I Run These Towns

I love Chicago . I could not possibly love it more. The first time I visited I asked my husband why we don't live there. I have continued to ask this question each time I visit, and I'm still not entirely sure why we haven't uprooted our lives to move there.  The John Hancock Building in Chicago. Note the green space!  In Michigan we often hear that Michigan's college grads are flocking to Chicago in droves - and it's true. Research shows that millennials (young people between the ages of roughly 25-35) move to someplace cool and THEN look for a job. Chicago's concentration of Michigan college grads shows this to be true. This idea sounds so romantic - take off, wait tables somewhere, look for a job while living in the coolest city ever. It's less romantic when you're 32 and married with a great job, a mortgage and a gaggle of pets. But hey - a girl can dream. Lake Michigan waterfront with downtown Chicago in the background  I visited Chicago...

It's ironic - one would think summer to be the best time to get out and go for a run. I'm here to tell you - that is just not the case. When the humidity hovers at 85 percent at 6 a.m., you can never have a good run. Why do you think most marathons are in the spring and fall? It's way easier to run a race once it's cooler. I, maybe stupidly, am running a half marathon in about 2½ weeks. I don't feel entirely prepared, but hey, it's only 13.1 miles, right? (I keep telling myself that hoping it seems less daunting.) So while my runs have been more sluggish and I've been a little less focused, I've been doing a lot of reading this summer on both cities and running.  I'm STILL trying to figure out what race to do in the fall. At this point I'm leaning toward the Monster Dash in Chicago in October and then running the Austin Half Marathon in February. I lived in Texas for a few years and spent a lot of time in Austin. It's a fantastic city ...

I often hear people either they don't want to exercise while they are on vacation, or that I am crazy for running when I am out of town. I have found vacation runs to be among my favorite. There's nothing quite like the freedom of going to a new city, lacing up my running shoes and exploring.  Last summer we did a road trip in the western U.S. to Montana. There was nothing quite like going for an early run in Des Moines, Iowa. Another of my favorite places to run is while visiting my parents in Morgantown, West Virginia. I wasn't a runner when I was in college there, so I enjoy exploring campus through the eyes of a runner. (For the record - it's hilly). Jumping for joy in front of Iowa's state capitol in Des Moines My husband and I are avid college football fans, and during a college football road trip to State College, PA last year I went for an early run on Penn State's campus. It was over Thanksgiving week, and there was nobody out. I felt like I ha...