Running Tourism

Though we’ve definitely slowed down since we had our first kiddo, Laura and I love to travel. We have a few travel goals—we’d like to visit every state park in Minnesota and every national park. We’ve got a ways to go, but we’re planning on really amping it up in about twenty-five years. Besides those two big goals, Laura is also aiming to run a half marathon or farther in every state. So far she has done so in ten states. 

While I’m not planning on running any sort of race in every state, I absolutely love running in places we visit. I know some places have companies that give running tours, but as of now, our tours have been self-guided.

Now that we have a four-year-old and a nine-month-old, I like to reminisce about times when we had a little more freedom with our travels.

One of our favorite trips was a road trip to visit several national parks in Colorado and Utah. While at Arches National Park, we had a limited amount of time, so we did some run/walking to see more of the park. By doing so, we were able to see probably a third more of the park had we just walked. I also got to do a run at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and got to see a little more of the park on foot.

The next year, we flew to San Francisco to tour the city and then drive to see some California national parks and run the Modesto Half Marathon. While we didn’t run in any national parks, we did do an awesome run over the Golden Gate Bridge and through Presido Park along the beach.
California Running

A year later, we did a trip out east, and I got in some amazing runs. Laura and I got to run together in Niagra Falls, Ontario as well as running the Shoreline Half Marathon at Hamlin Beach State Park along Lake Ontario in New York.
Shoreline Half Marathon

I’ve also got to run in numerous state parks including Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, Lake Bemidji State Park, and a memorable run in Banning State Park where I forgot running shorts and ran in some cargo shorts instead.
Banning State Park
Big Woods Run

How about you? Have you had any memorable runs in unfamiliar places?