Lesson Not Learned

October is a funny month. You can go from warm days that rival the summer months to night time frost warnings. Tomorrow looks to be one of those days that might, again, throw a wrench in the Chicago Marathon:

• The Bank of America Chicago Marathon plans to add five more aid stations and a lot more water and water-soaked sponges along the race route this year to avoid a repeat of the heat-induced debacle that shut down last year's marathon, organizers said today.

  With temperatures expected to approach or exceed 80 degrees, race organizers said they plan to add more supplies at more stations, bananas and power gels for quick energy boosts and additional misting locations.

We hope we're wrong. We hope every contingency has been addressed. But we still wonder why:

• they don't move this thing to the last week of October when the chances for milder weather are better;
  
• they don't start at 0600 hours to beat the heat;
• they don't institute a qualifying time like Boston and New York do to keep the worst amateurs from coming here and killing themselves.

Any of those things could reduce the chances of a fatality or hospitalization by magnitudes.