Run Three Self-Guided Routes: Michelle Obama’s Chicago
By Allison Yates
Readers & runners pose in front of Boxville, where along with Da Book Joint, Fleet Feet, On, and RNWY, we hosted our Book Club Run of Becoming.
In May 2024, Read & Run Chicago partnered with On to help celebrate the launch of their newest shoe, the Cloudmonster Hyper. Since Cloudmonster Hyper is the show that energizes your dreams, our Book Club Run pick to accompany this occassion was Michelle Obama’s Becoming, a book highlights this sentiment so well.
As we brought Michelle Obama’s memoir to live through movement in Hyde Park, we talked about dreams—our dreams, readers’ & runners’ dreams, and Michelle Obama’s dreams as illustrated in her memoir. It was a special morning spent on Chicago’s South Side in the area Michelle spent many of her adult years prior to becoming First Lady, focusing on how those locations related to her dreams.
“I’ve learned it’s okay to recognize that self-worth comes wrapped in vulnerability, and that what we share as humans on this earth is the impulse to strive for better, always and no matter what.”
In Becoming, readers get to experience Michelle’s story through her eyes: her years at a little girl under the nurturing care of her parents, heading off to Yale and discovering her community, then back to Chicago to build her career and meet former president Barack Obama and finally, her experience living in the White House. Naturally, many of those moments happen outside of Hyde Park, where our event took place. There are so many wonderful locations throughout the city that Michelle Obama mentions in her memoir, including Roseland, where Michelle watched Barack inspire community action, and the South Shore Cultural Center, where the pair wed in 1992.
But sadly, we couldn’t visit them all. The running routes on Read & Run Chicago’s events are typically three to five miles total, and Michelle Obama’s Chicago footsteps spans distance much greater than this. For readers & runners hoping to run through more of Michelle’s story, we’ve crafted three self-guided routes of varying lengths you can follow to continue your exploration of the city through her experience.
And bonus: Want to treat yourself after the run? Here are three eateries we learned in Becoming that Michelle Obama loves or has significance: Baskin-Robbins, Garrett’s Popcorn, Italian Fiesta.
Route #1: South Shore Childhood Years
A running route map of some of the South Shore spots featured in Becoming.
Route Link | Mileage: 4.1 | Highlights: Michelle’s Childhood Home, Rosenblum Park, Bouchet Elementary (former Bryn Mawr Elementary), and Rainbow Beach
From the home she grew up in and the park where Michelle and Craig played, to the elementary school where she first gained her sense of self, the Lake Michigan beach she’d ride her bike to and the church her family attended, here is a classic early years route to bring to life the many stories Michelle shares in her memoir.
Michelle Obama’s Childhood Home. Credit.
Note: Michelle attended Whitney Young Magnet High School on the Near West Side. It’s a bit far for this suggested route, but would make a great (and long) long run!
Route #2: The Hyde Park Adult Years
This is the map all of our readers & runners got during our event on May 5!
Route Link | Mileage: 5.5 | Higlights: University of Chicago, Promontory Point, The Obama Kissing Rock
Fernanda speaking to readers & runners near the Baskin-Robbins where Barack and Michelle had their first kiss.
This was the route that readers & runners experienced live and in person with programs manager Fernanda in May 2024. One of the spots all runners in Chicago will be able to relate to is the lakefront. At this stop, Fernanda explained the importance that Lake Michigan has in the Obama’s story. As a child, Michelle and Craig and their parents would spend time on the weekends by the lake (her dad would drive them in his special Buick!), and while Michelle and Barack were dating, they would often spend time walking by the lake. As they’ve continued their lives, the lake still holds the opportunity for family: Malia and Sasha were often brought there to have fun and temporarily relieve some campaign stress. Fernanda also reminded readers & runners of one of the most awe-inducing moments of the memoir. In 2008, after Barack Obama won the presidential election, they drove on an empty Lakeshore Drive to Grant Park, where an estimated crowd of 240,000 people waited to hear him speak. Fernanda recalled being amongst the attendees and feeling the silence and wonder in the crowd. She prompted readers & runners to remember a similar moment: “Think of a moment that made you feel goosebumps and gave you so much happiness for being there,” she urged us. The answers among the group as we ran to our next stop were wonderful.
Route #3: A Long Run of Major Life Moments
Route Link | Mileage: 12.7 Point-to-Point / 21.1 round trip | Highlights: South Shore Cultural Center, Grant Park, Sidley & Austen
Running route map tracing some of the locations where Michelle had some of her big life moments!
This is a long run—literally! You can choose to do this as a 12.7 point-to-point run (and take public transportation or Divvy back to the start), or go big with a 21.1 round trip long run. This route takes you along our treasured Lakefront Trail from South Shore Cultural Center where Barack and Michelle said “I do” in 1992, to the law firm where they met and Grant Park, where over 240,000 Chicagoans heard Barack’s acceptance speech in 2008.
Heading out to run with a friend? Here are some suggested discussion questions readers & runners received during the in-person event in May 2024! If you’re heading out solo, no worries: we support discussing with yourself!