Running · Chicago, Illinois, USA · recorded with NomadTracks

A morning run through downtown Chicago: 9.7 km past Navy Pier and the lakefront

A city at its best hour: this is a 9.7-kilometer morning run through downtown Chicago, recorded on a clear late-June morning when the Magnificent Mile is still quiet and the lakefront is just waking up.

Just over an hour, almost completely flat, the loop strings together the landmarks of the Near North lakeshore — the Mag Mile, Navy Pier and its Centennial Wheel, the flag-lined promenade over the harbour, Ohio Street Beach and the John Hancock above the Lakefront Trail — and comes back to where it started.

Distance9.7 km
Elevation gain8 m
ActivityRunning
Duration1 h 05 min

About this data: this track and its photos were personally shared with us as samples by a NomadTracks user. NomadTracks never uploads, collects or shares your tracks or photos — your recordings stay on your devices and in your own cloud.

Route map of A morning run through downtown Chicago: 9.7 km past Navy Pier and the lakefront drawn from the recorded GPS points on an OpenStreetMap basemap
The actual recorded GPS track — start marked green, finish orange. Numbered pins mark where the photos below were taken.

Download GPX Coordinates, elevation and relative times — recording dates are normalized out, photos not included.

Elevation profile of the track
Elevation profile over the full distance. Switch the map above to interactive mode, then slide across the chart — a marker follows the route.

A flat, fast lap of the lakeshore

Downtown Chicago is a runner's city: a continuous Lakefront Trail, wide promenades and a skyline that never lets up. This loop runs east from the Magnificent Mile out to the tip of Navy Pier, then back along the water past the beach and under the John Hancock Center. Eight metres of elevation gain over nearly ten kilometres — downtown, the only climbs are the river bridges.

Landmarks, one after another

The recorded photos drop onto the map exactly where they were taken, and in Chicago that means a landmark every few minutes. The loop opens on the Magnificent Mile — North Michigan Avenue's mile of department stores, hotels and the old Water Tower — then cuts east to Navy Pier, half a mile of pier reaching into the lake under the 196-foot Centennial Wheel. Out at the pier's tip, a flag-lined promenade looks across the water to the red Chicago Harbor Lighthouse on its breakwater. The way back hugs the lakefront: the full downtown skyline rises across the harbour with the tiered St. Regis Tower at its centre; Ohio Street Beach appears with Caffè Oliva and its loungers right on the sand; and the black, tapered John Hancock Center (875 North Michigan) stands over the beach as the Lakefront Trail carries you home. It's a sightseeing run as much as a workout.

Why record a city run

A flat road loop isn't about navigation stakes or elevation drama — but the line still tells the story: the exact route, the real pace, and a GPX that anyone could follow to run the Chicago lakefront themselves. Every chart and the map came straight out of the app.

About the place: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Chicago sits on the south-western shore of Lake Michigan, and its Near North lakefront is among the most runnable stretches of any U.S. city. The roughly 18-mile Lakefront Trail follows the water almost uninterrupted; Navy Pier, with its 196-foot Centennial Wheel, juts about half a mile into the lake; and the Magnificent Mile carries North Michigan Avenue past the John Hancock Center (875 North Michigan) and the historic Water Tower. The terrain is famously flat — downtown, the only inclines are the bascule bridges over the Chicago River.

A leafy block of the Magnificent Mile, North Michigan Avenue, with a white stag sculpture and morning shoppers
1 · A leafy block of the Magnificent Mile, North Michigan Avenue, with a white stag sculpture and morning shoppers
Navy Pier's Centennial Wheel rising over the downtown Chicago skyline
2 · Navy Pier's Centennial Wheel rising over the downtown Chicago skyline
The flag-lined promenade at the end of Navy Pier, with the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse out on the lake
3 · The flag-lined promenade at the end of Navy Pier, with the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse out on the lake
The downtown Chicago skyline across the harbour, the tiered St. Regis tower at its centre
4 · The downtown Chicago skyline across the harbour, the tiered St. Regis tower at its centre
Caffè Oliva and the loungers at Ohio Street Beach, on the Lake Michigan shore
5 · Caffè Oliva and the loungers at Ohio Street Beach, on the Lake Michigan shore
The John Hancock Center (875 North Michigan) above the Lakefront Trail and the beach
6 · The John Hancock Center (875 North Michigan) above the Lakefront Trail and the beach

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