One of the most significant quality of life differences between the Midwest and New England has to be the ability to park one’s car remotely close to one’s destination on a regular basis. And while the exercise opportunity offered to the east coast driver is actually quite beneficial, as they trudge miles from some barely legal near spot seized in final parking desperation seconds before their scheduled appointment, it is the combat involved against the other bordering-on-lunacy drivers that I do not miss. Somehow, the city planners executing the Burnam Plan in 1909 Chicago figured out how to pack in just enough businesses per parking space to ensure that there would always be room for one more car, just when most needed. Or maybe the parking gods were still rolling around in hysterical laughter at the way their antics cause me such regular havoc at O’Hare, and didn’t notice the impending intersection of my car and the empty parking space, just outside of my destination today.
As I pulled up to the spot just outside of Chicago’s Second City, I wasn’t sure how long it would take to pick up the running packet and number for my wife’s pre-marathon run. I noticed a number of runners heading into the store, either to pick up their own numbers or to find last minute equipment for the upcoming Chicago marathon, so I punched the 30 minute parking button and dropped a few coins into the machine. I like the new system Chicago uses, allowing you to park wherever you can fit rather than in a predefined parking space, and then printing out a receipt to place on the dash. That done, I headed into the store.
As is typical for the Midwest, it took no time at all despite the fair number of runners also seeking their own kits, and I was back at the car just in time to see another runner pulling her car into the now vacant spot behind mine. I hurried forward to open my car, grabbed the parking receipt, and headed back to the emerging runner. Maybe her experience will be like mine, I thought as I drove north, and she’ll have been in the same store for the same six minutes, and find another runner pulling in next to her as she leaves, passing along the receipt once more.