If you’ve started running, beaten a few races in your city and decided to run your first marathon, the best motivation not to quit running training in the cold season is to go on a dream run in another country. The thought of traveling is truly invigorating in the early morning chilly wind, and the run itself combined with the trip is guaranteed to be satisfying.
Paris
Romantic Paris is a long-worn cliché. But Paris of the run? It’s a rare case where, when you come to the city of bakeries for the weekend, you can not suffer guilt, but rather eat croissants in peace as part of a healthy lifestyle and preparation for a run (or a reward for the morning kilometers on the promenade). Running in Paris is a pleasure, whether in the early morning, around the glass pyramid of the Louvre and through the still empty Tuileries gardens, or in the evening, along the embankments, past dozens of companies with wine. But the best part, perhaps, is coming to the big race in the spring. In early March, Paris hosts a half-marathon with a start from the Forest of Vincennes, with a route through the city and back to the forest.
San Francisco
Running in California is a kind of religion or hygiene routine, how you look at it. It has long since become a habit and a daily routine for adherents, like brushing one’s teeth, but it remains a hot topic of debate between runners and those who don’t run. In this respect, San Francisco, with its steep hills and no-nonsense distances, seems impregnable for a beginner – it seems that only ironclad pros can tackle such climbs on a run. That said, the perfectly flat sidewalks along the piers and wharves, or the famous bridge, are tempting even to those who have never run.
New York City
The cradle and epicenter of the development of mass running around the world is undoubtedly New York City. It was from here, from Central Park, that running as a hobby for hundreds of thousands of people spread around the world. Coming to New York City, going for a run in the park seems as important an item as walking across the Brooklyn Bridge or stopping by the MET. That said, Central Park is not the prettiest jogging route. There are jogging and biking paths along the perimeter of Manhattan: the most beautiful sunsets in the city can be seen on an evening run along the Hudson River.
London
Not only does England have the most eccentric fashion, running turns out to be the most unusual there as well. It is here that the most developed charity runs in incredible costumes in support of hundreds of foundations. These races are held any weekend in dozens of parks in London. It is also the birthplace of the park run movement, a supposedly competitive five-kilometer run on Saturdays at 9 a.m., which takes place in all weathers in hundreds of cities around the world. London has a run commute tradition: clerks running to work with a backpack and a business suit; there’s a running community, the Breakfast Club, with paid runs on Saturdays accompanied by brunch. Of the dozens of London races, three stand out.