Running Attire

As part of each city's information roundup, Blaze Travel Guides features information on what kind of clothes are advisable for runners to wear when they hit the road in a foreign country. Our reason for doing so is motivated by several factors.

The first is, of course, the physical safety of our readers. We want to ensure that our clientele lives long, healthy lives and sees many runs in many lands. We therefore attempt to advise when wearing an extra-warm layer is advisable (see "Running In Helsinki"), or when wearing bright, visible colors might be a good idea.

Our second reason is encouraging cultural respect among travelers. For example, women running in various countries in the Middle East should, despite the heat, ensure that their heads and arms are covered to avoid unwanted confrontation with locals. When running in particularly large cities, and having to travel across town to get to the runs, we sometimes advise wearing dark colors so that runners kind of fit in.

Our third reason is humor. This is the most important reason. After all, runners get a bad rap for being rather straight-edged individuals, but really, we are quite good-natured people. And when you spend as many hours on the road as we do, you garner a keen sense of irony at how the world manifests itself, and why. Laughing about it makes our lives happier, yes, but more importantly, it makes our runs better. It increases lung capacity.

So at BTG we mean no disrespect when we advise our St. Petersburg, Russia runners "Don't worry too much about the tightness of your clothes - no matter how small your Spandex, the Russian women are wearing something skimpier." We write this not only because it's funny, but because it's true. Similarly, there's a reason we advise our male London runners to sport a popped collar. It's not because all the cool kids are doing it (believe us - most of the cool kids are not), but because the London runners are. You'll squeeze right into the middle of the pack, and feel right at home.

Keep your eyes open for other such fashion tidbits when we launch our official Blaze Travel Guides website in June. At BTG we are Running The World, and we are laughing every step of the way.