The music plays in direct correlation with my levels of excitement throughout the night.


First and foremost, I want to extend my deepest apologies for the lack of pictures. I had made a logic conscious choice that a camera would only hinder my ability to run. I orginally wasn't going to post a completion to this as I don't find my particular situation quite outstanding, but I read everyone elses stories and it made me smile in rememberance of this wonderful evening, especially when I knew I was mentioned in a strangers story. I also have to apologize because I am long winded when telling stories such as these.

Prologue

My "Journey" to Chicago started weeks before the event. Myrna and I had made tenative plans to attend, and the excitment began to build. As the day grew nearer, we would exhibit random outbursts of giddiness and excitement when we discussed the upcoming event. Orginally, Myrna and I had planned to run together, but she ended up hurting her ankle days before the scheduled day. She was still anxious to make it to the event, so I decided to still run in the event, and she was going to be working a check point. I had intended on studying a map of downtown Chicago and it's public transit before leaving, but I never quite found the time. The day finally arrived, with me ill-prepared and running behind schedule. Myrna and I left over two hours after we had orginally planned to, but still with plenty of time to make the event.

Journey

When I arrived at the event I had a friend of ours and her current love-interest with me. We enrolled as a team of three and listened to the rules from Dax as we attempted to formulate our running route. We had quite the issue deciding on how much/often to use the trains, as we figured that chasers would be expecting that and protecting the stations near the checkpoints. When the race started, everyone bolted off in differing directions, my excitement level rose, and I headed off. We spent a little bit of time being cautious, using alleyways and small paths between buildings to get around. After some time of not seeing a single chaser, and only a few other blue ribboned companions, we walked briskly down a main street and up Elston to the first checkpoint. We were met with delicious vegan style cupcakes and two friendly faces which have been pictured in others' praxis of this tasks. I gladly ate a cupcake and quickly regretted it as my mouth became more dry and thirsty. Looking south down Elston we noticed our first chaser and decided to head towards a train station instead of venturing southbound down Elston. Our journey to the station was uneventful, and I was starting to wonder if there was more then one chaser in the game. We made it to checkpoint two without much commotion and were greeted by a tea party and Myrna. After some words of encouragement we departed for checkpoint three.

Oh, the journey to checkpoint three.

My memory fails to recall the route we took. I do remember this though: All was fine, and then there was red. I'm not sure if it was one or three of them, but I saw red, and it was close. My concern instantly became getting away. I wasn't concerned with getting lost, I wasn't concerned with losing my teammates, I just wanted to stop seeing red. I quickly vaulted over a parking garage gate and into the structure. I looked behind me and didn't notice anyone pursueing me, but I wasn't about to calm down yet. I made my way out of the other side of the structure, looked around a few times and didn't notice any red, so I calmly started crossing the street and pulling out my map to get my bearings. Before I was even able to get my hand out of my pocket, I noticed a caped villian atop of a bike grinning at me. I was mildly frustrated at this. Chasers. Chasers everywhere it seems! I decided my parking structure getaway worked well last time, so I entered yet another one. I ran into it a ways and hid behind a large red sign while intently listening for the turning sound of bicycle gears and tires. After a minute or two I decided I was safe, slipped from my hiding space, and out the back of the structure. I ventured to checkpoint three without much more incident. I called my teammates and told them I'd meet them at checkpoint three. I went inside, got my manifest signed and waited out front. I was getting anxious though, very very anxious. After all that excitement, sitting still was driving me crazy. My teammates strolled up from the south, with a chaser not too far behind them. Being in a safe zone, they were in no danger. I directed them inside to get their manifests signed and stayed outside to watch the chaser. At some point I lost track of him and decided to investigate a little bit. Upon reaching the edge of the safe zone my anxiety got the best of me and I decided to venture to the fourth checkpoint alone. I started to casually stroll towards it while examing my map to determine my route. I was periodically looking around me for signs of danger when I spied the same chaser from checkpoint three stalking me at a mild pace. I assumed he didn't want his running to alert me to his presence so I wouldn't sprint away. After seeing him though I broke into an immediate and full on sprint. I was running with abandon, I had no idea where I was heading, and I didn't even care. After two full city blocks I looked over my shoulder and he was still behind me! I was quite amazed, I had expected him to give up by then, as he wasn't gaining any ground on me, and I was at a full sprint. I was figuring he would realize that he wasn't going to catch up and stop wasting the energy. Oh, was I wrong. The determination he possessed was amazing and appalling at the same time. I continued running, knowing I couldn't slow down. Suddenly an oppurtunity presented itself to me. I was running towards a busy intersection and a cab was getting ready to make a left through it. I quickly ran up alongside the cab and ran through the intersection inches away from it, while mimicing it's pattern to avoid getting hit by any other cars. I'm not sure the cabby even noticed me, or if he did, he showed no signs of it because he didn't slow or seem startled in the least. I hit the other side of the street and continued my sprint while looking back to note what happened to my pursuer. I was correct in assuming he wouldn't be able to cross the street with me. I was so very wrong to assume he wouldn't still be chasing me. My arms and legs are pumping with everything I've got and he is on the opposite side of the street doing the exact same. I start to near a fancy hotel with a red carpet laid out in front of it and those nice little velvet ropes. The door attendant is peering at me like I'm fleeing from the police as I begin to close on him, but I take no notice, nor is he a concern of mine at the time. I end up leaping through the crowd in front of the building and over the carpet while I receive inquisitive looks from every direction. I'm not sure if the blue ribbon attached to my arm offered some sort of explanation for my actions, of if it just posed them another question. The attention gathered from them was quickly forgotten as I had to decide on my next plan of action. My pursuer and I have been at full sprint for almost five city blocks and this didn't seem to have an end in sight. I decide that I should take my next right so it forces him to cross the street to keep chasing me. I was hoping that traffic would prevent him from making it across and aid my getaway. I darted around the corner and around one more before ducking into a parking garage and hiding behind a wall. I had to catch my breath, I could feel my lungs crying for more oxygen to supply my muscles with. I really didn't think he had noticed me slip into the parking garage, but I was wrong once again. He came around the corner and look directly over at me, and I had nowhere to go. My only reaction was to mutter a curse in frustration and hand over my ribbon. I had to offer my respect though, if I was going to get caught, at least it was in a manner such as this, by someone with complete determination.

