Long way to the top: rockin’ the North Shore half

Long way to the top: rockin’ the North Shore half

Danny Cox for the RedEye

Originally posted on the RedEye Wrigleyville: http://neighborhoods.redeyechicago.com/wrigleyville/viewpoint/2011/06/13/long-way-to-the-top-rockin-the-north-shore-half/

This is the first in a continued series documenting one man in one band’s journey to the halls of rock legend. Full disclosure: I am that man, Riff/Raff Chicago is that band. This installment takes us to Highland Park for Chicago’s oldest half-marathon, the North Shore Half Marathon.

I really need to make better choices when it comes to sleeping. This was the overarching thought as I dragged my slow-to-life body out of bed around 4:15 am on Sunday, June 12. Why am I awake at 4:15 am on a Sunday, you ask? Rock and roll baby. In a few short hours, Chicago’s best Bon Scott-era AC/DC tribute band (as confirmed by a completely unscientific poll of beer coasters and bar napkins) would be taking the grand stage of the North Shore Half Marathon/5k and delivering pure rock gold to thousands of runners.

I knew that this moment would come, and had strongly considered returning home for some much-needed sleep at various degrees of lateness throughout the Saturday evening before until logic had finally gotten the best of me. Around 3:00. Fast forward an hour or so to me zombie-walking through the living room, complete with my still-awake-from-the-evening’s-festivities roommate and our guest from out of town, clinging desperately to the hope that a lukewarm shower will help shake some life into my dragging limbs. As consciousness slowly started to creep back to me  TLC style, the issue of transportation arose: I’m awake before the Brown Line. Sonofabitch.

One cab ride and short discussion on race relations in America later (don’t ask), I was en route to our destination: sunny Highland Park, Illinois! Arriving without a hitch, we realized quickly that one of our members may be taking the tribute to late-70′s rock a bit too far. Aside from meeting at the pre-determined rendezvous, we had no way of finding our recently cell-phone free drummer. This would soon become even more problematic when the race coordinator led us down a circuitous path, eventually pulling to the side of a narrow, chain-link fence-lined road. Thinking we were making a quick pit stop to grab the generator sitting casually in a rocky roadside recess, we were a bit taken aback to learn that this was, in fact, our impromptu stage.

Only the finest stages for Riff/Raff Chicago

With a will as hard as steel and minds as sharp as MacGyver’s, we pooled our collective resources (namely, a piece of styrofoam and a rubber lining to a truck bed) and transformed the rocky patch of pavement into a stage fit for a king. Namely, Jeffrey King, the reigning shift manager at the Irving Park Burker King [Author's note: this is a fictional individual. Any resemblance to real individuals is purely coincidental and highly bizarre]. What followed was some rocking tunes, a lot of smiles, a few high fives, and a great time had by all.

For those about to rock the Warrior Dash Midwest this weekend, you too can experience the awesomesauce, as Riff/Raff Chicago will be laying down some tasty licks on both Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 PM. Shameless self-promotion or simply biased reporting: you decide.

Danny Cox is a RedEye blogger.