Running along Lunt Avenue, 9pm, less than 24 hours into my 21st year of life, three Stella bottle caps dancing and clanging together in my left jeans pocket, I have never felt this way before. Trying much harder than the last time to evade the guy on the bicycle, I turn down an alleyway and cut through the yard of the gray house at the end of the block, heading one block north to run on a less desirable route where I should be less noticeable. Heartland Cafe is less than three blocks away, and I can't help but think to myself "how did I come to this?"



I never expected so much from my 21st birthday. Months earlier I had envisioned being taken out by my fraternity brothers and having shots thrown at me left and right. It wasn't a bad image, but it was so cliche it made me want to shoot myself in the foot. When I got the message about JTTEOTN, I was ecstatic. I missed last years Journey, because of finals no less, and was very disappointed. It wasn't until about two weeks prior that I realized it was on the night of my 21st, and I am pretty sure I woke up half of my house because of how loud I screamed from excitement. This was basically the best birthday present I could have ever asked for.

When I arrived at Welles park after having met my team at the CTA, I was amazed at the sheer number of people there. A friend and I were literally jumping up and down with excitement, but we later calmed down to discuss strategy and what our route would be. Once we were all checked in and ready to go, and after a false start during the middle of announcements, we were off.

We stayed together for about 3 blocks before I told my team that I had too much energy to take it slow and mess around, that I just needed my time to run around like an insane person on my birthday, and I broke off from the group. I decided to send them periodic updates from further along the course, some of which would be helpful, but most of them not. It felt great just to run and not really care about anything. Randomly seeing other runners up ahead or running on a cross street blocks in front of me was really bizarre. Just seeing one person every now and again with an armband on made me laugh at how random of a group we were, but also made me happy to be a part of something so large.

The first checkpoint was fascinating. I chose to go the route of 1A and 2A, because 2B was on the lake and being anywhere near Lakeshore Drive seemed like it could have gotten difficult. 1A was in a large park near a high school I had never heard of. I spotted a large area in the park cordoned off by caution tape, and I approached slowly, not really knowing what to expect. My face was scanned by a man in a white biohazard suit, who told me I was a 'gamma' and directed me to another man in a biohazard suit who was standing deep within the maze of caution tape. Once I made it over, under, and through the obstacle course, the man stamped my map and I was on my way.

Between checkpoints 1 and 2 it began to get darker. The twilight added another dimension entirely to this already overwhelming night. Being alone in a relatively unfamiliar neighborhood as the day was dimming would normally have been enough for me, but add to that being chased around by strangers, my map being soaked with sweat, and my jeans being way to tight to run comfortably in, and I was more than a little bit freaking out. I am positive I looked like a crazy person to anyone along the streets I chose to run, as I was running in jeans and a hoodie on a warm night, obsessively checking my map at every street light, and constantly looking over my shoulder and sneaking around corners to see if anyone was following me.

Soon, even through my freaking out process, I arrived at checkpoint 2A. A small folding table was set up on the sidewalk near the entrance to Rosehill Cemetery at the far northwestern corner of the safe zone. A group of 8-10 people stood nearby in a huddle, whispering to one another, and behind them was a bulletin board with notes attached to it. On the table was a pile of papers, some pens, a bell, and a sign that said "RING BELL FOR SERVICE." I casually rang the bell, and the group ran over hurriedly, shushing me and ordering me to be quiet. They informed me that this was the "last post office" and I could write a letter to anyone and if it was addressed properly, they would deliver it for me. I wrote my letter to my teammates, telling them good luck and Godspeed. But my postage was denied, and my letter was burned by the group. "CANCELLED" was written on my map for checkpoint 2, and I moved on, disappointed that my letter would never be read.

Jogging along Rosehill, still in the safe zone, I spotted a chaser who was looking intently at me. As I passed, she told me I was safe, but not for long, and as I walked away, I could hear her on the phone with a friend saying that I was coming their way. Terrified, I ducked into an alleyway and winded my way northeast until I was just across from Senn High, one of the bonus checkpoints. I had originally planned on skipping the bonus checkpoints, as I had heard speculation that they may be traps, but I really wanted to stop by Senn anyway because the building is really sweet, and I am an architecture student. My decision turned out to be the right one, despite another group trying to trick me into believing that it was a trap. I wandered around the massive high school, and heard a tiny dog barking at something. I decided to head that way, as it meant that something was amiss, and when I rounded the corner into the large courtyard out in front of the school, to my right, on a tiny porch behind a column, was the bonus checkpoint.

I arrived early apparently, as their contraption was still being tested, and I was the first to get to use it. I dropped a silver sparkly disc thing down a pegboard and it landed in a space marked with a green question mark. I was handed a card that allowed me an extra life if a chaser were to catch me, and I started to walk off, pleased. They told me to wait, however, as I was also allowed to choose one checkpoint to skip. I chose number 3 because it was very far out of the way, and it was also near the lake, in an area where the red line tracks would create bottlenecks and chasers could easily catch me. Pleased with my strategy, and with checkpoint 3 out of the way, I headed north to checkpoint 4.



