The Novelty of the New

Labor Day was hot & crowded on Chicago's Lakefront trail. I wanted to get in one last 13 mile run before the Chicago half marathon on Sept. 9.
I only ran 7.  Was it the heat?  No. I think it was a boring routine.  I was staying on parts of the trail that had clearly marked mileage signs.  I was trying to insure that I'd run eleven minute miles.  Also, I was running on a course I had run over and over and....

Enough!  Next Sunday I would be running somewhere new.  Well actually, it was in part of a neighborhood I used to live in.  But for running purposes, it was new.
In the days before the Half, I tapered back my regimen, doing striders.

The final result.  Sub eleven minute miles, and a time of about two hours and eighteen minutes.