This one might be the coolest concept we’ve come across yet in our run every club in Chicago series. Stop number four, and Album Runs is a big departure from the first three.
The group is called Album Runs, founded by Mauricio, and about once a month he teams up with a local musician for either an album release or an album sneak peek, and turns it into a group run. You show up, you scan a QR code, and it pulls up the full album on your phone. Everyone hits play at the same time, and off we go, a super chill out and back on the 606, around 3 miles total.
There’s no pace pressure here at all. You’re just moving through the city with a crew of people, all listening to the same album at the same time, each in your own headphones. It’s a strange and pretty perfect kind of together alone.
A few reasons this one stood out for us.
It’s a great run for introverts. Nobody needs you to make small talk for 3 miles. You put your headphones in, get lost in the album, and you’re still around people without having to perform being around people.
It’s a great run for music people. Getting early ears on a local artist’s album before it even drops, while running through Chicago with the person who made it nearby, is a pretty cool way to spend a morning.
It’s also a great run for new runners and walkers. The pace is genuinely chill and the whole route is walk friendly, so this isn’t a run to prove anything, it’s a run to just feel something.
The out and back format on the 606 keeps the group close together the whole time, the path is flat and paved so it’s low stress, and 3 miles ends up being just right, long enough to get into a good chunk of the album, short enough that it never turns into a slog.
Good music, good miles, good people. Five stars from us, no notes.
Keep an eye out for the next Album Runs date. You’ll want to be there.
CUSS Running is on a mission to run with every run club in Chicago. Got a club we should visit next? Tell us on social.
