Reason #462 Why You Should Run When You Travel

You never know when an Icelandic volcano will blow its top and strand you for days.

Okay, actually this isn't funny. Hundreds of runners have found themselves unable to attend the Boston Marathon, perhaps the world's premier long-distance running event. Participants spend weeks, months, and years training to hit the qualifying times for this challenge, and then they must navigate an entry process that can can still leave them excluded from the event. Also affected by the crazy cloud is the Vienna City Marathon, which had a noticeably smaller participatory rate today, and Dublin's Great Ireland Run, which ended up being not so grand. Not to mention, international air travel, European commerce, and the entire Continent's economic recovery will be significantly impacted by this remarkable event.

Well, savvy runners and experienced travelers know that, when you're on the road, you are only in control of so many things. Improbable acts of geologic might are not one of them. In a battle between the individual human traveler and Mother Nature, odds are the latter will be victorious. Better to not fight her, or the situation.

But it could be worse. You active travelers out there would do best to step out of the Eurostar ticket line, and give up hope that you'll get that last rental car. Go back to your lodgings, lace up your running shoes, and hit the road. The bad news is you're stuck in London, or Paris, or Amsterdam. The good news is that you're stuck in London, or Paris, or Amsterdam at the height of spring. The weather forecast calls for sunshine and fair weather for the next few days. These are some of the best cities to run in the world, and for the next few days an act of nature has deemed that really, well, you can't do much else than that.

So run. Run far, run fast, and run free. Lace up and go, moving unburdened and light by greater things. Those things you can do nothing about. This run, however, you can make memorable. You can make it your own.

Stuck in Europe with a pair of running shoes and a beautiful day. We should all be so lucky.