Running like a Wildcat

Today Prince E drove me up to Evanston, Illinois, home of the Northwestern University Wildcats. As you can see from the photos, the path I ran along hugged Lake Michigan, much like the lakefront path I run on in Chicago. It was a very pleasant morning, and the weather was cool. I did a back and forth run for a total of 4.5 miles of running, which you can see from the Google Earth map below. I ran a circle around a little playground, which looks kind of funny on the map.

At the end of my run, as I ran back towards one of the Northwestern playing fields, I noticed lots of people standing around, staring in the direction that I came from. Was there a race I didn't know about today? Was there a parade? And then I noticed one of the people (a parent I presume), holding something that said Northwestern Cross-country. I moved off to one side to start my cool down walk when I saw the first runner. She was fast, all decked out in Wildcat purple. She ran in a loop around the field. I wondered how long they had been running. I assume it was a long way, since I think that was where the race was ending, but she didn't look all that tired. She was followed by several other women at various speeds. It was fun to see how effortless it appeared for many of them.