.

Once again, I have to revisit media reports of the race. Yes, some people, too many, had a horrible experience on Sunday, and the race suffered a fatality--which was not the first Chicago Marathon death. But a lot of runners toughed it out and finished--some like myself drastically slowing down to ensure a successful completion of the race, others patiently walked it in.

But I'm still getting calls and e-mails from people wondering if I'm in the hospital or bedridden, which is what they believe was the fate of almost every runner that took part in Sunday's race because of what they saw on TV or read in the newspaper. I am fine. I ran a little bit on Monday, a little more on Tuesday, and I plan to run a little bit more later this morning. But then I'll take a couple days off.

Am I nuts? Probably. Determined? Absolutely. After all, I've run 29 marathons.

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