(R)- Ft. My Towel

What a day. It almost could not have gone better.  I got to sleep in, have fun, and see new things.  Chicago is growing on me.  Today showed me how much the city has to offer.  From the skyscrapers to the beaches, everything is right here in Chicago.

My towel is pretty much our flag now.

I slept in until around 10 AM, so I did not get to eat at the dining hall, but my run would have made it impossible to eat a big breakfast anyway.  After scarfing down my Nutri-grain bar, I headed out for the next 80 minutes.  I ran along the lake for the fourth time, but it still does not feel tired out.  I finished this week's training with 50 miles. This is my first 50-mile week this year. They should mostly start to increase from now on except for next week which is my performance testing week with lower mileage.

Our trip to the Bean

After I showered and ate a Clif Bar, Alice, Mauricio, Ernestina, Doris (Ernestina's friend and my classmate), and I went to the bus stop to catch a ride to Millenium Park.  We ate at a delicious burger restaurant called Shake Shack.  The meat was so juicy that even In-n-Out has to rethink its cooking process.  The milkshake was also tasty but nothing particularly special.

We then went to the infamous Bean monument.  I expected it to be smaller than it was, so that was really impressive.  It has a lot of hand prints and scratches, though, so up close is not as pretty as far away.  We continued to walk on the Magnificent Mile and I found two hats I liked at Lids.  Mauricio was on the hunt for swim trunks which led us to Nordstrom and Tommy Bahama but board shorts, as it turns out, are more expensive than regular shorts.  Eventually, in the most unexpected place, he found a good pair at Uniqlo. He had never been before and now it is his favorite store.  We stopped by a store called Dylan's Candy Bar and I saw a great opportunity to get my sister a birthday present.  We slowly made our way to Oak Street Beach while bobbing in and out of stores but made it at around 6 PM.

Mauricio and I in Lake Michigan at Oak Street Beach. 

I must say the fact that you can walk fifty feet from the downtown business district and then reach a beach is quite impressive.  The water was fairly cold but felt refreshing soon enough.  The first few feet of shore were full of seaweed and rocks but cleared up and the water became beautifully blue.  We saw our chance to compete against the other cohorts in the photo contest so we officially submit our cohort photo. See below.

Cornell's contest photo

Brown's contest photo

And here we present the UChicago cohort photo. Obviously the best.

We ate at the Silver Spoon because Mauricio wanted pad thai and it might be my new favorite Thai place.  I eat at a place near my school called Won Thai somewhat often and it has the best Thai food in our area but now Silver Spoon might be taking its spot.  We rode back on the L train and arrived safely to the dorms.  This was a super fun day and I hope we have a lot more.

One more picture of us with my towel. This could be our contest photo as well I suppose.