I have to laugh at all the hoopla surrounding Robert K. Cheruiyot, the 28-year-old Kenyan who won last October's Chicago Marathon in 2:07:14, as if that is some sort of great accomplishment. Big deal, he managed to run through a bunch of city streets at the speed of a typical bicycle messenger. For that he won $125,000? I question how he'd do in a real marathon, like the one being held in the city tomorrow.
The Chicago papers made much of how Cheruiyot's superior training enabled him to battle through the cold, damp, blustery weather and hold off his countryman, second-place finisher Daniel Njenga, who ran five seconds behind. Cheruiyot told reporters he prepared for the race by running in the Ngong Hills, near Nairobi.
I doubt that would do him much good in the Chicago marathon being run March 17, on St. Patrick's Day. In fact, he has not registered for the race. "What is Cheruiyot, 6-feet-2, 143 pounds?" sniffed one of the entrants. "He doesn't have the body to compete."
Few people do. The St. Patrick's Day Marathon requires a man or woman of strength, stamina, size and appetite. The rules are simple. Race time is 11:30 a.m., when the bar at Harry Caray's Restaurant (33 W. Kinzie St., Web site), in downtown Chicago, opens. Contestants down one beer, then race out the door, run one block west and head north on Clark Street, stopping for a beer at every bar along the way, till one contestant is left standing.
The first year of the Marathon, 1998, the winner a former frat boy who is now an executive at a firm that prides itself on the maturity of its employees, and thus prefers to remain anonymous got as far as Mickey's, just north of Fullerton Ave., 2.7 miles away. His time: 6:02:46.
As with all sports, new, sophisticated training techniques have led to improved performance times. "Starting a week before the marathon, I adjust my diet and eat a hearty breakfast eggs, bacon, pancakes, lightly buttered toast," said "Milwaukee" Peter, who has participated in four marathons.
"Nothing spicy, just solid ballast. Then I carry a six-pack into the den, switch on SportsCenter and slowly, methodically begin to drink. I don't rush; it's not about haste. It's about acclimating your body, like a mountain climber preparing to summit Mount Everest."
Last year's winner, a 27-year-old salesman from Sheboygan, Wis., got as far as the 3500 block of Clark Street, near Wrigley Field a course-record 4.4 miles. His time: 9:34:09. "It's like the Bermuda Triangle," said "Milwaukee" Peter, who finished a close second, fading two establishments short of Mr. Sheboygan. "Forty businesses on a single block, almost half of them bars. It swallows every human who enters."
As it certainly would a wisp of a fellow like Cheruiyot. Registration is still open. See you at Harry Caray's.
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