Indoor track/ Outdoor tracks in Chicago

St Ignatius College Prep is essentially within the UIC campus and is where the UIC teams train. Unfortunately, that track is not always open. I trained there last spring by getting permission from the UIC coach to be on the track while their practice was going on.

Other than that, there aren't many tracks. if you have a car, you could get up to north park college (kedzie and argyle) and use theirs. there is also a bad track near north and clybourn and a rectangular one at northwestern's law/med school campus.

Indoor tracks are even tougher; there aren't any nearby at all. the university of chicago has one, but you need access to their fieldhouse to use it and it's way down in hyde park. (for the record, there are two outdoor tracks down there. one on the UofC campus, and a really nice public one smack in the middle of Jackson Park.) Additionally, some high schools (but not many) have indoor facilities--proviso west comes to mind--but none that i know of are nearby and have easy public access. as far as i know, none of the other colleges in the city(north park, depaul, loyola,...) have indoor tracks either.

I was living out in wicker park last year and working at the UIC medical center. doing workouts on tracks was inconvenient at best. i moved to california last month and now live within two miles of at least three tracks. such is life.

I'm jealous, but I'll look into the track you mentioned. Most of those should be within 3-4 warmup miles of me. Thanks

I know for a fact Depaul has an indoor track, because you can see it from the el! If you are a Depaul alum/student, I think you can pay a ridiculously low amount (relative to other CHI clubs with indoor tracks) and be able to use it. I think they do allow general public in, but the fees are higher.

I am sure there are also some indoor tracks at health clubs, but probably only those where you pay top $ (Lakeshore on Fullerton has one, East Bank Club--you can run with Oprah!).

Are there any groups of semi-serious runners (31/32ish 10k) that meet at any track in Chicago to do workouts? When and where do they meet? Am considering a move to Chicago next year and want to make sure it's OK on the running front...

I would contact the University of Chicago Track Club.

http://www.uctc.org/

.

I'm not sure if the UCTC runners are fast enough, but they seem to be part of the scene enough to give you some direction. I live in the Chicago area, but run alone and haven't raced in a while, so I don't know much more.

Does anybody know of any indoor tracks in the western suburbs of Chicago that people can run on in the winter?

For track clubs, try the Universal Sole guys. They have some fast runners. As far as suburbs Dick Pond has a racing team with some fast guys. Not sure on west suburbs indoor tracks.

I know this is several years old. But I was by Logan Square and could not find a track anywhere.

I was hoping that by now there would be a track.

Rumor is there's a new outdoor track at Montrose Harbor. Also, the track in Jackson Park is public and extremely nice. If you get up early enough on a weekend you can make it there down LSD in 15-20 min and no one uses it. Other than that you're stuck with the Northwestern track which is crappy and semi square, but it's something.

Check out Westinghouse High School for a track close to Logan Square. It is close to Humbolt Park.

Nice! For sure I gotta check them out.

Here's a silly question to add:

Of all these potential track locations I'm assuming they are outdoor, could it be possible to run after a downpour of rain or Snow?

Rain for sure...when there is snow on the ground I would make the trek to Hillside in the west suburbs. Proviso West HS has a great 200M indoor track. Monday's/Wednesday's around 6 it is usually available.

Good looking out...I appreciate the feedback

Tots McGee wrote:

Rumor is there's a new outdoor track at Montrose Harbor.

Correct. The 400m oval at Cricket Hill, right next to Montrose Beach, opened this summer.

Thanks for the Proviso tip! I'm in the NW suburbs and had no idea where to find an indoor track (like to do 800m/1500m training during winter/spring)

The Montrose Harbor track is legit. Full 8 lanes and painted. Plenty of parking up there too. 5 laps to a mile track at 4700 N. Clark....lots of kids and other peeps there.

I belong to Lakeshore Club on Fullerton. Indoor 400m track, but only 2 lanes and 90 degree turns....tough on the knees. Can be a bit of a steeplechase with the walkers and kids on there.

East Bank Club has a nice 400-meter indoor track.

Also - Wrightwood Park (Ashland/Wrightwood) has a 6-lap to a mile track. Pretty nice and never crowded.

b02 wrote:

Are there any groups of semi-serious runners (31/32ish 10k) that meet at any track in Chicago to do workouts? When and where do they meet? Am considering a move to Chicago next year and want to make sure it's OK on the running front...

Running clubs in the Chicagoland area

In the city:

Fleet Feet

Universal Sole

Track and Trough

Suburbs:

Dick Pond Fast Track

Evanston Running Club

New Balance Chicago

Jenny Spangler

Those are the main ones that I'm aware of.