Sightseeing Runs

A sightseeing run becomes a good idea when you want get some excercise and do some sightseeing, but you don’t have time for both. Often times, and in my experience, this happens at the end of a business trip, where you find yourself in a nice city and time between meetings and dinners is scarce. But not always; You can enjoy a sightseeing run also while on a traditional holiday or any other time. There are no rules. You put on your shoes, set up a vague idea of where you want to head, and then just run.

I think that sightseeing runs are more effective at getting a feel for a city than walks because they allow you to see a wider cross section of the city, compared to walking. For example if you can cover 10 or 15km in over an hour, you should be able to experience most parts of a medium size city. It would take much more time to do this walking. You can also slow down or speed up depending on how interesting the part of the city happens to be.

There are a few things to keep in mind while preparing for such a run.

Any expectations of running fast should be immediately discarded. You are more likely to bump into a pedestrian and fall flat on asphalt than beat your personal record. You might be running among narrow paths, squares full of tourists, and large intersections full of cars. You are very likely to get lost and fall off the beaten track. You might have to walk for a while when on a narrow sidewalk. This is part of the experience.

One must also aim to master the art of soaking in the city life while running. This means being able to run at a steady pace[^1] while admiring everything around you. That way, you won’t miss the city clutter, the roars from the street market, the couple meeting for a date on the corner, or the stray cat being fed by a store owner.

Often, sightseeing runs are interrupted by an awesome cathedral, a piece of street art, a beautiful building, or a tucked-in street park that yells, “STOP, LOOK AT ME.” So you must stop, inspect it carefully, enjoy what it has to offer, or even take your phone out and take a picture of it. All of this is acceptable. The pause should be long enough for you to soak in the intimate moment with the city but short enough so that you do not cool down. In very rare instances, it might happen that the monument in front of you is so jaw-dropping that you lose yourself completely and decide to abort the run altogether.

The timing of the sightseeing runs also has a big influence on the experience. I most enjoy late afternoon (say 6 pm) runs. It is still light outside, early enough to see people coming back from work and late enough to see a glimpse of nightlife; in Milan, the bars welcome well-dressed professionals for an aperitivo, in Istanbul, elderly men sit in front of a backgammon table with a football game running somewhere in the background, or in Rio, the athletes on trendy Leblon beach show off their curves while playing foot-volley with their teams.

It’s interesting to see how a city eases back into the evening hours and observe the general feeling, what people are doing, and their moods after work. Late afternoon runs are also great in that they work up your appetite for dinner, making you feel ‘less guilty’ enjoying a large meal after the run. I have done sightseeing runs at other times; weekday morning runs tend to catch the city at its most stressful times (and therefore are not representative), and nighttime runs are the most peaceful yet also the darkest, meaning you will naturally miss out on a lot of ‘sightseeing’.

And the best part of all… it takes so little to make all of this happen. Running shoes that take so little space in your suitcase, add to that some sense of adventure and love for running, and you are good to go.

[^1] This will obviously vary runner by runner and depend on your general fitness level. I have found a good compromise at about 6:00/km or 6:50/km (considered slow jog by most).

Note from the editor: After a year long hiatus (during which the author was learning to be a parent to his first child), Pan DeVito is back to regular writing on his blog. He is energised, full of ideas and stories which he cant wait to get out on paper (or errr on monitor!)