So do you use your annual holiday to have a rest from running, rest those muscles and enjoy the food and drink that comes with holidays? Or do you see it as a new adventure, an excuse to go run and explore a new town/city or country?
I love to run on holiday, I get to see so much more of the place where I’m staying and the weather is normally so much nicer than back home so it makes running so much more enjoyable. I don’t treat my runs as serious runs, it’s about keeping my body ticking over and enjoying myself.
My most recent holiday was In Gran Canaria, the Canary Islands is the closest destination for nice weather in January. It makes a nice break to get away from the cold uk weather.
My husband and I stayed 3 nights in Las Palmas, in the North of the island. Originally we booked this so I could take part in the Las Palmas half marathon but after we booked they changed the date of it. It’s now November.
I hadn’t planned to run everyday but that’s what I did, I wanted just to keep my body ticking over so I didn’t lose any fitness and not put too much weight on because we all know when we’re on holiday we eat and drink way too much! Las Palmas is actually a lovely place to run as you have 2 coastlines, west and east. I even ran along both sides on one run. They have good paths too and plenty of outdoor gym equipment if that’s your thing.
I went out about 8am all 3 mornings in Las Palmas, it was lovely the sun was just rising and the temperature was warm, just perfect for an enjoyable slow run.
After these 3 days we then travelled down to the south of the island on the local bus to Maspalomas. This is the tourist area of the island, the weather tends to be even hotter down south, lovely!
Again I hadn’t tended to run everyday but my husband and I started a challenge on our apple watches. If you have an Apple Watch then you’d know that it has rings on the health app. The challenge was to close all 3 rings for 7 days in January. There were only 7 days left! My husband had already done 1 day so I needed to close them everyday! I had a disadvantage as 1 of the rings is an exercise ring and if I didn’t go for a run I couldn’t close it, walking for me doesn’t raise my heart rate enough to register as exercise whereas my husband could close it with just walking. So every morning I went for a run which I loved. It’s just so nice to go out when the sun is rising in the warm air and to see such beautiful scenery. I wish I could stay there forever but I’m torn as I miss my family so much.
My husband and I went out for long walks everyday which we recorded on our watches. It was just so lovely, walking in the sunshine and stopping off for a beer in a bar every now and then.
The holiday went too quick and it was time to leave and go back home, back to the cold and rain of the uk. We both closed our rings on our Apple watches and received our virtual award. Time to start serious marathon training. As in just over 2 months time I’ll be running Boston uk marathon, scary!
