Going that extra mile

There is an article in the Trib this morning about how the Lakeshore Marathon and Half Marathon run this past Monday here in Chicago were both a mile too long. E and I saw some mile markers for this race during our walk and I assumed that the race was long over by then because I only saw a few mile markers. But then we saw a water station and a couple of runners and I realized that it was still going on. In addition to the extra mile in both races and the lack of mile markers, the half marathon was so poorly marked that the initial female leader got lost. She was told the wrong way to run and added an additional mile to her run before getting back on track. The article doesn't mention another problem that I noticed. The path wasn't cleared of pedestrians, dogs, or bicyclists, so the runners had to deal with a lot of traffic on the race course. I have participated in a poorly set-up race before, but nothing of this magnitude. While a lot of the runners were upset because they hoped to get Boston-qualifying times, I would be more upset about how the poor course would affect my overall experience during the run. Even under the most perfect conditions, racing is a challenge, but should be fun. A runner should be more focused on concentrating on doing their best, then worrying about getting lost. Oh and I should mention that Betty, my brother Chip, and I briefly contemplated doing this half marathon a few months ago. Good thing we thought better of it.