But whenever we seen each other we went right back at it like old friends that always hated saying goodbye to each other. These small wars were the best part of Chicago for me, they made me a better runner, a better and more thankful human and it gave me dozens of very intimate relationships with people I never said a word too. At the end of it, you might nod at them, you might give them a thumbs up and a smile and they will do the same. You can spend an hours this way, communicating in such a beautiful nonverbal way with a complete stranger that you rely on so much. If not, they would wait, and they would make their move and you either break or fight back. Some people would see that and pick up their pace, the cheaters they would take a short cut and go through grass on a wide corner, the fighters would stay with you, right behind you in your not so blind spot to let you know there was a fight on your hands, this went one of two ways, but always started the same way, beat by beat until they slowly broke from the pressure of a 6 minute mile for 2 or so straight miles. I'd hover them until I seen a wide stretch and I'd drop down from a nice comfortable 8 minute mile to a 6 minute mile. ![]() I fought invisible wars everyday, never acknowledging my challenger but when someone would breeze past me on my leisurely run, I was forced to chase them down, sit right there a few feet behind them to let them know when they looked back I wouldn't be broken so easily. The fun part, when you get used to being there (on it, the path) are the small invisible wars that people driving by in cars never see. It encompasses what can be a few feet or fifty miles, It truly is wonderful. It's uninterrupted, it's free, there are bathrooms and water fountains. It is by far one of the single most beautiful stretches of land in the United States. I ran through winter and through summer, I ran in storms and while rain and heat waves while I baked. Everyday I would show up to work happier and more energetic than the day before. This isn't suppose to seem like a meditative study on the human condition but I can say without a doubt that the time I spent alone and surrounded by strangers on Lake Shore Drive running the path to and from work everyday was easily the happiest I've ever been while completing my stay there. ![]() When we left the GoldCoast and moved to Lakeview, I found the best way to get to work downtown was on foot and the path was Lakeshore Drive. This of course rubs me the wrong was as there are only about 90 days of actual summer. People, by and large will constantly say, it's the greatest place to be during the summer. ![]() Having left Los Angeles to find myself in the crime riddled city of Chicago I often wondered why people love it here so much.
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