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.