Hello everyone! I wanted to take a moment to publish a non-destination specific post so I could talk about something I am very passionate about.

For those of you who know me, I am a HUGE runner. I completed my first marathon this March (2022) and have had the running bug since I began training for this! I will admit, I had MAJOR anxiety about maintaining my fitness while I was on this journey, but turns out all that anxiety was for nothing because it is totally achievable, and I’ll tell you a little bit about how.

So originally, I had kind of planned on taking the entire 4 months off. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to run, if it would be safe, if I would have time, or if it would be convenient. But as the trip planning got more serious and the journey got closer, I re-evaluated that thought.

For me, fitness and running are about more than just exercise. Mentally, I am not at my best without consistent exercise. I need those endorphins, the feeling of being fatigued but accomplished, and often times I even want a goal to push towards in fitness. All of these things help me to be the best version of myself, and I realized that I wanted that version of myself to be present during my travels, too!

I pondered this thought, and finally came up with a solution. I am lucky to be passionate about running because running is pretty easily accessible no matter where you are, as long as you have the right attire, good weather, and a safe area. I decided that running would be the most successful form of fitness to count on while abroad and anything else was additional. To motivate myself to continue training, I chose a goal. I signed up for the 2022 Portugal Half Marathon in Porto, Portugal. This race was about a month into my trip. My thought was to train for the first month, and then if I decided to take some time off after the race I would be content with that.

The opposite ended up happening! Immediately, I fell in love with running in new places. Starting in Naples, Italy, I took my first jet-lagged, hot run. It felt so great to move my body after 5-6 days of resting from the wedding and travel days. In the first (hot) part of the trip, I only ran about 3 days a week. I would usually wake up around 8, go for a 3-6 mile run, and then come back and shower before the day began (oh, and grab breakfast of course). As we moved up through Italy, my running stayed pretty consistent. I ran around 3 times a week with little to no pressure on myself to be serious, just to explore and have fun.

Around the time we got to Paris, I started realizing that maybe I should take the end of training a bit more seriously since the half marathon was coming up. I pushed myself to do an 8 mile run through the streets of Paris, and running over the lock bridge and by the Eiffel Tower was one of the coolest experiences ever.

After Paris was the Spain leg of the trip. To be totally honest, my training leg in Spain was not great. It was really hot, my sleep schedule was terrible, and I was not feeling the best. We were able to visit a nice gym in Spain 2-3 times, however, and I squeezed in a 7 mile run on the gym’s tread (sigh). All throughout this time, I was really intentional about giving myself grace and setting no expectations, just deciding to go out there and give the race my best shot.

After Spain was Porto, and I started to get SUPER excited! I only went on one jog in Porto pre-race, and I didn’t even do a shakeout run. As I’m sure you can imagine, running a race during a long trip like this means you really have to roll with the punches. The day before the race, we went to the race expo which was in a really nice local mall. I realized then that it was going to be a huge race!

That night I stuck with one Aperol Spritz, got a good nights rest, and did the best I could to prepare for the next day! Full transparency, one of my biggest concerns was being able to wake up in time to make it to the race for the 9 am start time. Being in Spain had wildly altered our sleep schedule, causing us to wake up around 10-11 am daily. But, sure enough, the excitement for the race won and I woke up around 6 am to go grab a latte and a bite to eat.

The race itself went great. I had a big PR, the energy was incredible, and the weather was a little hot but manageable. The day before, I had taken a trip to Decathalon, a local sports store, to buy a hydration vest. This came in handy many times throughout the rest of the journey!

After the race I halfway expected to take the rest of the travels as a rest and a break from running. However, this was the opposite of my experience. I caught the race bug (of COURSE) and made a decision to aim for the Los Angelos marathon in March of 2023. My new goal for the rest of the travels in Europe became just to maintain my running fitness and Cross train as it was available to me. From then on, running became a huge theme in our travels. I was able to continue to running 3, 4, even 5 times a week. In places like Budapest, Dubrovnik, and Zakynthos, where it was either less safe or the terrain was more hilly and dangerous, I secured passes to the local gyms where Evan and I would go and lift weights, run on the treadmill, etc.

