On Saturday, September 5, 2026, I put forth an effort in consideration for the Women’s Unsupported FKT on the North Shore Channel Trail. There had not been a previous Women’s FKT of this route, and while I was slower than my goal time, I kept at an earnest clip throughout the morning. Also as a note, I had checked Strava to attempt to find this full route as a segment and check for any record times, but there is not a Strava segment of the full route in existence as of this report.
I started my watch at 8:10 AM at Green Bay Road, and started running south. I had the .gpx file from FKT downloaded into CalTopo on my phone, which I referenced consistently as there were several sections of the route with intertwining trails. Ever the perfectionist, I wanted to stick to the exact trail.
The trail flowed seamlessly, albeit regular crosswalk occurrences, from Ladd Arboretum to Gorell Park. It was at this time that I checked the weather app for the first time, because it felt like I was absolutely swimming. I found the culprit to be 92% humidity, and it would stay that way for the rest of my effort.
It was after three miles that I knew my pace had started to falter. My goal was to finish the North Shore Channel Trail in 1:08, 20 minutes slower than the men’s pace but still at a steady tempo. I was determined to keep with it, and the sculptures of the Skokie Northshore Channel Park helped to boost morale. I was crossing the bridge before I knew it.
Legion Park and River Park were very nice! I was truly in shambles from the humidity, which I continued to get screenshots of, to prove that it never dipped below 90% for my entire outing. At 9:34 I reached West Lawrence Avenue, and my run was complete!