Running On the Fly
It’s fitting that I’m writing this editor’s note while sitting on an airplane. As the editor of Canada’s largest running publication, one of the great pleasures of my job is that I get to travel to races across the country and the world. I spend a lot of time on airplanes, eager to land and go for a run, wherever I am. Like many runners, most of my travel outside of work also seems to revolve around running. When I take a vacation, it’s usually either to go run a big city marathon or destination race. Even when my holiday has ostensibly nothing to do with running, I am still always excited to lace up in a new place.
A couple of Decembers ago, I went on a road trip with an old friend across the United States to deliver a pug to San Francisco (why we were transporting Herbie the pug across 14 states is a story for another day). Every evening, we’d stop for the night outside of cities like Indianapolis, Ind. and Albuquerque, N.M., or at truck stops near places like Mount Robert, Mo. and Flagstaff, Ariz. and no matter where we were, I’d go for a run. Before we left, I made a commitment to myself that I’d run at least 10k a day, regardless of the situation.
In Buffalo, N.Y., I did a one-mile loop around a shopping mall at midnight. I met a man in the Macy’s parking lot, looking for a cross that his mother had lost that day while buying a dress for a funeral (we didn’t end up finding it, unfortunately). In Indianapolis, I ran around the international airport and discovered that wild deer graze at night in the fields next to the landing strips, oblivious to the planes coming and going. Outside of Barstow, Calif., I battled for 10 excruciating kilometres, doing an 800m “T” that joined the two desolate rest stop parking lots straddling either side of the Interstate. I would have had a few hundred more metres to work with, but on my first loop I noticed two truck drivers swapping goods secretively, so I decided to not let my curiosity get the better of me and stuck to my side of the highway.
When we arrived in San Francisco and deposited Herbie at his new home, I celebrated by going for a 20k run. Afterwards, over dinner, I told my friend, who is not a runner, all about what I’d seen: Fisherman’s Wharf, the Mission, Mountain Lake and Buena Vista Park, Alcatraz out in the harbour in the distance, the view from the Golden Gate Bridge and giant, 1,000-year-old redwoods. All of this in a 20k run. He’d got stuck in traffic driving 10 blocks to have dinner with his ex-wife. He was envious of my run. Looking back, I cherished every one of those runs on that trip across America – even that torturous loop outside of Barstow.
Our travel issue is filled with great adventures and running-related travel tips. Professional adventuring duo Stephan and Christiane Kappes document a stage race in the secluded kingdom of Bhutan (p.52). Kat Tancock decided to embrace the great British tradition of traversing the counties on foot (p.82). Karla Bruning (who you may recognize from the television coverage of another great destination race, the New York City Marathon) is a self-professed Disney race fanatic, giving us the inside scoop on their must-do events (p.50).
We’re very excited to bring you the story of Mark Kent, who back in 1971 decided as a 17-year-old to do something on his summer vacation that no one had ever done before when he ran across Canada. Mark’s story has not previously been told in its entirety and we’re very grateful for his participation. Mark’s enduring memory of thousands of kilometres run across our diverse and challenging terrain is something we can all relate to – the simple beauty that you realize is always all around you, no matter where you are, while on a run.