A dedicated early-morning runner, Jeff Wyrick began documenting his runs on an Instagram account he titled @nosleeptilwolflin in 2021. These moody, black-and-white moments from before Amarillo wakes up—captured in all seasons of the year using an iPhone—offer a unique perspective on the city’s architecture and neighborhoods.
Wyrick’s three- or four-mile jogs always start from his home in the Olsen Park neighborhood at 4:44 a.m. They follow a variety of routes. Sometimes he runs alone, but not always. “NoSleepTilWolflin is a small assembly of desperate, insomniac runners who traverse the dimly-lit streets of central Amarillo well before dawn,” he says. By running at these hours, he explains, the runners beat the heat, avoid the highest winds and steer clear of dangerous traffic.
Running early allows Wyrick the gift of seeing Amarillo in a different light. “When you remove the things that make a city a city—humans, the cars they drive, the sounds they make, the scents they emit—the cityscape changes dramatically,” he says. That void transforms the city, if only for a few dark hours. “Parking lots become vast concrete pastures. The main thoroughfares become well-lit and spacious running tracks. The bustle of commerce is reduced to a gentle snore of humming street lights or whirling air conditioners,” Wyrick says.
“In fact, sometimes the runs feel a little like sleepwalking.”
Find Wyrick’s work on Instagram.
