Chicago Run. Not from the Police...

Bad Blogger note: apparently I forgot to publish this back in May. I had forgotten about this blog all together.. I'm not even sure this post is finished but as Ashley would say "Whatevs"...... It's only 3 months later!! It's not like anyone really reads this, or if they do, cares... if they DO care, hmmm, well, then I'm sorry for that.

I've been a little toasted with the bike lately. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE the bike! I just needed some time off of it for a day or three. Training 5-7 days a week was starting to wear on me a little and my last crit didn't exactly end how I'd hoped. Our mini vacation to Chicago was perfectly timed.

I LOVE running in Chicago. For some reason I am faster there than I am here. I can also run longer without as much effort. The last time we were there, the Marathon happened to be that weekend (we were there for music!) We had gorgeous late summer weather and I felt like a rock star groupie running with all those marathoners around me, getting in their last short runs before the big day.

So this time around, we had gorgeous late spring weather and the NATO summit! Waa Hoo! While we weren't there for the NATO summit or protesting, it made for some interesting moments. (We were there for music again!!).

We arrived Thursday evening in time to check in, head to The Metro, grab dinner nearby (highly recommend the MotherKlucker at Rockit burger!). Friday morning came in lazy fashion after our rock n roll night on the town. By 9 am I was out of bed with running shoes on. I headed out to Millenium Park and FINALLY found Cloud Gate (How on EARTH did I miss that on three other run excursions there???). I ran all over the park and made my way to Lake Shore Drive and the running/cycling path along the lake. Even with some stops waiting for the cross walk, I managed to do 5k in exactly 30 minutes. I finished up by the hotel at 3.48 miles, with a stop in Dunkin Donuts for some French vanilla coffee to bring up the Mr Sleepyhead.

We managed to log many, many more walking miles on Friday - 3 to the Shedd aquarium and back, all over downtown/loop area, up to the Magnificent Mile and then back to our hotel. I am guessing we got in 5-7 miles of walking. Our dogs were barking!!

Saturday morning was a little harder to get going but I managed to get out and move the tired legs (after breakfast at The Corner Bakery!) I set my ipod for 3.5 miles and ran in the park, along the lake and river walk. The last 1/2 mile was challenging due to the increasing number of people on the streets as I headed back to the hotel. I think I did this one in 35 minutes.

Throughout the weekend, the police presence was intense. There were LARGE groups of police, usually in full riot gear, on every corner, every bridge, every subway stop and all points in between. Even the horses had riot gear on! The bike cops were out in Massive peletons (ok, maybe just groups of 6-12; They seem to have their own version of hand signals too).