The Novelty of the New, Part 2

Even though my last training run was only seven miles, I figured that running  on a new course would add to the excitement, and carry me to the end.  Running all the way NO WALKING!  (OK, maybe a slow trot to the water stations.)  With such a new event as  the Chicago Half Marathon would be, I had to be careful not to get too excited,and run too fast in the beginning. I had predicted a finish of 2:24, based mostly on 11 minute miles.How would I  to keep myself at this pace?  Treat the first miles as a sightseeing tour.

My family moved to an apartment at 67th & South Shore when we moved to Chicago.  OK, it's not exactly on the corner, but it's tall enough to be seen.  If you're familiar with South Shore & Hyde Park, then you can see that in the beginning, the course winds through parts of Jackson Park

It's been a long time since I was down to the old neighborhood, so I would try to gawk and sight see as much as I could in the beginning, without tripping over people or cracks in the street. 
(I have no experience in road construction, so I'd like to know why asphalt cracks at the top of the street  crown.  There were large "transverse cracks" ie. cracks along the length of some streets. Those made me nervous.)
Oh yes, another factor that would slow me down: There were over 12,000 entrants to the Chicago half Marathon.
I wore two stopwatches.  One was to keep total race time, and the other was to check the times between various mile posts.  My early readings showed times slightly below eleven minutes.  Good enough.  Save it for the last few miles on the way back.
Once I left Jackson Park, I turned onto Lake Shore Drive, and was treated to very smooth pavement.  Fantastic!  We had cool weather, and some breeze.  Running on Lake Shore Drive was a reward for evenings spent running (and tripping over) uneven sidewalks, while worrying about cars pulling out of alleys.) There was enough room to settle into a groove without worrying about running up on someone too soon.

I kept the 10:50-ish a mile pace until the 11th mile, when I increased to 10:30.  By the last mile I was too busy weaving my way past slower runners to reset my other watch.  I was also remembering a t-shirt I saw at the pre-race expo that said: "13 and that point 1 is a killer."
Not an exact quote, but that point-one seemed to take forever!  Past the front of the Museum of Science and Industry, and then there was a finish line....um somewhere.  I don't remember the details.

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.