I left you all in Las Vegas in last week’s post here. I’m concluding places I ran (or didn’t), a subject I borrowed from a post I read on Donna @ Runningtotravel.
M is for Montreal
I had been to Montreal a couple of times as a kid. When we were first married we lived in VT (see E in the previous post!), and Montreal was an easy drive so we went quite a few times.
Did I run there? Not in those first visits, but once I caught the half marathon bug (before I decided to try to run one in every state) I ran the RnR Montreal half in Montreal.
N is for NOLA
I’ve been to NOLA a couple of times. The first time was for work, and I didn’t really see much of the city. The second time was for a racecation, and I definitely ate my way through NOLA!
Did I run there? Obviously. This race was a very surprising PR. We had a lot of fun in NOLA and I’d love to go back — again — someday!
O is for Ocean City, NJ
We stopped off in Ocean City the first time when we were driving own to Annapolis (for a half, of course). I just feel in love with this small (dry, btw, as in no alcohol) beach town. I knew that’s where I wanted to run my half in NJ, and that’s exactly what I did a few years later.
Did I run there? Yes. Although I should’ve known that it would follow my Annapolis half — it was so hot that day. I withered. Not my best race, but we still enjoyed our racecation there.
P is for Prague
Another work trip. We were actually in Dresden for one day — when it rained, sleeted, and snowed. Then Prague for several days, where the forecast was really off and it was so cold. Which didn’t stop me from walking all over the city.
Did I run here? Sort of — on the treadmill. The location of our hotel really wasn’t at all conducive to running, and neither were the cobblestones in Old Town. I didn’t think to look up kph vs mph and figuring out pace was a bit of a trial at first!
Q is for Quebec
As a tween I went to a travel camp run by our local Jewish Community Center. The counselors were college kids. All of that is kind of frightening in retrospect, but it was a lot of fun (and time on buses). Quebec was one of the cities we visited.
Did I run there? Obviously not! I was not at all fond of running as a kid.
R is for Red Rocks Park, NV
We have visited Red Rocks State park outside of Las Vegas a few times. We weren’t impressed the first time we went there, but it slowly grew on us. Another great place to visit in that area is Valley of Fire. Las Vegas ain’t just the strip!
Did I run there? Obviously yes, I did, the last time we were there. It felt so hard. You’d think the desert would feel easier.
S is for Sedona, AZ
Sedona is someplace I longed to visit. When we went to the Phoenix area for my AZ half, I finally made it happen! It is a magical place. We only had a few days there, and I really want to go back and hike there more.
Did I run there? Obviously I did. And it was hard. The elevation! The hills! But the views were worth it.
T is for Tampa, FL
I have been to Tampa a few times. My mind remembers visiting Big Cat Rescue when we went to visit my inlaws one year, but we would have needed a car. Maybe we rented a car after we left the inlaws? Maybe it was a business trip for Mr. Judy?
Did I run here? My memory is a bit fuzzy here. I know I went once by myself for a conference (didn’t run), I know we visited Big Cat Rescue (don’t think I ran) but I still have some vivid memories of running in Tampa. Not sure when!
U is for Universal City, CA
I won’t lie, U was a struggle. I was going to use Utah at first, but I tried (mostly) not to use whole states. So I settled on Universal City, home of Universal Studios. We visited there our first trip to CA (the one where we weren’t married yet) — Back to the Future was going to come out soon.
Did I run here? Nope. But we had fun!
V is for Vienna
The end of our Prague trip was in Vienna. We only had a bit over a day, which turned out to be a holiday to boot, so we didn’t get to see much. We visited a castle (I don’t even remember the name!) and I actually called my mom, who talked about Demel’s. Say what? A very famous pastry shop. Of course we had to hunt it down.
Did I run there? No — as I said, we didn’t have much time here and I was so happy I got to tag along. Originally I was just going to go to Prague.
W is for Watertown, NY
18 for 2018. That was my motto. Watertown is where I ran my 18 mile race. I finished under the time limit, which made me very happy — I have a friend who was pulled from that course a couple of times before conquering it (and getting faster than me).
Did I run there? 18 miles. I have zero regrets about not going on to run a marathon. Could I have done it? I’m sure I could. Did I want to? No. Have I ruled one out? No.
