I recently heard about sight-seeing running tours.  I personally have been doing this for the past 25 years but didn’t know it had become so popular.  I first did it on a family trip to Disney World when I was about 5 years old.  One morning my family got to the park to be the first ones in line for the ride Space Mountain; however, we were not the only family to have this idea.  As soon as the park opened, they lifted a rope and families went sprinting to be first in line for the ride.  This task reminded my competitive father of his cross-country and track hurdling days as he slashed through and hurdled over families and children; and drug me along for the ride.  I think I lost a shoe along the way, I probably cried at one point, and my feet weren’t moving eventually.  Imagine being tied to a car bumper and not being able to run as fast as the car.  That was me.  My father’s tight grip was the rope and he was the car…and I was like the dog on the Chevy Chase movie “Vacation.”  Thanks pops.

But I’m past that…mainly because I’m faster than him now.  Sight-seeing running sounds very interesting to me.  I’ve done it all over the world, exploring the areas around where I was visiting.  I even do it where I live now, finding neat restaurants and places to visit on my runs.   When I was younger, my family would even do it while on vacation; but there usually wasn’t much to see around side-of-the-highway motels.

I did some more research on the internet and found a bunch of organizations offering sight-seeing running tours, mainly in Europe.  I suppose this is because their cities are usually more compacted than American ones.  Runners of all types are encouraged to join these tours that they say they will run at your pace.  The prices range depending on the amount of time of the tour and the amount of runners.  On average the price is 30 US dollars for a 2 hour run.  All of the tours seem very unique from each other.  It makes sense, you’re running, you can cater the route however you want.  There were some sight-seeing running tours in smaller towns that had some trail running incorporated, but most of the guided tours were in urban areas.  Sightjogging Berlin boasts taking you on an “oxygen-shower.”  Water’s been bottled, why not sell oxygen?  Brilliant!  They also state that if you are a celebrity you can bring your bodygaurds.  Sight-seeing running is a great way for the time sensitive travelers who need to get some exercise and relieve stress outside instead of  in the dingy hotel treadmill.  I also found a New York Times article that listed some great sight-seeing routes in some US cities.  Check it out if your traveling.

So whether you are a celebrity, health concious person, a business traveler learning a new area to conquer, or a leisure traveler looking for a great place to have a meal or a drink later; check out sight-seeing running the next place you visit.  Just don’t bring your kids along with you.  Sight-seeing running can become dangerous.

We have recently added an “About Us” section at the bottom of the webpage to explain our backgrounds here at seriousrunning.com.  So, I thought this would be a good time to introduce myself as the blogger as well.  I am a runner, just like you.  All of us are the same, but here is my background, which may or may not be different than yours, or maybe it’s the same as yours, which is great.  Maybe we’ll be BFFs!  All of the people who read my blog are my friends.  Thank you, friends.

I’ve toyed with this title for a blog for some time now and have found the perfect fit for it here explaining myself and my background.  Please do not confuse the title with Tom Petty’s popular song, “Runnin’ Down A Dream.”  Notice my title has not abbreviation on the -ing; very different.  So what is the dream I’m running down?  This website, but read more to fully understand.

I started running competitively in the 6th grade on my middle school track team.  I was one of only three 6th graders to make the team that year and to my surprise, placed in the top 15 out of 80 runners in the mile run at try-outs.  Since I hadn’t been a spectacular baseball, basketball, or football player, I decided maybe I was just a runner.  I ran for three years in Middle School, becoming the Captain of the team by my 8th grade year and participating in the maximum number events allowed at track meets, including the 1-mile, 800m, 4x400m relay, disc, and hurdles.  Our team won first place that year, probably from all the garbage points I earned for finishing 4th or 5th in the disc and hurdles at the meets.  From there I ran cross-country and track for four years of High School, transferring schools between my Freshman and Sophomore years.  I was always a good runner, running Varsity on a team that finished 3rd in the state in the AAAA division, but was never a star.  My state race time was faster than the A and AA state cross-country winners’ times and good enough to have finished first on my previous AAAA team; however, I was still middle of the road on my Varsity team.  I was kind of like Derek Jeter on the Yankees.  And no, I never juiced.

From here I went to college where my running revolved mostly around ROTC training.  The first week of college, us new cadets took a PT (Physical Training) test which consisted of evaluating the amount of push-ups and sit-ups we could do in two minutes and then a 2-mile run.  I was the only person who passed the PT test overall (I had been practicing my push-ups over the summer) but placed 2nd in the 2-mile run.  The whole week prior we had been wearing our brand new Army boots around campus and I am blister prone.  My feet were covered in them.  I asked my superior before the race if I could run the 2-mile run barefoot but got a stern “NO” answer.  Little did I know, this would not be the first “No” answer to a logical and legitimate question I received in the Army.  I still think I would have run better and faster barefoot and beaten that kid who ran faster than me that day.  From his first showing of running stamina, the other cadet received the nickname “wheels” but never beat me again on any other run (we took a PT test once a month) for the next four years.  I was later dubbed nicknames such as, “Top Cadet”, “Outstanding”, and “Above His Peers.”  So it was fine with me.  Who needs “wheels” when you have really fast legs anyways?  What you think about that Mar-cheesi?!

Upon graduating I began my four year commitment to the Army.  My fun college experience along with my new found Army salary lead me to add about 30 pounds to my body.  No.  I’m not the one on the right in the picture above.  I still maintained a good running fitness during that time, being a better long distance runner than most of my peers in the Army, but this was due more to my mental toughness and experience than level of fitness.  I was stationed in Ft. Bragg, NC in the 82nd Airborne Division where I jumped out of airplanes over 30 times.  These not so soft landings definitely took a toll on my knees.  I now have to pay attention while running but I’m still a young man.  While serving as an Officer in a Field Artillery unit I deployed twice.  Once in a no-notice deployment to Afghanistan and again for a 15-month long tour to Iraq where I served as a Platoon Leader and a Logistical Officer.  While serving the 15 month deployment I began to focus on my fitness level again, starting by lifting weights daily and then running.  The weather and terrain weren’t very motivating or conducive to running so I was in the gym a bit more.  I also began eating healthier and was able to shed that excess 30 pounds to come back down and now maintain my “playing weight.”  Game on.

Although most people find me very interesting, you’re probably tired of reading about me for today.  I’ll discuss more tomorrow about my post Army and college career, life philosopy, and why I’m “Running Down A Dream.”  Now get back to work!