Chicago Marathon registration begins today

Five months after a race that can only be called a fiasco, registration opens today for the 2008 Chicago Marathon. The race has a new sponsor, the Bank of America.

Last fall's race gained unwanted national attention after thousands of runners, on an unseasonably hot-and-humid day, faced empty water and gatorade tables during their 26.2 mile effort. An estimated 200 runners were taken to hospitals, mostly for heat stroke. One runner died.

A nurse working at a nearby hospital told me that her facility's emergency room exceeded capacity--fallen runners were taken to conference rooms with electric fans hastily brought in to assist their cooling off. She assured me they all ended up fine, however.

Chicago ambulances were in short supply that day, some suburban crews called in to assist got lost, incuding the crew from Niles that transported the runner who later died to the wrong hospital.

A bad day for Chicago and the Chicago Marathon.

I know Carey Pinkoswki, the longtime executive director of the race, and I believe he's the man to fix the problems from last year's event. The City, if it wants its 2016 Summer Olympics bid to succeed, obviously needs to make improvements in its 911 dispatch system.

And as I have every year since 1990, I'll be running this year's Chicago Marathon. As for myself, last year's race wasn't that bad. I slowed down, and I did't let the heat overpower me. I'm at mile 24 in the picture--I was feeling okay there, as I did at the finish line a few minutes later. The signs behind me, "It's Gonna Happen," were correct.

Sadly, I encountered my last collaped runner, of the dozen I saw, four hundred yards from the finish. Damn...he was so close.

Related posts:

A participant's view of the cancelled Chicago Marathon: UPDATED

Water station mayhem at Chicago Marathon

Chicago Marathon: Ambulance driver got lost, took dead runner to wrong hospital

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