Should you run when on holiday? Discuss. I know the exam season is finished, but this is question to ponder and I do feel that during the summer in particular that this is a topic which is likely to provoke a range of opinions.
Surely the whole point of a holiday is to take a break? From everything. From work. From the day to day of normal life. To get a chance to recharge the batteries, refresh the mind and relax. Well yes, of course it is. But for me, that does not mean taking a break from running. Let me explain.
“do what you want”
First thing to say, I am not criticising anyone who does not do any exercise when they are on holiday. That is not what I am on about. If you go away and leave your running stuff at home or take it with you and it stays firmly in the suitcase that is totally fine. Do what you want to do. That is great.
But for me, going for a run when on holiday offers me a few things. Firstly, as I have written about before, running is my time. It is time for me, either on my own or with some friends, where I can put other things out of my head and just spend some time having a chat or get lost in my own thoughts. Secondly, and probably most importantly, I really enjoy running. It is very much part of me now, part of my routine, part of who I am and so running when on holiday is not some kind of punishment for all the food and drink I am packing away, it is just a natural thing to do. And finally, depending on where you are, it can also be an opportunity to see new places in a way in which you do not if you are sitting on a coach or driving in a taxi.
“I always felt the better for it”
I have just come back from holiday, and yes, that is why I am writing this, and yes, I did go running when I was away. Not as often as I would have done if I was at home. Not as often as I planned to do – sometimes the bed was just too comfortable to move from. But I did a few runs during the break, and I always felt the better for it.
What was unusual about the trip was that I was on a cruise, so most of my runs were around laps of the walking/jogging track which they had around the top deck of the ship.
Running laps of anywhere is not my favourite type of run, I can assure you of that, and this track was only about two hundred metres all the way around, so there were no heroics here. I was going out for about half an hour and that was more than enough for me. Also, do not be fooled by how nice the weather was in this picture, it was not like this all the time I can assure you. Most of the time it was a bit grey, breezy, and, as I will explain, a bit wet.
The ship did, of course, have a large gym with the usual set of exercise equipment including treadmills, but given the opportunity I always prefer to run outside, unless it is an impossibility, so laps of the track it was. I would go out quite early – so there was no one on the sun loungers I can assure you – and there were only a few other hardy souls out there at that time either walking or running around.
I did also encounter one bizarre day where I swear it was only raining on one half of the ship. Running down the track heading to the rear of the ship with the wind behind me, it was a fully on rain storm. Turning to run into the wind to the front of the ship, it was totally dry. Truly weird. And when I finished, it was my back that was totally drenched while my front half was almost completely dry. Very odd.
There was a bit of novelty about running on a moving ship sailing over the North Sea and the Baltic Sea – our cruise went to Scandinavia – and I think that was a little bit of the attraction of doing it. Laps are quite dull, but when the scenery is always changing or there are ships sailing by it does break things up a little bit and give you something different to look at, rather than a static view of the landscape.
I did manage one run on dry land. We stayed overnight in Copenhagen and I ran down to a marina which was close to where the ship was moored. The pictures make it look more glamorous than it was though, as the route to and from the marina part was just like running through any other industrial estate you have ever been to, but it was a beautiful morning to get out and enjoy at least a little bit of road running.
Running on holiday, for me at least, is very much about just keeping things ticking over. It was not about going out to get a long run in, or to really push things along. It was just an opportunity to get a few miles in, to get a chance to stretch my legs and to try out something a bit different. If you have never run before when you have gone on holiday, I would recommend giving it a go, particularly as it gives you that chance to perhaps see places in a different way from the norm.
But as I said at the start, if the prospect of taking your gear with you when you go for a break fills you with horror, then that is great too. We are all the same because we are all different, and let’s be thankful for that.
The miles I did clock up when I was away just added to my total for the year of course, so when I came back and went back out running with friends and then my JogScotland group this week, I past the eight hundred mile mark for the year. I am still ahead of my target to run one hundred miles each month, so I am pretty pleased to have got there quite early in the month. Onwards to nine hundred now. But first of all I am going away again this weekend. And yes, I am taking my running stuff with me.
craigaw 1969 