October 15th 2007 11:37 pm
Annoying items in the Tribune, part 1 in a series
From Voice of The People on October 13, 2007 (section 1, page 21):
I ran the Chicago Marathon for the frist time in 1996. There were 18,000 runners. When the organizers opened this race to a potential 45,000 runners, they prostituted the race. That is the cause of the disaster on Sunday
Really?
Seriously?
The problems with the running of the 2007 Chicago Marathon are entirely due to raising the cap from 40,000 to 45,000 potential participants? Unseasonable warmth and some bad planning had nothing to do with it?
It seems a stretch of the definition of prostitution to include a 12.5% increase in runners when the previous year’s sign-up slots were filled in May. When I watched my friend Dan Knapp run in the 2005 marathon, the entire experience was probably the most inspirational moment I’ve been witness to. Seeing the approximately 40,000 runners, seeing them run under me from on top of one of the bridges near the starting point, seeing all the people who woke up early on a Sunday morning to watch friends and loved ones, was seeing an amazing thing.
Adding 5,000 more runners, and the friends and families of 5,000 more runners isn’t prostituting the event, it’s making it more awesome.
3 Comments »
Ryan on 22 Oct 2007 at 10:57 pm #
I am in agreement with you. And why would you run with Bill Frist in 1996. Frist won his first term in 1994, meaning that any subsequent runs prior to 2000 but post ‘94 would be merely exercise. Like running. This person lost me from the frist sentence.
Scott on 23 Oct 2007 at 11:48 pm #
Ryan, I think you’ve spent too much time reading nonsensical email spam; you have the syntax down eerily well.
Ryan on 24 Oct 2007 at 6:54 pm #
Also: prostitutes? Bill Frist runs with whores. Get it straight.