I’ve written about running while travelling in a prior post from the angle of packing efficiently and staying safe in new areas. This post is on how to use running to enjoy an area, or to temper any aggravation you’re feeling from being there.
This past week on a work trip to Indianapolis, I got to add Indiana as the 28th state where I’ve run. Though I don’t have a desired goal to run in all fifty, I do enjoy adding to the list.
A big bonus for me of running at sea level (or anything significantly lower than my usual 5280 in the Denver area) is the extra oxygen. I feel like I can fly. For once, no matter how fast I move my legs I still have plenty of air. This was not the case before moving to Denver as my lungs were already used to sea level.
Besides this, and besides being able to see new areas closely, there are other benefits to running in new places. Part of the enjoyment is creating and expanding a list but it’s also being able to see new areas more closely and in some cases, to experience new types of terrains, conditions, and other challenges. While I may not be rolling off fifteen or twenty miles and taking in hours of scenery, I am on the ground and moving at a pace where I can easily observe and absorb my surroundings. The more places I get to run, the larger the variety of my experiences. Sometimes my experience is enhanced because I was looking forward to running there anyway; other times it can help balance the trip mentally.
When I travel for work, running may allow me to see the area in a less stressed way than navigating traffic and thinking about upcoming meetings or events. When I went to Maine many years ago, my trip there took longer than I expected, it was dark and rainy, and I got to my hotel later than planned. My appointments the next day were at several places where I’d never been and I had to navigate my way through unfamiliar areas and lousy traffic. My mood was sour.
Late that afternoon, I found a small lake with a dirt trail around it and I did an eight mile run on that. It was late fall and though I’m not someone who gets excited about leaf-peeping, I had to admit it was a beautiful scene. More importantly, it allowed me to appreciate the area in a different way than if I had only dealt with the aggravations of traffic and an unfamiliar commute. Rather than barricade myself into the hotel and use their treadmill for running, getting out onto the trail balanced out the trip and allowed me to see the area in a more enjoyable way.
Maybe New England is an easy place for most people to find ways to appreciate the area, but running can also allow you to enjoy a place in a way you didn’t expect. On a separate trip to Beckley, WV, while I did like the town as a travel stopover (lots of restaurants, places to stay, etc.) it was not a place I expected to like running and when I stepped out of the hotel that morning, I assumed my run would be purely functional. I didn’t enjoy running there as much as other places, but it also was the case that running in that West Virginia mountain area opened my eyes to seeing the city as more than a convenient travel stop. With plenty of hills to cruise up and down on, the early morning fog hanging over the mountains, and the relative quiet, it was a more pleasant start to the day than I had anticipated.
Prior to going to Indianapolis, I scoped out the area on Google maps to get a rough idea of what my running options would be. When I hit the pavement, I was able to find the White River trail that the maps said existed and it went to where the map said it would. The trail was concrete and set higher than the river so it gave a good view of the water and the area around it. On the first morning, I kept it pretty simple: three miles out and back, much of it along the IUPUI campus. The way back seemed much shorter, as it sometimes does. From studying the maps, this was about the only decent running option in the downtown area. However, it was a decent option which is not always the case.
One morning I ran with a colleague; we went farther than my initial run, around six miles total, and on a different route on the other side of the river. The trail took us through different areas, some lined with trees, some going by urban complexes of buildings.
Though there weren’t other trails to explore to allow me to see different parts of the city, I have always found value in running a route many times as it allows me to see how an area changes or looks slightly different. For trails at home, the change can be over days and years. For even a short trip, it’s interesting to see the view change with slightly different types of sunlight or cloud, times of days, weekends versus weekdays, etc. While the route may be the same, what you see can be very different every time you go on it. This was the case with Indianapolis, getting to see the city wake up and head to work at various hours of the morning.
Many of the places I go I look forward to running and it’s often that my expectations are matched or exceeded by how my run goes. Yet it’s equally as valuable to have running allow me to see an area that I previously considered bland or irritating in a more positive way. At the very least, I come away with a more balanced perspective and even better, I get to reset internally and move on to the next spot, shoes at the ready.
Running food review of the week (note–gels, bars, chews, and other items affect everyone differently. Try them on a short run before using them for a key training run or race): Jelly Belly Extreme Sport Beans Watermelon: I assume you’re familiar with the taste of orange juice right after you’ve brushed your teeth. There was a hint of that flavor while eating these. My first reaction was that I must have just brushed my teeth, until I remembered that I had not. While the watermelon part was stronger than the “orange juice on just brushed teeth” portion, it was an odd taste. There were 50mg of caffeine and though I was sluggish much of the morning, there was a positive energy factor. Its main purpose, an energy boost, was good but the flavor was poor. If I had nothing else to use on a long run, I could handle either of these. However, I’ll be purchasing other flavors of this product.