Happy Walk to Work Day!

Today is National Walk to Work Day. In celebration, I walked all the way to Active Trans' office in Chicago's River North neighborhood from my home in Andersonville on Chicago’s far north side.

Sunrise at Wrigley

The full group of walkers

Newberry Park

I felt remarkably refreshed upon waking up at 5 a.m., and by quarter to 6 I was strolling down Ridge Ave. in the pre-dawn twilight to my first rendezvous with a friend at Foster Ave. and Broadway.

Coffee in hand, we strolled at a quick but comfortable pace south through Uptown and Buena Park into Wrigleyville to meet a coworker here at Active Trans.

While waiting a few minutes for her at the corner of Halsted St. and Brompton Ave., we took in the view of a sunrise off Wrigley Field.

Another mile south in Lakeview we stopped for more hot beverages at Caribou Coffee (Caribou, by the way, is a great supporter of Active Trans!).

At about 7:20 a.m., our full group formed when another friend and another coworker joined us — to make a walking group of five.

We set off in the glorious spring sunshine at the busy intersection of Broadway St., Clark St., and Diversey Ave.

From there, we made great time down Clark St. through Lincoln Park, Old Town, and into the Gold Coast.

At Chestnut Ave. and Clark St., we cut through Newberry Park and walked the rest of the way to work down Dearborn St. for an 8:30 touchdown at Active Trans HQ, 9 West Hubbard Street.

The walk to work was just under three hours, including stops. 

Did you know that Chicago was recently ranked 8th-most-walkable city in the nation by walkscore.com?

Did you walk to work today? Tell us about your commute!