Valentine’s Day isn’t only about romantic love! During this ~4-mile, easy-paced (~11:00 min/mile) point-to-point fun run, we’ll trace Chicago’s Lakefront Trail and celebrate the friends in our lives through poetry, anchored by Jose Olivarez’s ode to friendship, family, heritage, and romance, Promises of Gold and featuring a live spoken word performance by Chicago-based poet Stephanie Sarabia. We’ll make three stops along the way at points of interest related to friendship, where you’ll have the opportunity to hear poetry and even share one of your own favorite poems. We’ll end at the American Writers Museum, where all registered runners will have full access to the museum space.
All runners are invited to bring their favorite poems inspired by friendship (your own or written by another poet) to share with the group during the run or after the run at our post-run discussion. After the event, Read & Run Chicago will compile the poems in a blog post.
"How many bad lovers have gotten poems? How many crushes? No disrespect to romantic love--but what about our friends? Those homies who are there all along--cheering for us and reminding us that love is abundant," writes Olivarez in Promises. This Valentine’s Day, let’s honor all those in our lives who love us!