I had many, many incredible times running and was able to stay incredibly consistent during the journey. As of November 14, I have run around 70 times since we began traveling and I am continuing to run even here in Kenya! I have ran by the rivers in Belgrade, in the Peloton studio in London, and by the Sea in Dubrovnik. I am currently repeating a .2 mile loop around a grass track 20-40 times a day in Migori, Kenya.

I want to break down some pros and cons of running and making fitness a priority as well as some ways to make sure it is.

Disclaimer: MANY people decide not to pursue fitness while they are traveling, and I think that is great too! Traveling can be a great break from everyday life and sometimes fitness can only add more stress or things on your “to-do list”, which is not usually synonymous with vacation. I think doing what’s best for you is always the right answer 🙂

Pros of running while traveling long-term:

– you are truly able to explore and find new places to check out later in the day. I don’t know how many times I found a new restaurant, a cute bar, or a cool looking shop while on a run and either took a picture or wrote down the name for Evan and I to come back to. Running can be a chance to truly explore if you don’t have time to throughout other parts of the day.

-it helps you to get a better feel for the local culture. In places like the suburbs of Florence, even Friday night boasted a park PACKED full of people running, biking, playing football, tennis, and doing yoga. In Spain, I saw many people jogging in the park while others were lazing and happily enjoying a picnic. You experience cities at their quietest if you go out on a run in the morning. I truly learned so much about the culture of places by running around them.

– you get better sleep. For me, this has been a big one. While on this trip I have slept many places, from bus seats to airport chairs to pull out couches to rickety beds. Running and regular exercise has proven to improve the quality of your sleep and help you get to sleep faster and stay asleep longer. I think running helped me to improve my sleep tremendously.

– it increases your appetite. This was a huge bonus for me while traveling. Normally, I have a pretty average sized appetite but when I am running a substantial amount of mileage, my appetite increases hugely. When you are in places like Italy, Germany, Serbia, and Greece, there are constantly new, incredible foods to try. Running truly helped me to be more hungry, meaning I could sample more foods without becoming sick. Food is fuel 🙂

– it gives you time alone. Going on a trip for 4 months with only your partner can be a lot. Evan and I have spent 4 months consistently with each other, often with no others around us! We have had some amazing times together, but it is also a known fact that spending alone time can be good for you and for your relationship. This guaranteed I had at least an hour of alone time a few times a week, and so did he!

Now, let’s talk about some cons of running while on a long distance trip:

– pursuing running/fitness while on a long term trip can add some (potentially large) costs. There were a few times where Evan and I had commuted an hour or so on public transportation to find a gym we found online, just to find out the price for a day pass was €15 or equivalent. Sometimes we spent around €35 each for a week pass to a gym, money that could have been spent on food or entertainment or otherwise. We felt this was worth it, though, because if we got a week long pass we tried to go every day.

– regular exercise while traveling can pose a laundry problem. I will be honest, running every day made laundry a lot more complicated (and frequent). Some places didn’t have washing machines, meaning I would have to wash my dirty, sweaty clothes in the sink or even wear them again (gross). This is an obstacle you don’t face as often if you are not working out.

-of course, it takes time! There were sometimes we missed out on an experience or something we thought would be “cool” because I hadn’t gotten my run in for the day (but if you’re like me often times you want the run just as much). So of course, fitness takes time and energy.

So, I’ve done my best to sum up the pros and cons of exercising very regularly while on a trip like this. I am personally incredibly happy with my decision and am planning on continuing my training cycle until we return home in ~1 month! I will say, I could not have done it without the support of my husband. He has been an advocate for me and has sacrificed many times for me to get a run in, whether that’s spending an extra 2 hours on public transport so I can go back and change for a run, waiting longer to eat so I can run before a big meal, and even gone home early instead of going out because he knew the next morning was a longer run day. He has been a great encourager and supporter and I think that plays a large role in the decision as well!

I hope you enjoyed reading more about how I prioritized running around the world while on this journey. I’ll add photos below of many of my different runs!

That’s all for this post! I hope you enjoyed reading, I’ll talk to you soon!