CONFIRMED!!!

Joanie Garmin has redeemed herself...she was correct, we definitely ran a lil bit more than 13.1 miles on Sunday for the CDC.

2008 Course Incorrectly Certified

Here is the explanation from the course certifier:

I verified the turnaround and overrun distance, per my mistype on the Chicago Distance Classic Half marathon certification turnaround point description, last night Monday 08/11/2008 around 7:15 PM.

Here are the results of my finding:
The turnaround point was extended approximately ~.1668 of a mile (~880 feet = ~268 meters) per my mistype of the turnaround point on the course description. It should have read: Turn around: Lakefront Trail (LFT), 40' 7" South of 4th light pole (W) NORTH of N.E. corner of Science Dr. and Lakeshore Drive. With that, the complete half marathon distance of 13.1094 miles was extended approximately ~.1668 of a mile to ~13.2762 miles.

As the error elongated the course and did not shorten it, there should not be a need to remove the course from the certified courses list and replace it with a new course and number. I will make the correction on the course map description and send it forward to USAT&F (copied on this email: Jay Wight) to be filed as the correct certified course so that if this course is run in the future it can be laid out correctly.

I apologize for this mistype and any problems it has caused. I take full responsibility that my mistype of the turnaround point description caused misplacement by course officials of the turnaround point on race day and extended the length of the race.

Please let me know if there is any other information you need from me, or anything else I can help with to clarify further.

My sincerest apologies,
Neyl A Marquez

Further, we are working closely with the organizers of the Chicago Marathon in make sure that the correct times are used for qualifying attempts.

—John

That's from the CDC's webpage. So, if you were in any way wondering why your splits changed about halfway through the race, there ya go! They are recalculating times and such so people can get into the correct start corrals at the Chicago Marathon, which by the way, is exactly, ONE MONTH away. In the end, this measurement error doesn't amount to much. It's not as if they took us even a half of a mile of course. But still, I'm kind of excited, and I have nooooo clue as to why!