* Eric Zorn starts off a blog post with this unbelievably goofy quote from LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon executive director Carey Pinkowski….

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

What’s so bizarre about this comment is it was made today. After one runner died and hundreds ended up in the hospital.

Zorn comments…

Sunday’s event was calamitous, as these things go — one runner dead, hundreds hospitalized, thousands angry at what they say was a lack of fluids on the course — and Pinkowski is only making it worse by offering excuses, pointing the finger at others and otherwise trying to spin the story

* Once again, Pinkowski…

“Our participants were not drinking the water, they were cooling themselves with it,” Pinkowski said. “That’s something that, I’ll be honest with you, we didn’t anticipate.”

Don’t runners often douse themselves with water, particularly when it’s a hot day? I certainly did back in the (very long ago) day when I ran cross-country races.

* And what about that claim made by runners and initially disputed by organizers that the aid stations ran out of water (notice Zorn’s hedging on this topic above)?

Over at Illinoize, John Ruberry displays this video about one aid station that clearly ran out of water, which completely contradicts marathon organizers’ earlier assertions that they had plenty of fluids and that nobody ran dry…

Ruberry links to Running Jayhawk, who posts this account of the race…

First water stop?

Nothing.

I took some water from my fuel belt and kept on. The energy from the spectators was great. Everyone was so encouraging and excited for the race. We turn to go down LaSalle…over the river…and to the next water stop.

Nothing.

A few blocks later I run by my parents. I didn’t even stop. All I could do was yell to them “GET GATORADE FOR MILE 11. THEY’RE OUT OF EVERYTHING.”

* Zorn thinks Pinkowski is the right guy to fix things. I can’t understand why. Pinkowski presided over a colossal failure and then claims everything went according to plan.

Then again, Pinkowski’s spin is no different than much of what we’ve seen out of the White House, the governor’s office and the 5th Floor at city hall. Flatly deny that the disaster/meltdown/etc. exists even when everyone can plainly see it with their own eyes and dozens of actual victims/participants/reporters dispute the false propaganda. Then, when finally busted cold claim that, well, maybe some mistakes “were made” but they certainly couldn’t have been foreseen, despite common sense to the contrary.