Cutting through yards and alleys, I once again have the thought that everyone living nearby must think I'm insane. I am significantly more pleased with my insanity now, however, as I have saved myself a considerable amount of time by skipping checkpoint 3. I have ceased communication with my teammates as they have turned their phones off to conserve battery. I am alone now.



Approaching checkpoint 4, I checked my map. According to the map, the checkpoint should have been directly north of me in the park, but I couldn't see anything. I moved a slight bit closer, and could see some people gathered in one of the picnic areas, but I still couldn't make them out very well. Being in a strange neighborhood and not knowing much about the area, I approached cautiously. I didn't want to walk into the middle of a drug deal or something. Inching in through some bushes, I saw someone ride up on a bike wearing a helmet and carrying a foam sword...obviously these were the people I was looking for.

When I made it over to the picnic area, I saw five or six people holding large puppets that were shaped like house elves from Harry Potter. They informed me I was the first to the 4th checkpoint, to which I had no response other than to smile gleefully and hand them my map. The map was stamped by the foot of the house elf, and westward I voyaged. I decided to head toward Western and catch a bus up to the next checkpoint. Maybe a block west of the park, I heard a bike behind me, and turned around to see who it was. It was one of the chasers I had seen before, and since I was still in the safe zone, I turned and waved. He looked confused, and rode up to tag me. I told him I was still in the safe zone, and he looked around confused before realizing I was correct. As he rode off, he informed me that he would be watching me since I was in the lead.

When I made it over to Western, I texted the bus tracker number for the Western northbound bus and it told me two minutes. Ok, not too bad, so I jogged up to the next bus stop to avoid being stationary for too long, and the bus was still not there. Frustrated, I went up to the next stop, and then the next, all the while becoming more and more paranoid that I would be caught because I was running in a straight line next to a giant open grass park. Nevertheless, the bus came and I boarded it without being caught. When I exited the bus at Lunt, I saw a large group of runners crossing the street toward the checkpoint. I ran after them because I thought I recognized them, but when I caught up to them at the checkpoint, I realized that my eyes are worse than I thought, and I had no idea who these people were.

"The end is near" at checkpoint 5, or so I am told by the cloak-donning men and women wandering the grass outside the field house. One of them approached me and took my map from my hand, almost as if in slow motion. I was even more terrified than I had been at the last post office. She turned me around and used my back to stamp my map, then told me to live well because there wasn't much time left. "Wise words," I thought as I took off toward the Heartland.

It was an easy run west to the Heartland, or so I thought, straight across Lunt. The Lunt bus wasn't running, since it was a weekend, so the last mile or so would be done on foot. I made it mere blocks before I was spotted by the chaser on the bike I had encountered before. He came after me and I ran into a driveway and hid behind a garage. The sound of his bike echoed through the alley and around the houses, until it stopped and I could hear voices. Someone from the neighborhood had stopped to ask him why everyone was running around her street like idiots, and he politely and concisely explained the game to her. I used the opportunity to get away, and broke for freedom. I wove up and down a few blocks the rest of the way west, and had to push myself to keep running. The beers I'd had at my birthday dinner were beginning to reach my bladder, but I only used that as extra motivation to make it to the finish line.

As I rounded the corner on to Lunt, I could see Heartland Cafe in the distance. It shone like a beacon of hope, relief, and beefy gluten-free-bun burgery goodness. The last block seemed to pass by in slow motion, even while being cheered on by random passers by. All of a sudden, I was inside. My bewildered look must have tipped off the shop clerk to the fact that I was there for Journey, and he calmly directed me to the next room where I checked in, received my time and my merit patch, and grabbed some much needed hydration.

My final result was 4th place, out of 749 runners who started from Welles Park.
I had a total time of 1 hour 34 minutes and 15 seconds.
According to Google Earth, my total distance traveled was 7.4 miles, 6.9 of which was on foot.

After I came to grips with the fact that I did in fact finish 4th, I helped put up signs to direct the rest of the finishers inside. I stood around various places inside and outside, trying to breathe normally again, talking to and greeting people as they came to check in. I sat out on the bleachers for a good while and talked to a couple of volunteers from checkpoint 1B, whose theme had been "what do you want to do before you die?" They had some good stories, and they enjoyed my stories, and it was nice to hear about the event from a volunteer perspective. It made me seriously consider volunteering instead of running next year.

After a good while, some friends of mine showed up to check in. Unfortunately, they hadn't made it alive, but one of them did get a kill, so he received a patch for that. He was very excited about it, and immediately started thinking about where he was going to display it. We went inside and had dinner to celebrate my birthday again, and also to celebrate my epic win of 4th place.


Let me just reiterate that this was the best birthday I have ever had or will ever have.

If you read this whole thing, you get major cool points.