Running 2024

Running 2024: December means it is time for the recap of Running 2024. The Run Collection has been updated with paces from Cape Fear to Casablanca, Asheville to Ambleside, Toledo to Tanzania. Here is Running 2024. Enjoy!

“I run so my goals in life will continue to get bigger instead of my belly.”

Bill Kirby

Running the USA

Through the winter and spring of 2024, Jean and I travelled the USA coast-to-coast, visiting family and friends. I managed some great runs from Cape Fear to Morro Bay, Houston to Boston, with Kansas right in the center of it all. In August, I shared some favorite photos from these runs.

And Around the World

In April, we went abroad. First The Iberia Trip, exploring Spain and Portugal after a stopover in Casablanca. Then it was off to Croatia, where we met my brothers on Hvar. Enroute home, we met friends in Copenhagen and revisited The Liberty Trail in Boston. September brought The Safari, and October Cornwall and the Lakes District.

In all of these places, running afforded beauty I would have otherwise missed. While I didn’t get to 52 Cities in 52 weeks in 2024 (we are slowing down a bit), it was a heckuva running year. A few favorite 2024 running memories from around the world are captured here. Enjoy!

#6 Brač, Croatia

Croatia is a perennial favorite. This year I stretched farther up and east, through June wildflowers high on Brač. The island of Hvar, where we met my brothers in July, sits in the distance beneath moody clouds.

#5 Toledo, Spain

Incredibly well preserved, Toledo is a national monument.  It has a complex 2500-year history:  Roman, Jewish, Visigoth, Moorish and finally as capital of Christian Spain.  Today, with the capital in Madrid, it remains the historic, spiritual, and artistic center of Spain.  Toledo fortifies a hill, surrounded by the Tajo River on three sides. The cathedral, one of the best in Spain, crowns the city.

A footpath follows the Tajo around the city and provides fantastic run photos of the medieval Spanish city perched above.

#4 Bilbao, Spain

Once a decaying industrial port, Bilboa has renewed itself. Today there are pleasant riverfront parks, soaring bridges and the architectural wonder of the Gugenheim Museum.  The pintxos (small appetizers served with wine) around Nueva Plaza were fantastic, and the Sunday people-watching even better as families played in the square, rain or shine.

#3 Porto and Gaia, Portugal

Hilly Porto is more more gritty and yet more charming than Lisbon.  Colorful mosaic tile adorns many of the buildings, old and new. Across the Douro River, wine is aged and sold in Vila Nova de Gaia. Both sides offer great river runs, albeit with a helluva hill climb at the end. The views from the top were well earned.

#2 Enashiva, Tanzania

Enashiva means “happiness” in the local Masai tongue, and we were happy indeed. This private reserve was the first stop on our Tanzania Safari. Surrounded by Masai villages, there is plenty of wildlife here, but very few predators. At dawn, we were privileged to run among the game with our guard, Harrison. We trotted among impala, wildebeest, zebra and giraffe, and even spotted our first wild elephant in the far distance.

#1 Ambleside, England

The English Lakes District is acclaimed for splendid hiking and the poets – notably William Wordsworth – who wandered here lonely as a cloud. Jean and I hiked by a lovely holiday home in 2022 and decided we would return, and this year we did.

The October trail runs, while hilly and oft drippy, were spectacular, and provided some of my favorite photos of the year. As with Brač in Croatia and Colmar in France, this is a place we hope to revisit again and again.

And the Rest!

Every day on a run is magical – even if the magic is just surviving the ordeal! Below are other run memories from 2024.

If you enjoyed, check out the full Run Collection!