Choose Your Own Adventure!

When I close my eyes and venture back to the happy place of my youth, I am always outside.  I’m exploring.  I’m looking under rocks and following creeks and rallying my sisters to follow my lead.

Back then I knew, just as I know now, that there is something inherently special about doing something I’ve never done before.  There’s something intoxicating about going someplace I’ve never been, about stepping out on that ledge to see the world from an entirely different point of view.

Running fits that natural call for adventure like no other activity, and the ultra distances set the stage for bigger, better and bolder treks.  I’ve run miles and miles through enchanted forests.  I’ve explored old farm roads, scaled mountainous switchbacks, cruised barren beaches and plucked through quiescent cityscapes.  I’m a runner.  I know no other purer form of joy.

And I like to cover distances on foot.

So on Friday, August 31st, at 1o p.m., I left my home on the south side of Chicago and ran.  I ran with no other purpose but to explore, to have fun, to revel in the level of fitness I have that allows me to keep going and going and going.  I ran north on Halsted, then east on Roosevelt.  I shot up Michigan Avenue, taking in the lights, the sounds, the plumes of cigarette smoke from jetlagged tourists.

I turned left on Chicago Avenue, then right on Clark.  I zoomed by Old Town, passed through Lincoln Park.  I ran further north through Wrigleyville, marveling at the level of insecurity of the drunken hooligans giving me a hard time for my choice of activity for a Friday night.  “It’s Friday night, dude, running is not necessary.”… “Run Forest Run!”… “What are you doing, dude? You’re crazy!”…

I just kept… running.

I ran by Wrigley Field, touched the Ernie Banks statue for good luck.  I ran by my old house in Buena Park.  The lights were off.  Nobody home.

I passed the old Jewel I used to frequent, the liquor store where I used to buy my booze — both distant reminders that I didn’t always have super powers.

Heading west on Montrose I ran by the Brown Line station and the Starbucks and the Mexican restaurant where I tasted the best chorizo burrito I’ve ever had.

When I got to Lincoln I went back south.  I looked at my watch.  I picked up the pace.

At 1 a.m. I was to meet my friend, Siamak, just outside The Second City at North and Wells, so I sped up so I wouldn’t miss him.  As I navigated my way through the pockets of drunken crowds along the way I noticed the stillness in the air, that it hadn’t rained as previously forecasted, that the blue moon hanging high above was blanketed by a beautifully savage cloud system.

“Jeff!” yelled Siamak.

We were both right on time.  Early, actually.

Giddy as only adults who aren’t afraid to unleash their inner exploratory children can be, we caught each other up.  We explained to one another how we got where we were, what sights we’d seen, what cat-calls we’d received.  And then we kept running.

With CVS, Starbucks and multiple Walgreens as our “aid stations”, we were never without fuel.  We ran south down LaSalle, through the Gold Coast and by the Viagra Triangle.  We stopped and salivated at the Rolls Royce dealership, imagining what we’d look like tooling around town in a chrome colored $400k power machine.  I got a tour of Siamak’s personal architectural projects further dotting the downtown area and soon we found ourselves running through the Loop — a Chitown staple — at its quietest and spookiest of hours.

By the time the bars were letting out we were all the way back south, heading west on Roosevelt, then south on Halsted.  We ran through UIC, glided through Pilsen, then took a left on Archer, following the Chicago Marathon course all the way into Chinatown.  Even with all the lights off and no patrons to speak of, Chinatown’s smells (the good, the bad and the rancid) still permeated the summer air.

Making our way through old Chinatown, we followed Wentworth all the way to 35th, tagging our second baseball stadium of the journey.  “Do you realize how much of the city we’ve covered tonight?” I asked Siamak, still unable to fully conceive the relative distance compiled in my now very tired, achy feet.

“Yeah, this is really the existential run,” he replied. “I love it. The run is whatever we want it to be.”

When we hit Halsted from 35th, we headed back north, passing my house.  And even though it was right there, calling my name with a warm shower and soft bed, we kept going.

And going, and going, and going.

We crossed the Chicago River (for the fifth time) and soon found ourselves at Randolph, where we turned west to explore the stillness of endless restaurant supply chains.  At Ogden, having just run by a brewery whose massive casks seemed to beg me to drink from them, Siamak showed me another architectural project of his and then somehow I was ranting about Michael Jordan.

At Grand we headed back east, moving slowly with short walk breaks interspersed to mix up the otherwise steady 10-minute-miling.  By 4:30 a.m., we reached Grand and Wells, where we would separate for the last hour and a half — giving us each time to decompress, to go back and find ourselves through the grandness of our night.  With 34 miles in the bank, we fist-bumped and went our separate ways.

I headed further east until I got to State Street, then went south.  I played with my speed.  Slowing down.  Speeding up.  Quicker turnover.  Elongated strides.

“I’m playing!!!”

I knew that if I could get to Roosevelt by 5 a.m., then I could hit the Lakefront Path at Museum Campus and end my night with a familiar 5-mile stretch that I could probably do in my sleep.  I almost did do it in my sleep!

At 5 a.m. on the dot I was standing outside the Shedd Aquarium, trying not to yawn.  I took some caffeinated GU and stopped to stretch.  I said “hello” and “good morning” to the handful of runners and bikers out early to train, then I put my head down and trucked.

Of course, I made sure to stop outside Soldier Field, to pay homage to DA BEARS and revel in the reality that in one evening alone I visited Wrigley Field, Sox Park AND Soldier Field!  Not only that, but as I continued south on the Lakefront Path, a hint of sun peeking up over the black horizon, I realized that in this one run alone I pieced together most of my favorite landmarks Chicago has to offer.

In one epic, adventurous evening, I experienced my city like I’ve never experienced it before.

I hit the homestretch of 31st street — head down, speeding west.

When I got a block from my house the clocked turned to 6 a.m.  The Chinese ladies were in McGuane Park waving their flags in rhythm.  The sky was a gentle blue.

42 miles were in my feet.

I did it.  I lived the adventure.

And it was simply awesome.