Run 16: Spring in Chicago

Miles: 10

Other Runners: yes!

It’s not really spring; in fact, at 5:30 am, 22 degrees felt anything but balmy. What’s significant is that today was probably the first time where I truly, unabashedly appreciated Chicago’s beauty for its own sake. This is embarrassing to admit, but usually the most love I can offer my new running routes is in the form of a dismal, half-hearted comparison like, “Well, I guess I saw more taco stands than I would’ve in Seattle. That’s nice.” Or, “This 1/8th mile block has a lot of trees, kind of like in Seattle.” I wasn’t completely removed from my Pacific NW zone today; in fact, there was a brief, bewildered moment soon after I left our house when I saw a bank of clouds to the east and thought, “Oh! The mountains are out!” It was a little disappointing to remember that I was on Milwaukee Ave. and definitely not in viewing distance of the Cascades. Still, as I ran south to Fullerton, then east across the river and through the brownstones in Lincoln Park, a soft layer of snow and ice revealed sliding shoe prints and the tiny steps of birds and rabbits. The light was blue and pink and gold as I moved further east to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, then traced the Lake Shore path north to Irving Park. It wasn’t especially windy, but something a little like dust devils whirred around me, scattering glittering bits of snow across the street and sidewalk. The flakes lit up like fire before the shadowy columns of the eL tracks and the walls around Graceland Cemetery. I may have imagined it, but I think they even caught the eye of commuters waiting to catch the #80.