Travel Tips for Runners

 *Edit: I scheduled this post before I left and it never posted so I'm posting it from The Netherlands! Enjoy!

It's been 2 months since either Chloe or I have posted on our poor, neglected running blog here and we both feel immensely guilty. However, finishing up my 1st year of grad school wasn't the easiest thing but was nothing compared to Chloe's birth story. But after finally meeting for the first time and seeing Chloe's beautiful baby boy, I can tell you, her reasons for neglecting this blog are much better than mine!

So what's going on in Christy's running world? Well, not a whole lot to be honest and I've got the extra 5 pounds on me to prove it! Sure, I've been running but since the NYC Half-Marathon in March, I've been running pretty minimally and run a few smaller distance NYRR races but have really just been taking it easy.

Until now, that is. I'm currently base training for the Marine Corps Marathon which I'll officially start training for on July 11 and will run on October 30. I'm super excited about running Marine Corps but really nervous about my training.


I have big goals for the Marine Corps Marathon. Not only do I want to PR my current marathon time of 4:08 but I'm aiming to chop off a whopping 18 minutes of that and being nervous about my training isn't the best way to go into training. But the reason I'm nervous about my training is because it's going to be so far out of my comfort zone, I'm not sure I can handle it.

See, I'm leaving tomorrow and won't be back for 2 months. Tomorrow night, I'm getting on a flight to Amsterdam (with a nice little lay over in Dublin...plenty of time to stop off for a Guinness and a Jameson!). I'll be in Amsterdam until Wednesday when I head to Sarajevo, Bosnia where I'll be until Sunday when I head to Belgrade Serbia. From Serbia, I'm heading to Rome for one night before boarding a 16 hour flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka where I'll be for a month.

As if that wasn't enough traveling, after my month in Sri Lanka, I'm going on a 2 week, 5 city tour of India by myself before finally coming home. And aside from the 10 days I'll spend in Europe, I'm doing it all by myself.

I'm writing this post while my clothes are all drying from the pesticide spray I used on them (to protect me from malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis and all of the other wonderful diseases I'll be prone to contracting) and my belongings are all sitting nicely waiting to be packed away. Runners' World sent an email out this week called "Travel Tips for Runners." I got so excited to read it and after finishing the article, I realized that it taught me nothing. I've been scouring the internet for tips and tricks for running safely in high heat and humidity in a 3rd world country that is recovering from a 26-year civil war.

Nothing. Ex-pats don't run? Diplomats don't run? What is this? Friends, I'm exploring uncharted territory here.

My longest run in Sri Lanka will be 12 miles. In India, 13. I'll be gone for the first 6 weeks of my training meaning all of my hill work and early longs runs will be in South Asia. To train for it, I've been running here in New York at the hottest time of the day. Smart? I have absolutely no idea but I'm hoping it works for me.

July 11 people. That's when it all begins. I'll be logging my training on here (I promise!) and please, if you have any tips for marathon training in such conditions, please let me know!

What are you training for this summer and what obstacles will you face?