Running in Chicago: The Lakefront

As I prep to run my first 16 miler in Norfolk, I really miss the lake front path where I'd run my long runs south and my shorter (up to 11 miles) going north, so here is a photo summary of running along the Lakefront.

The John Hancock tower (shown in the back) was ~0.5 miles from my house, so as I ran up and down the lakefront, I could judge about how far I was from home by looking up and seeing the Hancock tower.

The best part of the Lake Front was the ability to jump in the water at the end of my run. In fact, after the Chicago Rock & Roll half Marathon I waded straight into the water and swam 0.5 miles very slowly back to my apartment. Then I climbed right out of the water with a convenient pool-style ladder and walked the last ~1/8 mile to my apartment.

This was also great for cross training, where my friend Connor joined me for a few aqua jogging sessions where we jogged along and gossiped. He even pointed out that it felt like we were two ladies pushing kids along in strollers; quite a wonderful time!

There was an underpass for me to go under Lake Shore drive onto the Lake Shore path so I did not encounter traffic on my way to my run. Many of these images were taken during my morning run. These two pictures show the beginning, looking out over the water just after the underpass.

If I ran down south, then I would come to the navy pier, a place of tourists where I could only run early in the morning. Otherwise it would be so crowded that it would be easier to play red rover with professional football players than to continue running through that crowd unimpeded.

 This is the North side of the Pier, looking back out over the city and out over the water in the morning sunrise. These pictures were taken ~5:30a.m. during a morning jaunt.










Then the end of the pier, looking over an anchor statue past many american flags towards the light house in the distance.

 The south side of the pier, looking over South side Chicago.













At the end of the pier, you continue south by this statue. Then over the bridge, where you could look back at the pier to continue down the path

Chicago's architecture if you chose to go back along the Riverwalk was spectacular. I really like this building with the rounded car parking below. Sadly, it also meant very long elevator commutes (It can take more than 5 minutes to get an elevator)

On Saturdays, the Rehab Institute of Chicago will take the kids out to go around the track in a big group. Many of these kids have CP and are recovering either from surgery, a seizure, etc to cause a prolonged hospital stay








Norfolk is great for flat, fast runs, but I will very much Lakefront path of Chicago and the track infront of my apartment (seen in the back).

I will also VERY much miss my morning workout team (as led by Tre, where we would do pull ups and other functional exercises next to the track to stay strong/ injury-free-ish).




And my support team of Jessica Bauer (who cooks the most AMAZING pre-race German meals).