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Published: October 30th 2015
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I'd been listening to the audiobook of The Martian for the last two days whilst wondering around and was desperate to see it. So after arriving in Chicago on a seven hour bus ride from Detroit (which included being held up a couple of times by marching bands taking part in the Columbus day parade), I dumped my stuff in the hostel and wandered up through the city in search of a movie theatre.
I was expecting the uncomfortable cinema seats you get in UK cinemas but was presently surprised to see the whole place was filled with big, comfy Lazyboy style chairs. I have to admit that I nearly fell asleep, not because the movie was bad, just that I'd spent the whole day squashed on a sweaty bus.
Afterwards I tried (but didn't succeed) to find an authentic Chicago deep pan pizza and walked back through the city which was a lot quieter than you'd think.
Inspired by the Chicago marathon that had taken place two days earlier (some people were still wearing their medals) and the fact I hadn't run for a few days, I headed out for what I planned to be a short run
along Lake Michigan. The scenery was amazing and I felt great so I ended up running 13k North along a lakeside paved route. At that point I realised that I had to run back and it would be the farthest I'd ever run. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I did find the last few km pretty tough. It was such a scenic route and despite the marathon there were still hundreds of runners using the path.
I signed up to a great free architectural walking tour of the city organised by the hostel in which I found out that the first skyscraper was built in Chicago in 1885 and not all tall buildings are skyscrapers (they have to have a steel frame).
On the walk I met a great bunch of guys, who I spent most of the rest of my time in Chicago with, taking in a free classical concert in the cultural centre, a trip to a comedy night in an Irish bar, a walk up to Navy Pier (full of restaurants and rides but seemed mostly closed now it's the end of the season) and fancy pants coffee in a suitably pretentious coffee house called
Intelligentsia.
On my last night my friend Ken who was in town for the marathon invited me to go to a training session with Nike+ running club in which I was expecting to meet a group, go for a run and maybe have some Nike products marketed to me. It turned out to be quite the big budget event complete with professional trainers, pacers, and even a professional cameraman and photographer.
The session turned out to just be 400m and 200m sprints but the amount of money that must have gone into it is incredible.
Highlights:
Running along the lakeside path, just about every other runner gave me a smile or a nod.
People watching at the Cloud Gate (big shiny bean), it's surprising how many people don't actually stop to just look, they are much more interested in getting a selfie in front of things.
Lowlights:
Chafing!
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