My favorite places to run!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 · Mike Davis

I can now check off another state that I have run in as today after sitting all day in a meeting, myself and my roommate went out for a short 4 mile run here in Alpena Michigan. Let’s see I have run in Florida, California, Maine, Michigan, Virginia, Washington DC, Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina, New York, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Germany! Maybe I should set a new goal of running in every state before I hit 70.

Without a doubt Germany has been my favorite, with New Hampshire a distant second followed by Washington DC. Germany easily beats out the field because of the fantastic running trails as well as the traditional German villages that I ran through. What a treat it was to go a couple hundred yards of the base, take a right and be on a trail that I could run on for nearly 10 miles before connecting with a road that brought me through a little village that had very little auto traffic. Often I would run on a path that was paved, and ran through hills, farms and beautiful scenic areas. The investment the Germans put into these recreational paths was worth every penny and something we are slowly embracing here in the US. Another nice thing was how people always said hello, as I ran by them and that means a lot to me.

As I said, my second favorite place to run is my home state of New Hampshire. Be able to run along the coastal ways or through some beautiful foliage down a back road is such a great experience and one that I often take for granted. Eventually my wife and I plan to relocate to North Carolina where the winters are much less harsher, but we both know we will be coming back to New Hampshire for a few months out of the year and continuing our runs around traditional New England towns and coast lines. Even the fact that New Hampshire running includes a hill pretty much every few feet makes it something special. Watching and being a part of the explosion of running over the last 6 years here in New Hampshire has been really something special. I have now worked with over 150 runners in the local area and whenever I run in Portsmouth I always run into one of “my runners”. It’s an awesome feeling to know that I played a small part in the New Hampshire running community whether it is helping someone get to 13.1 miles or designing a custom training plan. New Hampshire is truly a wonderful place for runners.

I started this rambling on Wednesday and now it’s Saturday and I am in fact back in my second favorite place to run (New Hampshire). I am getting ready for a long run and it’s cold! The future for my wife and I will be southern bound and I hope to add more favorite places to run and I have no doubt I will. The wonderful thing about running is that it opens up doors to more wonderful people and exploring different locations. I am excited about one day being in the south where winter doesn’t mean gloves and hats, but instead sidewalks free of snow. I don’t mind winter running but I look forward to southern winter running.

Where is your favorite places to run?