Apologize already. Sheesh!

In Chicago there is an ongoing debate about who is to blame for the marathon going as poorly as it did. Some people think the weather. Some people blame the runners for not knowing their limits. Some people blame the marathon committee. And, that would be me.

The weather, to be sure, was terrible. The runners, some of them I'm sure were morons and pushed themselves into illness, and those people have only themselves to blame.

However, the fact that the marathon didn't provide almost a quarter of its runners with any sort of liquid for the first eight miles...is frankly, dangerously negligent.

This is the quote from the 2007 Chicago marathon race director, Carey Pinkowski, that makes my blood boil:

"Is there anything we could have done better? No," Pinkowski said, taking a nervous sip from a water bottle. (Not kidding.) "We anticipated the weather. I'm very proud of the way things went."

Here's the full article. This is so ridiculous.

Here's some video footage where you can see basically the same thing I saw.

The only thing they did right was end it.

They claim that there was enough water...but...in talking out of both sides of their mouth...they say, if there wasn't, it was because earlier racers poured too much drinking water over themselves to cool down. Then...they said there was water, but we were too impatient to wait for people to pour it.

Considering everyone around me was walking after mile 7, I'm pretty sure no one was so worried about their "time" that they couldn't wait for someone to fill up a cup. Such bunk.

Spin. Spin. Spin.

Doesn't anyone care about the truth anymore? If I were the Olympic committee, what would give me pause is the excuses and denials they are making, rather than sincere concern...or the willingness to make things better.

The race director is also apparently shocked and surprised that racers would pour glasses of water on themselves. Um...that happens in any 5k over 65 degrees to bring heart rates and core body temps down. If you don't know that in 90 degree heat people are going to douse themselves with the only water available on the race course, then you are clearly incompetent and shouldn't be allowed to run a race like this.

This event was so grossly mismanaged, and the best part is they've been nothing but insulting ever since, pointing absolute blame at the athletes. And people are jumping on the bandwagon...people who basically admit that they don't know what they are talking about. I love this guy from the Tribune. What a maroon.

Don't get me wrong. I understand where that opinion comes from, and I would probably feel the same way if the race had provided everything they promised would be there, and people were pushing themselves into illness anyway. But, that's really not how things went down.

First of all, water and Gatorade isn't a luxury that the event is being nice enough to provide us with. It's a necessity...and we paid for it. (The race took in $5,000,000 from the racers alone, not counting any other sponsors or advertisers.) Gatorade and water is tantamount to air in terms of being essential to compete in an event like this.

I'm not sure I would have started the race had I known their promises of ice and misters weren't actually going to be there...and certainly wouldn't have if I'd known about the lack of fluids.

And, frankly, I'm disgusted by Carey Pinkowski's continual finger-pointing at the athletes. Why wouldn't you just say, "Hey, there were clearly reported problems and we're going to have an independent investigation to look into what went wrong so it doesn't happen again." And then...investigate it.

You should WANT to know where you screwed up. How can you get better if you don't know what went wrong in your plan? Stop sitting there shrugging your shoulders and trying to spin this disaster into a victory of some kind. It's a train wreck! You need to apologize, take stock, and make certain this never happens again.

Just to give you some perspective of how truly ridiculous this was, here's the quote from one volunteer at mile 19 aid station.

"We only had two bags of ice to begin with," he said. "We thought we'd get more, but then we found out that was our whole supply for the day."

2 bags of ice...let's see. 2 bags of ice, in 90 degree heat over 6 hours, divided by 36,000 runners. Hmmm...yeah, that sounds right. Are we sure we need two whole bags?

Then this:

Jay Shefsky, volunteering at the 10-mile point, said runners were arriving parched.

"Almost whenever I was handing out Gatorade, often I would hear the runners say, 'This is the first Gatorade I've gotten,'" he said. "And this was the 10-mile mark."

Sharon Pines, 57, also passing out drinks at the 10-mile mark, said volunteers were forced to refill a 2-foot water cooler at a nearby restaurant and reuse cups runners had thrown to the ground. After scrambling for almost an hour, she said, volunteers discovered a truck full of supplies parked nearby -- but by then most of the runners had passed.

Yes, I mean...clearly Carey Pinkowski should be proud of the way things went.

Yikes.

What he should be is ashamed of himself for his post-race comments, and frankly, out of a job.