Day 551 – US – Illinois [Rockford to DeKalb]

07/10/21

53km

  From Rockford (Illinois) to DeKalb (Illinois)

North America

Rainy and grey skies today, which opened up as I reached the 19,000 km milestone

Across the Rock River in Rockford

It had been a while since I last ran in the rain. The air was warm as I left in the morning and the rain started out more like a drizzle. It felt fine. In fact I prefer this kind of weather for longer runs. I crossed the Rock River again as I headed south east towards DeKalb. That’s where a car drove past me through a huge puddle and gave me a proper shower, I was soaked from head to toe!

Foggy rainy day

DeKalb is part of “Chicagoland” as the Chicago metropolitan area is often referred to. And it will take me another three days of running to reach the heart of Chicago, by the lake. I certainly enjoyed the quietness of the roads today, running through the countryside. Bracing for much more urban and busy roads in the next few days.

A patch of blue sky suddenly appeared!

The skies were low and grey throughout. And then, about 10km away from DeKalb, it started clearing up, with patches of blue suddenly appearing up above me. I looked at my GPS and it’s right there that I passed the 19,000 km mark. What a strange thing… It does feel like it is all going very fast since I left Seattle early July.

Enjoy the video of today’s run: https://www.relive.cc/view/v36AgmpJrZv

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: