How to run in a new city
You’ve found yourself in a far away land, and you have your running shoes, but no local knowledge. Now what? A running tour, perhaps...
Travel is a beautiful thing. We laugh about getting the travel bug, we make the effort to take the scenic route if we’ve got the time, we talk romantically about wanderlust, we pour scorn upon the least well-travelled among us, we long to experience new cultures, meet new people, eat native foods, and visit far-flung wonders of the world.
Yeah, for this one we have to ignore the massive environmental impact of flying. Has aviation contributed to 4% of climate change? That’s the estimated cost of all those beautiful things I listed in the previous paragraph, but let’s keep that in mind for another day.
What if you’re a runner, though? I mean, really a runner. You want to get to a new country and run, right?
Just go for a run right out of the hotel? You’ll be running alone, and phone maps might lead you to a rougher neighborhood than you intended. Signing up for a local race at your destination is a top idea, but only if you’re there on a weekend. How about joining a local running group? Also great, but not every city has an LA Running Connoisseur fastidiously listing every run.
My favorite way of experiencing a city through running is with a tour guide. Yes, there are running tours all around the world, where you can run for 5km or 10km – or further – and the host will show you their city, and impart some crucial local knowledge, the minutiae of which could never be delivered by the internet. Plus, they won’t let you run through the more dangerous parts of the city. Unless you want to, of course.
