Run For It

There is still a lot to do before moving next week, but today I took a mid-day break to go for a jog on my usual path through Lincoln Park.  While passing through the park, I realized that this would be one of the last runs I'll take in Chicago, which is unfortunate because, unlike St. Thomas, Chicago is a great running town.  There's a lot of flat land, a great park and an entire lakefront to jog along.  I took advantage of this to train for two 13.1 marathons while I lived here.  The training for those races resulted in several runs in extreme weather, but also a good amount of runs with an exceptional city view and fantastic people watching.  Regardless, all of my runs made me feel accomplished at the end.

Ultimately, that's why I came to Chicago - to accomplish something.  I didn't know specifically what I wanted to accomplish, but I knew I wanted to see how far I could take my life while I was here.  And, Chicago didn't let me down.  I've made good friends, eaten amazing food, drank at every possible bar I could find, gone to sports games, built a career, fallen in love and bought a house.  Indeed, I grew up here in Chicago.

Many people may wonder why I'm leaving Chicago if I've had such a wonderful experience here, but it's because of my good experience in Chicago that I feel even more confident that I'll have another good experience elsewhere.  Of course, if my move isn't what I am hoping, I know Chicago will be right where I left it. 

So, this week I'm going to run my runs through the park and enjoy what I have before I leave to see where my life will take me.