Thank you all for being so understanding on my mini hiatus from blogging this weekend. It killed me to not be able to talk about how excited I was for WEEKS leading up to it, but I couldn’t ruin the big surprise so I’m actually proud I kept my little mouth shut!
There is SO much I want to share with you all, but I figured since I kind of try and call this a healthy living blog, that I’d start with the healthy aspect of my weekend away: Running.
You all know me. I have a tendency SOMETIMES to be a fair weather runner. It’s something I am constantly working on, but my weather sensitive little body makes it tough.
Well this weekend I toughed through it. Twice. In rain and tornado threatening weather. Yup. I sure did.
Saturday Morning’s Run
Some of you probably know I lived in Chicago off-and-on for 8 years. From 18 to 26. As you could probably guess, there were some HUGE life events that happened during that time.
- I moved on my own for the first time
- I graduated college
- I moved BACK home for grad school
- I met the love of my life
- I moved in with the love of my life
- I got engaged with the love of my life
Just to name a few. Zach and I have such amazing memories in this city, and I know that a piece of my heart will always remain there.
Well — Saturday morning on my solo run, I decided I needed to take my run down memory lane. And that’s exactly what I did.
I started out my run heading straight to Zach and I’s old home. A very cute, refinished apartment in Wicker Park that was perfect for our first home together.
Once I ran past our old home, I turned past the old high school I worked at (Roberto Clemente High School), and ran down Division to check out our old stomping grounds.
It was SO great to see that most of our favorite spots were still up and doing well.
- Laticia’s Bakery, where we used to get our Saturday morning coffee and muffins
- Division Street Pub, where we went OFTEN after work, and after we got engaged 🙂
- Jerry’s Sandwiches, our favorite sammie stop and where we got dinner the night before my first half 🙂
- Violet Hour on Damen, where we celebrated our engagement
- Big Star on Damen, hello tacos
- And of course small bars, Milk and Honey cafe, Alliance Bakery…all of our favorites.
It meant so much to me to be running in the old neighborhood, to see all these old favorites and retrace the steps that I took SO many times training for my first half.
I’m also glad I spent this run solo. Talk about making a run fly by. I was so stuck reliving so many amazing memories that I had no idea I had finished well over 4 miles in under 9 minute pace.
Thank you altitude boost!
Sunday’s Run
Sunday’s run was a bit of a different story.
The boys wanted to get a little sweat on after an indulgent weekend, and of course I’m never one to turn down a run…so we headed out, per my request, to one of my favorite runner friendly areas in our old neighborhood.
Humbolt Park.
I was a little anxious about this run, knowing that I was running with some speedy boys and this was my 6th day in a row of running…but I actually found myself surprisingly comfortable most of the run.
The park is full of beautiful bodies of water, old buildings, and tons of runner friendly terrain. 3.75-4 miles FLEW by…but that could have been because I was literally flying (for me) with these boys. We guessed that our pace was about 830…and with HUGE wind gusts and tornado threatening weather, I’d say that’s pretty darn good.
This was a very humbling (pun intended) run for me. I started it SUPER anxious that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the boys…but I actually ended up kicking it into gear and speeding up for the last 1/4-1/3 mile and knocked out some SPEEDY negative splits. It got me thinking that maybe I should push my speed a little more while I’m not working on distance and see what I can do.
So…
Two very different, very enjoyable runs that reminded me of why I love this city, and why I never travel without my running shoes. Never.
Question of the Afternoon: Where’s your favorite place that you have EVER run?
Chocolate Covered Race Medals 
That is super awesome! I love that you ran thru your old neighborhood. Any time we go back to STL I always run thru my old stomping grounds too just to see what’s changed.
I forget you’re from STL too!! Not a bad place to run either 😉
Humbolt park is an awesome place to run, so much to look at that you can easily forget you’re running. I’ll also have to check out some of your favorite WP spots. Big Star is awesome, if you can get a table that is.
haha we have been known to wait a GOOD chunk of time for their tacos…but always had the best time!
odd. i’ve never been to chicago. it was always one of those places i meant to go, and never quite did. thanks for taking me along on your runs.Sounds like an amazing weekend. And that’s a great practice — always have your running shoes stashed.
i guess my favorite place is the grand canyon, although it’s impossible to find a decent slice of pizza along the trail.
LOL I have also been to the canyon…but you’re right didn’t find any good pizza 😉
Gawww I LOVE the photos of your old pace and the walk down memory lane! And damn, speedy lady!! I wish Kyle would run more with me so I could get fast! I know if he ran more, he would be super speedy which would help me train. For now I’ll stick to him sitting on his bike and yelling at me with a bullhorn 😉
LOL Zach should do that with me!! Talk about motivation ;).
I LOVE when he runs with me…it doesn’t happen often but it is my absolute favorite!
Same, my runs go by so fast with Kyle 🙂
So cool that you got to run through your old stomping grounds! (And braved that threatening weather too!) It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. I love Chicago. 🙂
My favorite place to run will always be on the road alongside the beach in Santa Barbara. I worked right there and would go out on my lunch breaks several times a week. Mountains on one side and ocean on the other. It was amazing and that was before I considered running to be my sport. I wish I could go back and do it now!
Oh my gosh my husband lived in Santa Barbara when he was young. We refer to it as paradise 🙂
It’s been so long since I’ve been back to Ohio..would love to go back and run my old haunts.
My fav place I’ve run? Hmmmm, I’m going to have to say on a cruise ship in Alaska. We were going through Glacier Bay at the time and I was running laps on the ship’s outdoor track. Ended up going 6 miles. The views were too beautiful to describe!
Ok so when you said on a cruse ship…you very nearly lost me. But then you throw in Alaska and I start to understand. What time of year was it?
It was in August. The weather was nice – the kind of temps where you could wear shorts or a sweatshirt and fell fine either way. So amazing!
mmm, i heart chicago. i’m not necessarily a runner, but my favourite place to run was always wash park 🙂
Well for not being a runner you sure know great locations 😉
Never been to Chicago so I can’t say I have ran there but it looks and sounds like a great place to run. Also to eat. 😉
One of my favorite places to run actually is where I live, Victoria, BC. You can run year round and I love it. It may be raining a lot but we don’t typically have snow so it is perfect.
Zach and I want to go to BC SO bad!
You should come and if you do let me know. Think it would be great to meet a fellow blogger.
We talked about going for our honeymoon but couldn’t make it work. We may go sometime not so far from now though, I DEFINITELY will let you know!
Sweet! Sounds good.
How fun! I love running on little vacations — I always loved running in the DR, and running in Costa Rica this year was super fun too!
Seriously you must have run in some AWESOME places!
I LOVE running in my hometown when I visit my parents, it just feels so nostalgic and comfortable if that makes sense? And to answer your question, I think my favorite place I’ve ever run is Salamanca, Spain when I studied abroad. I used to run with my friend Caitlin (who is super speedy and just ran a Ragnar) and we’d have so much fun exploring the city and getting looked at like we were crazy by all the Spaniards who didn’t understand running in the city.
That totally makes sense, but now I want to run in Spain! lol
I’m from Chicago and I love running along Lake Shore Drive or along the beach. Nothing beats Lake Michigan as your view!
Ahh I love lake shore 🙂 If only it weren’t so busy
Love Chicago! I wish I had lived here (downtown) pre-hubby/kid phase. I would have had a great time. But alas, I went straight to the burbs when I moved to IL. Oh well, maybe later in life.
It was definitely a GREAT place to be while I was young! It’s such a vibrant city!