Weather looks fine -- well, it won't be in the 90s -- for Chicago Marathon

If Carey Pinkowski has learned anything during his two decades as the executive race director of the Chicago Marathon, it's that there are elements out of his control. Like the weather.

Two years ago, with heavy humidity and temperatures soaring into the high 80s, the race was stopped after about four hours because of health concerns. Hundreds of participants collapsed or vomited in the heat and a man with a heart disorder died. In all, 184 runners went to hospitals.

It wasn't ideal last year, either, with the temperature climbing from 65 at the start to the high 70s while the elite runners were still on the course before reaching 84 in late morning. There weren't nearly as many problems, though 76 runners had to go to hospitals.

It'll be much cooler this Sunday. The forecast calls for partly cloudy conditions, a high temperature of 50 and a 20 percent chance of rain.

"Mother Nature, it looks like she's swinging the pendulum in a little different direction than we've had over the past couple of years, but we'll be ready for it," Pinkowski said Thursday. "Our participants are ready for it."

This will be the 32nd running of the race and 45,000 runners are registered. In 1989, the year before Pinkowski took over as director, there were 7,269 starters and 5,635 finishers.

The men's field features Beijing Olympics gold medalist Sammy Wanjiru, who also won the London Marathon in April. Fellow Kenyan Evans Cheruiyot is back to defend the Chicago Marathon title he won last year.

The women's field features defending champion Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia, German star Irina Mikitenko, who has won the last three marathons she entered, and American Deena Kastor, the 2005 Chicago champion.

The 36-year-old Kastor will be running her first marathon since she was forced to leave the marathon in Beijing because of a broken foot.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, less than a week after Chicago lost its bid to host the 2016 Olympics, attended the news conference Thursday and presented Pinkowski with a sign for an honorary street bearing the director's name.

The Chicago Marathon is sponsored by Bank of America