Proviso West High School
Run Time 61:38 + 2-minute kick
Still stuck in Chicagoland. This was not a bad community. I cut through the back parking lot of a Best Buy or something similar, crossed the tracks, and zigzagged through a residential pocket to get to a gloriously empty high school track with cement grandstands and some shade.
It was hot, and the stairs were double-depth, so it was a workout. I started flagging the second time around the track in each running segment, hauling my ass up those long steps. Some stretching of the lungs occurred. That, coupled with the lunges/squats/push-ups before the third running segment, seriously tested my endurance. Felt great.
The railroad tracks ran right next to the hotel. I actually had thought about running along side them before I figured out I could just run in the back parking lot. They were raised quite a bit at that place so that they could cross over the street. Later, when my wife sent out a request for Blue Moon photos, I climbed up to the tracks to get a good photo, and I was surprised at how loose the rocks and soil on the steep grade up to the tracks was. I question the engineering. Does not seem stable enough for supporting train traffic.
I was careful to avoid vegetation while clambering up the rocky slope – no need for more close encounters with poison ivy. It was the last Blue Moon that was also a Super Moon until 2037. It was really big and full, but the moon never looks as good in a photo as it does in reality. I didn’t see it when it was close to the horizon, which would have been even more spectacular, even from a crappy hotel outside of Chicago.
Don't Make It a Habit. Make It a Ritual. 