Destination Running

I had a low-key road trip planned this past weekend to Schaumburg, Illinois. Not much planned for the weekend, in an area that has tons to do. No agenda ... other than to have some fun, do some shopping, enjoy some good eats (if you are ever in the area, you NEED to stop by Tokio Pub (HERE)!), and of course, to fit a run in.

I've visited Schaumburg dozens of times and have always noticed runners out on a local trail and a bike or two passing by, as I exit the interstate. When we arrived in town on Saturday afternoon, I decided to make a quick stop to see what was up. To my surprise, we had landed at the Busse Woods Trail System (HERE), a forest preserve, complete with 12 miles of paved trail through woods, lakes and even an elk pasture. Too cool.

The next morning, we returned to venture out for a nice, scenic run. And scenic, it was! We started at Higgins Road. There were several places to start your route at various parking lots, complete with ample restrooms (some weren't yet open for the season). There were gorgeous bridges, ponds, lakes, trees in bloom and ample mile markers on signs as well as painted on the well-kept winding trails. We ended up doing an out-and-back four mile loop. The portion of the path we ran was fairly flat and very scenic. This was so much better than running in the hotel gym.

There were organized groups of runners, fishermen, yoga in the park, and we were constantly passed by cycists and in-line-skaters. I would've felt safe even if I had been running by myself, during a long trainin grunning.

When I returned home, I was curious and looked up the trail system online. I was amazed at all of the trail systems in Cook County (HERE). I can't wait to check out more awesome running areas, the next time I head across the border to Illinois.

Destiniation running is so much fun.

(a special thanks to about-bicycles.com for some of these awesome photos, that I didn't have the opportunity to snap myself)