Ross' Blog

Again I find myself recalling fun events and times that I should have talked about months ago.  Last fall 10 good friends of mine and I traveled to the smell party city of New Orleans.  I am sorry to say they wash Bourbon Street every morning to wash the grossness and dirt from the night before.  Now we were there to enjoy a few beverages during the day and night but New Orleans has a fine under layer of running.  Jd and I were on our way to breakfast and bloody mary at 8 am on a Thursday morning and there was a 10k race going on for a corporation that had a retreat.  The 10K was organized by the local running club and they earned money to help their other events through out the year.  We ask if there was another race this weekend.  And what a surprise “ the largest cemetery run in the USA” was on Sat.  After a fun filled Friday night, JD woke up and ran the start (did I mention the start was 4 miles away from where we stayed).  That sucked and I felt a little tired for the start but it was worth the pain of getting there.  This fantastic race ran around and looked more like a maze than a race but I did find a gravestone that was from late 1700’s.  The weather was perfect at 60 degrees and partly sunny.  All of the gravestones were the above ground houses and it was a little eerie to be running with the Dead.  I would recommend anyone that wherever you go there may be a race or run that you can get involved with and enhance your experience of your holiday.

 

Next run was in ROME.  I have had the privilege to travel to Rome and Italy twice in my life and this past time was in February with my lovely wife Sue.  On this trip I told myself that I would run a couple times to experience Italy in a little different way.  One Morning in Rome I ran for 6 miles.  On this run I ran around some of the great buildings ever created.  YES I said EVER created; the Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, Column of Marcus Aurelius, The Spanish steps, The Roman Forum, The Coliseum, Palatine Hill, Aqua Ducts 2500 years old, The Piazza Navona and back to the Pantheon.  Wow, that was a sentence and those who read this and judge me on my improper grammar and sentence structure.  I am a shoe guy not a writer and I apologize for my grotesque way of writing.  During this run you see how amazing this city really is and how quite it can be.  I had a true moment of profound realization that I was running among an ancient world that was a basis of our society.  Most people think Rome is loud and crazy but in the morning hours you share the streets and sidewalks with many other runners and locals out for a morning walk.  I will mention that almost every runner I ran across was wearing tights or ¾ tights and of course an Asics vest wither you were a male or female.  If you added 2 more miles and went to the Vatican City, you could see 90 percent of what people go to Rome to see.  Maybe next time I will be up for that run