The sounds were familiar; just running shoes pounding on the pavement and heavy breathing for company. But this city, this exotic land was different.
The eyes and nose filled with sights and smells that hadn’t been experienced before. Even at this early hour before the hustle and bustle started it was clear that this wasn’t the usual well worn running route.
There was an added excitement, an undercurrent of adrenalin to accompany those addictive endorphins. A sense of the unknown, what was around the next corner, should it be left or right here, is this area safe. A modern day adventurer.
Yet these are the runs you remember, the ones where magnificent buildings greet you unexpectedly. Ones where times and distances are irrelevant, where all that is important is that you are out there and running, the training plan forgotten
Then you return to the hotel, you rejoin the mainstream, the world filled with grey suits and shiny shoes. Where the talk is of sales growth and customer satisfaction. Do the numbers add up, can we make an exception this time, what are the risks.
But you know, you know what you were doing just a few hours before. The sweat that dripped off your nose, the aches that now fill your muscles and the sites you saw.
So you just sit, content, the scratch itched. Until the next adventure.
March 14, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Very good post mate. I could see, hear and smell that place.
March 17, 2012 at 8:16 pm
cheers dude
March 15, 2012 at 7:55 pm
One thing I’d love to do is a half-marathon somewhere completely different. That sounds fantastic. Where are you running next?
March 17, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Hopefully Folsom, California a week tomorrow 🙂
If you want to do a bit of a different half marathon check out these…. http://www.endurancelife.com/event.asp?series=54
March 24, 2012 at 5:49 pm
Agree completely with your comment about new scenery and ‘justI being out there’. Had the same feeling doing early morning joggiing in Salinas near Siguenza several years ago. Earlly tomorrow I will reacquaint myself with 4 miles of local scenery.
March 29, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Its tough dragging yourself out of bed on a business trip, but its great being out and also sitting in your first meeting knowing what you have achieved already