Chicago Chaos

Well first it was O'Leary's cow that created mayhem in Chicago and then there were the riots outside the 1968 Democratic convention and more recently it city headlines have been about the escalating numbers of homicides.Some pretty big things have taken place which puts into perspective the problems surrounding the Bank of America Chicago marathon registration fiasco this year.

I have run the past two years through the Windy City.and I must say it's an amazing experience! The crowded streets of 45 thousand lined with spectators nearly the entire route on a flat fast course is tough to beat. I decided to make it three years in a row and had my card in hand last week to register the moment registration opened. Unfortunately after going through all the registration steps, I was booted off the active.com website with the last step undone. Then there was word that the site was closed due to substantial failures with the registration process. By the time the smoke cleared the word was that 30,000 made it in and 15,000 spots were left to be filled when a fair system was in place for the final third of the field. I found myself on the outside looking in and realized that my goals for the year would face an immediate threat.

In honesty, I struggled to justify doling out the escalating fees to get in the race. It left me wondering if it was worth it to try to get one of the last slots with all the chaos that swirled around first day registration. Here was an elite marathon trying squeeze a little more from runners while floundering in serving their participants' registrations and sounding confused with information sent to the unregistered. Maybe it was pride but I thought, I am not going to be like some puppy waiting by the table of its master for a scrap or in runner's terms a bib number.

I decided not to wait and searched for a closer marathon that serves as a Boston Qualifier. I was relieved to see that there was one just an hour away in Columbus for nearly 100.00 less! I immediately decided it was time for decisive action and so by the end of the day of "so called" registration for Chicago, I found a bargain with less headaches.

I hope this serves as a lesson to the greedy who view marathons not as a sport but as a business... not as passion but as profits. I hope Chicago coordinators take a hard look at the way they handled the 2013 marathon registration and figure out a way not to treat people as cattle but as a community of people who love the experience of running in what has had a reputation as one of the great marathons in the world. So this year I run the streets of Columbus which cut through the Ohio State stadium onto the field from where the Buckeyes football team emerges to the cheer of the crowd. So "GO BUCKS!"