Thoughts While Running #024

vacay runs.

Lately I feel like the hours and minutes of my day are grains of sand I’m holding in my hands, palms full + hopes high in the morning, only to slowly watch the sand slip through my fingers; at the end of the day hands empty with nothing left to show.  An I.V. drip of matcha and almond milk fueling my days.

Perhaps this is a common feeling, and it is one I am familiar/unfamiliar with as a hyper diligent scheduling of my day has been core to my survival and productivity these last few years (PSA : never accuse a mother of having poor time management skills). There might have been times when I felt like a hamster on the errand wheel running from here to there to here, but the difference was I didn’t also have a list of 37 other things I needed to be doing while driving 40 minutes round trip to the less sketchy CVS so I could pick up a prescription refill.

Some of this is the reality of launching a business where the total # of employees is currently one, and some of it is the self-inflicted consequence of putting my head in the sand for a week and fucking off to Florence for a bit.  A trip that was very much needed, just bougie enough to feel indulgent, booked on points to not feel excessive, and one that probably won’t happen again for a very, very long time.  Our Chase rewards might be empty but our hearts are full and honestly what better way to live life? 

a little BTS photoshoot action…check out that sexy croissant merch

It’s been full on since I’ve gotten back, if full on means operating at a speed that is safe in residential neighborhoods.  I’d prefer to be cruising at highway appropriate MPH’s but I’ll take whatever forward movement I can get.  Last week we had a photoshoot for the store, and I picked up all the custom merch I had designed (+ previewed in the last newsletter). Both turned out better than I ever could have imagined, despite one of them giving me jet lag induced anxiety at 3am.

The re-entry back into real life has been a bumpy one, as our car has also decided it need a new ignition cylinder (a special part that takes min 2 weeks to get) meaning sometimes the key won’t turn on and sometimes it won’t turn off. Fun times all around. Also one of my newer piercings decided to go from kind of sore to full on inflamed in a span of 20 minutes requiring a last minute trip to the piercing studio for a longer back and a lecture that included the world ‘negligent’ far too times for my liking. On top of it all I’ve been solo parenting this week as Matt’s been in New York for work, which hasn’t been too terrible since Dougie is very much enjoying the 1:1 time and I’ve been lax about pretty much everything including how much Snoopy he gets to watch in the morning over breakfast. Needless to say all the aperol spritzes and double espressos and mid afternoon pool naps are a very distance memory despite getting back literally last week.

one of many poolside spritzes. my new favorite is a campari spritz or if you’re a negroni lover like myself, might i recommend the old school americano that inspired the world’s best cocktail?

I posted a few photos from the runs I went on while we were away - one from a morning run in Florence and the other from my morning run in Rome.  I would have preferred to run more, however, due to the heat our mornings started early so we could return to our hotel (and pool!) during the hottest hours of the day.  We also walked on average 7 miles a day, so adding additional km’s from a morning run felt like a ‘nice to have’ and not necessarily a ‘have to have’.  A bit of a treat, a moment of respite from the crowds, and a bit of an indulgence into one of my favorite activities : running in a city that is not my own.

a very moody morning run through the quiet streets of Florence

Italy always will have a special place in my heart : it’s the first country I ever visited when I studied abroad one summer in college (excluding crossing the bridge into Canada to party as a 19 year old).  It was many, many moons ago and while we had the internet (I’m not that old, thank you) we didn’t have iPhones and Google maps and all the things that make it incredibly easy to get lost in a foreign city.  I did some stupid things while I was young and dumb and when I think back it is an absolute miracle I didn’t end up lost in the Italian countryside or on a 20/20 special.

I lived in Milan while studying fashion illustration, and every morning when I wasn’t too hungover I would go for a 3 mile run before class.  I figured out a route via mapquest (I am that old though), printed it out small enough to fit in the palm of my hand and would carry it with me every morning until I had my route memorized.  The looks I would get running through the streets each morning…but I absolutely loved it, and it’s one of the things I still love to do when I travel.  

I was experiencing a bit of route fatigue before we left (which makes me sound like an asshole because running in San Francisco is the literal best) and I find experiencing a different city, especially one that requires an 11 hour flight to access, does wonders for providing some much needed inspiration.  I love to experience a city on foot; whether it be through walking or running, however running is my favorite.  For some reason I find running allows me to access different parts of a city I might never experience through walking, perhaps due to the distance I’m able to cover, or the fact that I’m doing it early in the morning while the streets are quiet and the tourists are all still sleeping.

I had a friend reach out and ask me for tips on choosing a route, if I used strava etc.  I’m not on strava, which maybe I should be?  I tried to use it years ago and it just never really clicked.  Something about the fact that other people can see my routes and segments and how fast I was running made me feel seen in a not great way.  So while I can feel the sand slipping out of my fingers as I type, here’s to ignoring responsibilities a little longer and reminiscing about one of my favorite tourist activities.  Below are a few things I think about when planning my running routes while traveling, whether it be another city in the US or abroad.  And if strava happens to do all these things too…well, good on them.

i did not run on the path below admired the view from above. where it was much, much busier.

