
Suppose your ideal Roman holiday involves lacing up your Nikes and bounding up the Spanish Steps, raising your arms in a Rocky-like gesture of triumph before turning to soak in the view. Maybe you'd prefer a lakeside run that showcases the Chicago skyline, or some distance training that will earn you an eyeful of the Eiffel Tower.
If you find the panoramas as appealing as the perspiration, consider yourself a
sight jogger.
Plenty of business and vacation travelers pack athletic gear so they won't need to shelve their running routines. Some hit the hotel treadmill. But more now seem inclined to marry cultural enrichment with fitness - and a budding segment of the travel industry has responded, offering the gel-heeled set itineraries in which a run can be particularly enriching when enjoyed in the company of a guide, or alone on a well-planned route.
Until I started training to run a marathon last year, I had never really thought about using running as a mechanism for sightseeing. Now, I have learned just how much more you'll see on foot than by a car or on a boat. I've had a number of friends who have gone to the most remote places in the world to run distance races and, as you can imagine, they were able to see so much more than the average traveler. One acquaintance even ran last years marathon in Antarctica!
I can highly recommend Paris as a very runner-friendly city. Do any other runners here have a favorite destination city for running?
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