· Date: Wednesday July 17, 2019
· Where: Chicago, Illinois to St. Joseph, Michigan
· Total Distance Covered: 106 miles
· Running Partner: Caroline and Mason
DePaul University gave us some of the nicest accommodations we would receive throughout our entire trip. We had forgotten what it was like to wake up with soft fleece blankets rather than the synthetic fabric of our sleeping bags. Even more, we had forgotten what air conditioning felt like since a lot of our recent hosts were lacking this. In short, Rob and I were late in waking up and I think this is why.
Once we got going, we felt like new people. Somehow, the sickness we were feeling yesterday had almost completely gone away. We were both still extremely tired, but we were feeling much stronger and healthier. From this point forward, I would continue to heel and completely recover from the bacterial infection. It had taken long enough!
The first van today started at DePaul University and brought the runners through the city’s sidewalks, by the Bean, and out of the city. Those of us in the second van were a little jealous that they got to see more sights in Chicago, but we soon realized how lucky we were to be in the second van. Although our miles started outside of the city, we didn’t have to shuttle as much as the first van. We also crossed through Indiana and into Michigan. Never had we crossed an entire state in one day before! It was wild!
Today and I ran with Caroline, Mason, and a few others. I was feeling strong enough to start making up my miles from the sixteen-mile day I had missed when I went to urgent care. Since we were each running nine miles today, it was a perfect day to add mileage. So rather than waiting for me and my partner’s turn to run our miles, I would jump in with another pair when I felt rested enough. I ended up running about six extra miles this way and it felt good to have been making up for the mileage I had missed. I couldn’t wait to completely make up the mileage and give myself closure. I felt so guilty to have missed a day, even if the bacterial infection made it necessary to do so.
As Mason and I were running together, we were sweating an unbelievable amount. Even though the temperature wasn’t hot, it felt astronomically high with the humidity. We hadn’t experienced the humidity of the east coast for our entire trip. Running out west and in the Midwest, it got hot, but the humidity was tolerable. As we continued making our way east in these last two weeks of the 4K for Cancer, the humidity would only get worse. Whenever Mason and I finished our miles we were glistening in sweat. Hopefully, our bodies were also flushing out the toxins from our infections we both were recovering from. Mason was a drummer that had marched in various drum corps throughout his time in high school and college. As a result, we talked a lot about music, and I found myself wishing I had been able to take part in the marching bands Mason had. Perhaps, I would have had a better experience and still enjoyed playing my saxophone.
When Caroline and I ran together, we talked a lot about changes we would make to Ulman and the 4K for Cancer. As a director for the team, Caroline knew more than most anyone else on Team Boston about the details of the trip and what it took to coordinate the 4K for Cancer. We both agreed we would make our presence more well known before running into a town. By contacting reporters, news stations, and local small businesses, Ulman could easily make more of an impact. We both didn’t like how most towns didn’t even seem to know we were there, let alone share the goals of our mission. We thought if the foundation kept the routes the same every year, this could help the teams to make more of an impact. Each team member could oversee one or two host sights where they coordinated food, press, and a local community dinner or outreach event. If this was all coordinated in the days before leaving San Francisco, it could greatly expand the impact we made. However, this was not the case.
At one point, we stopped off at a supermarket to get lunch. We hadn’t been able to obtain food donations, and the host van was also having difficulty. The surrounding area we were running through was mostly residential. The one small town we ran through, Michigan City, which was ironically in Indiana and not Michigan, was so small that most of the shops were closed. In the supermarket, I was able to find some avocado and pita chips for lunch. I also bought some yogurt and Kefir. Kefir is a fermented milk product that is high in probiotics. Since I had been taking antibiotics for a while, I wanted to rebalance my gut over the next few days with a lot of probiotics. The Kefir came in a large thirty-two-ounce bottle and over the next few days, I would drink one of these daily. It was delicious and I would often have a milk mustache. Although I had to carefully time drinking this amount of milk with our miles, it was worth it. I think that Kefir helped me to remain healthy for the remainder of the trip. Every morning, if we passed a supermarket, I would ask to stop so that I could buy some. Soon, everyone knew Ryan needed his milk!
The best sight that we were able to see while running today was the Indiana Dunes National and State Parks. These parks border Lake Michigan and have massive dunes and hiking trails throughout the area. It was crazy to see all the sand with trees and shrubs growing in the middle of the dunes. The scenery reminded me of the Cape Cod dunes I had seen growing up. The water in Lake Michigan was calmer here than it had been in Chicago. The gentle waves were like the bay beaches in Cape Cod and the calmness given to those who visit. People were swimming, hiking, and running and I wished we had time to explore this area more. While we stopped to take a few pictures, Tyler S. and I raced each other up one of the dunes. Our thighs and calves were burning and felt like they were on fire before we reached the top. There was so much sand that for every three steps forward, we slid one step back down the dune. It was crazy! Once we got to the top, the view was spectacular, and we could see over the beach and across Lake Michigan. As we soaked in the views of the lake which sunk into the horizon, it seemed like we were looking at the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Lakes were massive! Before leaving, Tyler and I ran back down the dune and jumped into the lake to wash the sand off ourselves. Everywhere, we were covered in sand and our shoes were filled with it!
Early in the day, we would make it to St. Joseph, Michigan. This was near Amber’s hometown and her family provided us with an amazing dinner. We had pizza, salad, cake, and fruit. They even donated subway gift cards so that we could all have lunch or dinner when our food donations were running low! We were all so appreciative of her family, they went above and beyond!
As Amber’s family were getting things ready for us in the church hall we were staying in tonight, they told us to go explore the town. There was a beach that was a beautiful spot to go swimming and to cool off after the humid day we had run in. What I didn’t know until Amber’s family told us, was that there were dunes all along Lake Michigan and not just the parks we had visited earlier in the day. They were beautiful and I wished I had taken pictures of them to show others what we had seen. At the beach though, the water gradually went out so that we could all play frisbee with each other while standing waist deep. We splashed around, swam, and tossed the Frisbee. It was a blast, but I soon grew tired. The extra miles I had run today were catching up to me and Tyler and I had already swum too. My legs were telling me to take a break! I ended up sitting on a bench, drying off in the sun, and soaking in the views of the whole area. As more and more families arrived for picnics, volleyball, and other fun beach activities, we realized how popular the place was. I was honestly glad to head back to the church hall to shower and lay down. The crowds we had seen throughout Chicago and now in Michigan were exhausting.
When we got back, we had pizza, fruit, and cake with Amber’s family. We played some games and then everyone went their separate ways to get ready to sleep and to call their friends and family. I called my family and Annalyse. When we had crossed the state lines today, we had crossed another time zone and so I wasn’t calling everyone at such obscure times anymore. Now, we were on Eastern Standard Time and I was glad that this would make talking with everyone easier!
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