My Life as a Chaser

I spent the first fourty minutes of my time as a chaser lost on the Chicago public transit system. The red line south was being worked on so I was routed north to transfer to a southbound detour at Fullerton. I was with my former pursuer and we discussed the game and Sf0. He was new to Chicago, heard about the game and decided to come to try to meet new people. I explained to him the game, it's orgins, and Sf0 and encouraged him to sign up. Then we got down to the business at hand, plans to prevent any of those vile and smelly runners from reaching the finish line. We decided to canvas checkpoint four quickly, but then move to checkpoints five and six as four was a poor strategic position for us poor chasers. We split up on either side of checkpoint four and were going to meet around the block shortly. I ran into my old teammates at four and gave them a snide smile as I knew I could start to chase them as they left. At four I experience some of the joys of being a chaser with the way that runners interacted with you. I was an object of fear. A simple smile at a blue ribboned player and a suggestion such as "I wouldn't head south if I were you" generated a wave of reactions. I rested at four a moment, looked around for my cohert in red and left when I couldn't locate him. I took the train down to checkpoint five and noticed some blue ribbons in the car ahead of me. I sat calmly and pressed my red arm band against the wall in an attempt to hide it. I paid little attention to the car ahead of me as I figured they weren't going anywhere until the same stop I was. When my stop arrived I waited a moment before exiting so they wouldn't notice me and stay in the safety of the safe zone. Upon exiting the train I slowly walked down the stairs on my way out to make sure they were outside of the train station before I caught up to them. Then I saw them, four of them, standing right outside the doors to the train station. Just. Right. There. I opened the door and took two steps into the middle of them. I joined the conversation and waited for them to notice my red ribbon. Though they weren't in the train station, something felt wrong about just tagging them in such a manner. No chase, no excitement, no nothing. Just a simple tap on the shoulders. They noticed me and didn't immediately run into the station, but made such profound statements as "Hey guys, that guys a chaser." I suppose they assumed that if I hadn't tagged them yet I wouldn't, and they were fairly correct. After a moment they did decide to retreat to the safety of the train station, and I stood outside and made a quick phone call. As I'm doing this I notice something very very odd. Two girls are walking towards me, one of them a blue ribbon, and the other a red ribbon. They continue towards me until the blue ribboned girl finally notices me when she is less then fifteen feet away. Her reaction was quite priceless. I'm sure her mind was thinking, "Calmly turn around and walk the other direction." Her body though, it didn't quite read the instructions that way. She stopped so suddenly and spun around with a look of horror on her face. Her friend stepped between us and told me she'd fight me for her. I chuckled, and decided since I gave the other four a chance, I'd let this one go for the time also. She didn't quite trust me so she kept her distance and crept into the train station. I decided that now was a good time to grab a drink and use the restroom so I headed to the nearby Walgreens. Walgreens referred me to the Jewel across the street as they didn't have a public restroom. As I'm casually strolling in Jewel, not expecting any sort of amusement, I notice three blue ribboned players at a checkout lane. Not just any three, these three were of the group I left alone right outside of the train station! I couldn't give them a reprieve twice, so I calmly walked up behind them. One of them noticed me coming in so I was expecting them to drop their items and run out the doors, or at least have some sort of reaction, but they continued checking out as if they didn't notice me. Perhaps the girl decided not to say anything and hope I didn't notice them, or perhaps they didn't care, I'm not sure. All I knew is that I was going to tag them this time, and I wanted to make sure none of them got away. I also wanted to make sure that the entire Jewel mart witnessed this incident, and to do that I couldn't just walk up and tap them all on the shoulders. So I decided to add some theatrics by leaping into their group, tagging the three of them and spinning in the air. I screamed a shout of truimph upon landing on the ground and basked in the glory of their downtrodden faces. I offered my apologies for ending their run so close to the finish, which I did feel sorry about on some level, but the duty of my red ribboned arm was much more important. It was at this moment that I noticed the fourth in their group. She was in the back, attempting to keep checking out her items as if nothing had happened when I caught a glimpse of her ribbon as she moved something across the scanner. I remarked about how I hadn't seen her and tagged her calmly. I wished them luck as chasers and headed out towards the final checkpoint. I saw no more blue ribbons on my way there, but I ran into the red caped biking chaser. I walked a few blocks with her while talking before heading to the end point.

Epilogue

I truly, truly enjoyed this event. I had a wonderful time both as runner and chaser. I truly enjoyed meeting all the wonderful people I did at the event, after party, and during the rest of my stay in Chicago. I extend my deepest thanks to Dax and the other organizers/assistants whom made this possible and pulled it off in such splendid fashion. Because of Journey Chicago, I can now navigate my way around downtown Chicago mildly, and if I'm ever running from a mugger, I'll know exactly where the safe zones are.

To those of you whom I didn't speak to much, or didn't hang out with during my visit there, I hope to catch you another time. To those of you whom read this entire thing, I want to thank you for your patience. With that, I am retiring to bed to rest my legs that are still hurting from this event.

Total Cost of Trip to and From Chicago, including all food and drink (Cheers MN0's!): $330.55
Total Cost of Journey: Normal use of my legs for three days.