I spent the entire month of June (and a little of July) far away from home. I had the great fortune to visit 5 countries in that time and run in 4 of them (Seriously, who could run in Italy??) I had been fighting some low motivation for several months, but the thought of running in some of my favorite places on earth got me out early mornings at home, so I’d be ready to really enjoy the runs. I had planned to do a half marathon with a group of friends in Madison, WI the weekend before I left. Due to some mysterious knee pains, I couldn’t train for a few crucial weeks before hand and ended up dropping down to what they called a quarter marathon (basically a little longer than a 10k). I had dreamt of running my favorite routes in Paris and London since I’d been there the year before. The thought of pushing myself too much and not being able to run in Europe was enough to convince me that changing races was the right thing to do.
The trip started off in Paris. We arrived on a Tuesday morning and had a fabulous day visiting Notre Dame and other sites of the city. I was eager to get out for my first run in Paris!! We were staying next to the Parc de la Villette. Sadly “parc” was a slight overstatement. It was mainly a concrete area with some modern art scattered around. Wednesday morning, I set off for about 3 miles around 5 am (it was already light, though!) I ran through the park area and discovered there were canals right behind the hotel. I ran along till they ended, turned around and ran to the other end of the path. I was still quite short and turned to run up into the streets above the canals. I got several confused looks as I did so, but it didn’t matter. I was running! In PARIS!!! It was a very easy, comfortable run. I loved every minute of it.
The next morning, I headed to my favoritist park in all the world- Jardin du Luxembourg. It was a beautiful morning! Nice sun, light breeze.. and I was in major luck- today was the local fire station’s training at the park day! :D For the first time ever, I was happy to be running slower as they lapped me several times doing what seemed to be hill repeats. Niiiiiiiiiice! Oh and they finished first, so there was some stretching along the wall, as well. Hehe. I mean, the uh, natural beauty of the park was stunning!
Unfortunately, I had something bad at lunch that day (I suspect it was an undercooked egg on my crepes) so I was sick the next couple of days, literally only having hot tea for every meal. I wasn’t able to run for the next few days in Paris. Saturday we took the train early early for Nice, so I wasn’t able to run that morning.
Sunday morning, however, it was drizzly and grey. There was some lightning in the distance over the water, too. But I had a great run. I went out for 5 miles along the Promenade des Anglais, the major walkway along the beach in Nice. Despite the rain, I was not alone! Lots of runners, early morning sanitation workers, a few people who I suspect spent the night out there…. An interesting mix of sights while running.
Here’s a photo of the Promenade the next day in sunnier weather:
And this is the view of the sea I had as I did the outbound leg:
I was able to do one more run along this promenade on Tuesday morning as well. This was our last day in France before we got in the coach to go to Italy. I was glad I got that run in, because it turned out it was the last one for the next week! But really.. who could run in Italy??? ;)
2 comments:
Very cool! But whats with not running in Italy? Its a country just like any other, ya shoulda run in Italy, even if it was just for half a block =)
Well, it was so beautiful. It's a country where you enjoy the beauty- not sweat! ;) Also, my hotel was not located where I could run really... Next time! :)
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