The opening press conference for the 2003 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon featured local dignitaries, including Mayor Daley, Norm Bobins, chief executive officer, LaSalle Bank and executive race director Carey Pinkowski. Master of ceremonies was Mike Adamle, sports director for CBS2. About 200 people attended.

Here are some quick takes from the rostrum:

Mayor Daley: "Carey, you've done a tremendous job." Enough said.

Norm Bobins: "My only job is writing the check. Everyone else does the work!"

Carey Pinkowski: "I don't think there's a department in the city that isn't involved. It really is a team effort."

Svetlana Zakharova of Russia: "Good luck to all the runners. On behaf of all the elite runners, we promise to run our best race." Zakharova ran a Russian record 2:21:31 here last year, placing fifth. She followed up by winning the Boston Marathon in April and placing ninth at the World Championships Marathon in August.

Daniel Njenga of Kenya: "I am very happy to be running in Chicago again. I was second, and I hope on Sunday I am going to run a good one." Other notes and quotes from around the press room . . . . Hotels reportedly have overbooked rooms substantially this year and many runners have been scrambling at the last minute to find rooms.

Mexican standout Adriana Fernandez reportedly has been forced to withdraw because of an undisclosed injury. Fernandez won the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs at the Pan American Games this past summer and had been considered a threat to win.

Lidia Simon of Romania, who placed second at the Sydney Olympic Marathon to Naoko Takahashi, said that when the Japanese star threw off her sunglasses before pulling away for the victory, it was not intended to be a show of intimidation. Simon said it just happened, no more, no less. Simon, who had her first child last December, is racing seriously for the first time since giving birth. She says she's at 90 percent.

Kayoko Obata has four consecutive top-10 finishes in Chicago. The Japanese runner, whose PR is 2:25:14, said she never has felt better coming into Chicago.

Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania is known for starting fast and fading. She said she plans to try a new strategy on Sunday. Will she stay with the pack? We'll see.

Designated pacers for Sunday's race are Gert Thys (2:06:33 PR) and Hendrick Ramaala (2:09:43), both from The Republic of South Africa. "We'll follow instructions," Ramaala said. Word is they might be assigned a very fast pace.

Sue Pinkowski, wife of Carey, who gave birth to the couple's second child in August, took her first run in more than a year on Thursday. "The doctor said it was OK," she said. But added she won't be running any marathons any time soon!

Mark Steinle, currently the top marathon runner from Great Britain off his 2:09:17 at London this year, isn't too worried about the course. He has no plans to view it ahead of time. "I'll see it when I run it," Steinle said.

That's it for today . . . Check in with us for more news throughout the weekend!