TAKE MY BREATH AWAY :::: THE RUNNING TOURIST

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In the infamous words of pop/gay icon Madonna, “If we took a holiday/Took some time to celebrate/Just one day out of life/It would be, it would be so nice.”

Holidays are a great time to depart from the rigors of the day-to-day… but Madge was clearly not training for a marathon.

The downside of travel is that it can often impede on your work-out routine, while providing calorically-rich, culinary temptations. Whether you are an elite runner or just your average Joe/Jane with a devotion to maintaining abdominal definition, you probably don’t want to let the training program slide. And with Montréal offering up so many delicious patisseries, indulgence is less an option and more a cultural norm.

Thank goodness for the Running Tourist…

But now you can indulge and kiss the guilt adieu.

Specializing in group running excursions, The Running Tourist is an interactive and lively alternative to hotel gyms (or getting yourself lost on Mount Royal). You can incorporate site-seeing into your daily exercise, while having a bit of an educational adventure. As the RT website states, “The goal here is to have fun, take a run through our picturesque city, smile and sweat.”

Yesterday, I hit the streets with Heather, the brainchild of The RT. We bounded around the Plateau while she gave tidbits of Montréal history interspersed with personal anecdotes. I became convinced that this is a brilliant way to see the city and connect with actual Montréalers.

“I was recently in Barcelona,” Heather told me, “And wanted to go for a jog, but I didn’t know where to go and I didn’t have anyone to go with. What’s great about the Running Tourist is that you have immediate access to someone living in Montréal. So, on the runs we can talk about everything, from the history of the neighbourhood to what I did last night!”

So if you want to maintain your training while living like a local, you might want to take part in a breath-taking (pun intended) run.

I had a fun run. You can too.

Group runs (5 or 6 people) are $30, with a couple of route options: Old Montréal or Plateau. Private runs available. Recently launched – a gay & lesbian “Rainbow Run” on Wednesday evenings.

Email: info@runningtourist.ca
Website: The Running Tourist

Check out a recent radio interview with Heather…

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