When we go on a trip my huge suitcase is packed full. It doesn't get that way until I throw in my red duffel (Lynda calls it my diaper bag) with all my running gear in it. I take a lot of running clothes.
Let's face it, if you don't pack the gear, you ain't gonna get any while you're away from home (pause...while Josh walks through the door I just opened up WIDE for him. Are you in yet Josh? Okay good, let's continue). Not only that but if you don't take your running stuff with you, you can't run either! So after everything else goes in the suitcase, the duffel full of shoes, socks, shorts, water bottle, Garmin, hat, and of course-diapers, goes on top and then I try to zip it all closed.
Which is cool except that the entire time we were in Tennessee to visit my sister this week, I ran for a grand total of one time and four miles. Was it worth it?
HECK YES! I really like running in the places I visit. I guess it like a dog stopping to pee on every fence post he passes when you take him for a walk outside his neighborhood. But beyond marking new territory, I like using the run as a way of experiencing the new surroundings.
How better to more intimately absorb a new place than to get into nothing more than a pair of running shoes, some shorts and a tech shirt and start trodding down it's pathways? Oh, I suppose you could get down and roll around in it (I'm continuing my comparison to the dog here if you hadn't caught that) but if you don't want to embarrass your kids any more than you already do, running around the new place is likely a much more acceptable option. Plus you get all those other benefits like fitness and so forth.
So to add to my list of spectacular vacation destinations of which I have ran in the last year, which include the rim of the Grand Canyon and the Capitol Mall in Washington DC, I give you (drum roll please) Gatlinburg, Tennessee!
Yes, gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains (shouldn't they spell that with an "E" in there somewhere - like the bear?), home of the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum, Hillybilly Golf and Fannie Farkle's Restaurant (they claim to have the cleanest restrooms in town), I can now boast Gatlinburg.
And experience it on the run I did. Laced up around 10:30 on Valentines Day morning and stepped out into the cool Tennessee air outside our resort cabin. It's a beautiful little resort with new cabins overlooking the hills and a valley below. The cabin we stayed in for two nights had a huge game room in the lower level with a pool table and real arcade type video games. So the boys were totally entertained and happy. Out on the back deck was a hot tub where I was able to relax and talk with my sister while it snowed all around us. Yeah, who would have guessed we'd have to go to Tennessee to get some winter this year? But that's how it turned out.
The cabin was up a steep hill so my run started with a long downhill and winding grade until I reach a street where we would later go to get a belated breakfast. The place is called "Flapjack's" and the wait staff dress up like forest rangers. Are you getting a picture of Gatlinburg yet? I ran along the little commercial strip and then up and over a wee hill which has left a more natural undeveloped section before dropping back down the other side into the main tourist area of town.
As I ran there I thought about home and of Oregon where a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" museum visible from the entrance booth of our National Park would be unthinkable. I turned right onto the strip and started running past all the fun and games. I paused once to take my own picture and then proceeded on. I made another right, this time onto Dudley Creek road, and started up the other side of the hill to the cabin, my pace slowing from a comfortable 8:45 per mile to a sluggish 11:00 as I chugged slowly up.
It was good to see my sister and her adopted state. It's a place where "you" has become "y'all" and when they mean to include everyone with you it's "all y'all" which is different and kinda fun. Before heading to the airport I struggled to close the suitcase around the barely used gear in my over stuffed diaper bag. But it was worth the extra baggage because I did go for a nice little run in Tennessee. http://connect.garmin.com/player/24665803
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