1. If there’s a river, run to it + along it.

This works in pretty much every city I’ve visited.  Not only are rivers perfect places for bike + running paths, but they are also iconic to the cities they run through.  I’ve run along the rivers Thames, Arno, Seine, Tiber, Hudson and Colorado along with the lesser known (but still beautiful!) Au Sable (in my hometown of Oscoda, Michigan…so small even people from Michigan can’t find it on a map).

This also holds true with oceans, lakes and reservoirs.  I’ve run along the Pacific (in SF + not in SF), the Atlantic, the Gulf and the Great Lakes.  If there’s a large body of water, chances are there’s a path around it conducive to running some long + beautifully uninterrupted miles.

2. google maps + map my run make excellent training buddies.

I’ve been using map my run long before under armor purchased it and I don’t use it for anything other than mapping routes.  I love it because it follows roads and paths and while not 100%, it’s pretty accurate.  I like this too because it helps me gauge how far a mile (or kilometer if that’s your cup of tea) is, which helps me then mentally add or subtract distance mid-run.  I’ll still do this in SF if I’m running a new neighborhood or like, home from the dentist.

To my knowledge there’s no app version of map my run (I’ve also never checked) and using it on a phone can be a little clunky so in a pinch I’ll sometimes just google map myself to a destination and select walking directions (the multi-stop feature is also great for this). It’s not as exact but it’s good if you want to eyeball a route or just get to some water.  I did this in Rome and then when I got myself lost on the return of an out and back route, google mapped myself home while listening to the directions in my iPods.

3. plan your hotel accordingly

Easier said than done, as the hotel also sort of needs to work in favor of your trip but  since running is fairly important to me (I really do look forward to it as part of my vacation!) I tend to only consider locations that make for favorable running environments.  For example, in New York I will always stay somewhere that provides easy access to the West Side Highway.  LA I prefer Venice for the beach although not always ideal due to traffic if I have to get around.  

Both our hotels this trip were strategically selected for their location away from all the touristy areas, which could have made running a little trickier but luckily did not.  We wanted a nicer bougier hotel for Florence, one with a pool and outdoor area we could enjoy as a respite from the crowds.  Because I remember Florence being a smaller city, I knew it wouldn’t be an issue getting to the river but it did stress me slightly.  

Hotels near parks are also ideal, and perhaps parks should be included in point #1 although I generally find them easier to get lost in (I always struggle to find my way out of the Presidio and I’ve run it…a lot).  Our hotel in Rome was lovely, and located next to the Borghese Gardens which we walked the first afternoon and I then ran the following morning.  Rome is much bigger than Florence but not unmanageable and I was able to run around the park + down to the river while seeing a few touristy spots along the way.  Which leads me to my next tip…

a very empty view from the bottom of the spanish steps

4. don’t hesitate to hit up the hot spots

Basically if you’re visiting a city and you’re a tourist, an early morning run is the prime opportunity to see some of the attractions.  7:30am would have made the Trevi Fountain a much more enjoyable experience than when we walked by at 4pm.  I did run down (and up!) the Spanish Steps which was delightfully empty.  When I used to run in Paris I would always run through the gardens surrounding the Louvre and past the Notre Dame.  Nothing makes a better photo op than when the sun is rising with nary a soul to be seen.

5. don’t run on the first day

This one might be a bit controversial, especially if your flight was long and the need to stretch the legs is great.  Or perhaps you flew out specifically for a race and a shakeout run is necessary, in which case by all means have at it.  I also only follow this rule if the city is new to me; if I’m a returning customer and the city is familiar (like New York, LA, etc) I throw caution to the wind and set my alarm early.

If it’s a new city, especially one where I don’t speak the language and the time zone is wonky, I like to give my body and brain the space to get some rest, alleviating the urgency to immediately hit the pavement.  There’s also a very high possibility that I’ll be exploring the city on foot anyway and I like to use this opportunity to get a lay of the land so to speak.  Check out the neighborhood where the hotel is located, see how close its proximity to other parts of the city I might want to run through.  It also lets me see how many other people are running in the morning, and most importantly where they happen to be running.  Chances are this is where I’ll also want to be when I go out on my own. As a female, annoying as it is to always have safety on my mind, it also gives me a chance to assess how safe I feel during the day, so that I’ll know how safe I’ll feel running alone in the early morning hours.

I’ve (sort of) resumed my running as per usual now that I’m back home with a slight decrease in my mileage simply due to the onslaught of adulting that seemed to happen this week, including an angry achilles situation that I also wouldn’t be surprised was just my body subconsciously telling me something. Like it too misses Campari spritzes and poolside naps?

*k