Monday, September 12, 2011

Our first real vacation run

John and I always talk about how nice it would be to run in a new city, while on vacation. We will see people running when we're out of town, and think that it looks nice. But then the reality sets in: we'd have to pack a whole extra bag to go running. And we usually walk a lot on trips, so we might not get a good run in anyway, or our walk would be tortourous. So we don't run.

Paris is a good example. How nice would it be to run along the Seine? Around the Eiffel Tower? Down the grand boulevards? But alas, we did not run in Paris. We walked miles and miles each day, and didn't have time to run.

For our trip to Seattle for our anniversary (Number Four!), we decided things would be different. We didn't have much we wanted to accomplish (like we did in Paris), and best of all, our hotel would be close to a nice running trail. So we brought the extra bag, and planned the time. And we went running.

We arrived Thursday morning, and walked maybe five or six miles that day.
On Friday, we got up and went running just after seven. We went down the Harbor Steps, to Alaskan Way, and towards the Olympic Sculpture Garden. Along the way, we ran on the waterfront, past the piers with the cruiseship, ferry boats, and the like. Once we got to the Sculpture Garden, we got on the waterfront trail. We took that along the water, on a nice paved trail with waterfountains and lots of other runners. We saw the views across the Sound, the ships and the far away mountains. It was beautiful.

We ran two and a half miles, then sat at a bench for a while to take in the view. I would never do that on a "real" run, but it was the real purpose of the vacation run. To see something new, something beautiful, while running in a new city. Then we turned back, and ran back to the hotel. Had breakfast in our running clothes. Got ready for our day, and started out our sightseeing recharged and accomplished. What a nice feeling.

Harbor Steps Photo: EquityApartments.com
Olympic Sculpture Garden Photo: Archinect.com
Waterfront Trail Photo: Flickr User Luton
Here is the route we took:

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