Boulder to London

I got our for a 5 mile run this morning along the lake in Chicago.  I use the Nike+ system with my iPod nano to track my runs.  It works pretty well for a rough idea of speed and distance, however it’s not very accurate with large elevation changes.  This is a very typical profile for one of my runs.  When the green line is higher on the chart, I am running faster, when it drops, I’m slowing down.  I usually come out of the gate pretty fast, fall off on mile 2, and then find a pace somewhere around 8:45 per mile.  The dots on the graph are mile markers for the run. 

The run along the lake was fricken cold.  I don’t really have the right clothes for running over here, or in London for that matter.  I’ve been in Colorado for several years and Nevada before that, so all of my clothes are good for dry and sunny climates.  Even when it is cold in Colorado and Nevada, it is a different sort of cold. 

During my run, I was amazed at how big the lake actually is.  I grew up in the North West and have been around big bodies of water.  I grew up boating on Lake Roosevelt, Coeur d’Alene, Priest Lake, Pend Oreille, and lived near Lake Tahoe for several years.  None of these large bodies of water have anything on Lake Michigan.  It is absolutely huge.  It may as well be the ocean since you can’t see the other side.  I wish I was here in the summer since the beaches look nice.  I guess I’ll have to come back next year!