X is for Xcaret, Playa del Carmen
We took a cruise that stopped in Cancun and Playa del Carmen. One of our shore excursions was Xcaret — which Donna (the inspiration for this post) also visited. It was a very long time ago, before I started blogging, so I don’t remember much about it except that we enjoyed it. I remember some fruity drink in a pineapple, and luckily we never had any stomach issues.
Did I run there? Nope. Not a runner yet.
Y is for the Yukon
Back to our Alaska cruise . . . one of our shore excursions was to the Yukon and the scenery was amazing. So glad we went on that excursion.
Did I run there? No. There usually isn’t a lot of time to run when you’re in port.
Z is for Zion National Park
Mr. Judy had visited Bryce and Zion National Parks when he was a kid — I’d never set foot in Utah at all. Anywhere on the West coast, in fact, before we got married (made up for lost time there after we were married!). We both had so much fun hiking the parks.
Did I run there? Yes. I ditched most of my pre-race runs in favor of hikes here, but I did try to run in one of the parks, although actually I think it was Bryce.. It was hard!
Care to take on the A – Z Challenge?
Have you been where I’ve been?
Linking up with Zenaida Arroyo and Kim @ Kookyrunner
This week I am also joining up with the new Runners’ Roundup linkup.
Chocolaterunsjudy 
If I would ever participate in this challenge I think I would have to go to Xcaret, just to have an “X”!
You visited some very cool places, Judy.
I’ve never been to Dresden or Prague, but I’ve heard they’re great cities with enormous history. What a shame you had bad weather there. With a few more days and better weather, I’m sure you would have been tempted to run outside.
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I didn’t let the snow/ice prevent me from walking around Dresden. But between jet lag & only being there overnight, I probably didn’t see as much as I usually might have.
Prague is a really lovely city!
I have been very blessed to be able to tag along with my husband on some of his business trips back when he traveled for work.
I know you’ve been many cool places, too, Catriina!
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As I said before I wrote a similar post about races. I had to be creative about some letters like X.
I haven’t traveled much since I started running. And don’t have enough $ and time now.
I have been to NOLA, red Rock, universal, ocean city, Zion, Montreal, Quebec. Only run in Montreal.
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You did get to run in Paris. I got to walk in Paris (before I started to run).
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I love your spin on this! You’ve run in some cool places!
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As have you, Donna — you’ve been running way longer than I have! Thanks for the inspiration, they were fun blogs to write.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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Such fun travels! Holler if you’re ever in Tampa again! We live just north of there.
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It’s too bad you weren’t living there when we visited! Thanks for letting me know though. You just never know. 🙂
I’d say the same if you ever came to the Albany area, but no one ever seems to come here!
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Will do! I’ve never been there!
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What a brilliant idea! You’ve just inspired a new blog post (s) for me!!!! I wonder how many letters I will get. This was so fun to read!
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I’m sure you can do the subject justice, Shathiso! I look forward to reading whatever you come up with.
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This is a really fun post! I love to run when we travel. I will definitely take you up on this challenge this summer at some point. thanks for sharing
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You’ve done a lot of travel & running lately, too!
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I don’t know if I could do A to Z! We have traveled a lot but not as much as you. Fun!
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There was a reason I decided to try to run a half in every state. And I was really lucky to get to travel with my husband, & sometimes him with me, for work. Plus we don’t have kids plus having family all over the country . . .
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This was such a fun post idea! I traveled much more before I became a runner but I think this would be a fun post to try. Thanks for the idea 🙂
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Trying to run a half in every state (didn’t get quite through half before the Pandemic) helped!
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I’m impressed that you were able to cover so many letters, especially the random ones! I definitely think x would be hard.
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I got lucky with X!
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Thanks for the tour! It’s fun hearing about he different places you’ve seen, even the ones that didn’t involve running. I need to start working on a list of all my ABC’s…that’s going to be a challenge with a few tough letters.
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Some letters were definitely challenging! Others I could have come up with so many different places. I’ve been lucky!
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Thanks for sharing part 2 of the A-Z challenge! You have visited, and run, in some pretty awesome places.
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I have! I’ve been lucky! I also put a lot of thought into the halfs I chose. That helped, too!
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Wow, so many cool locations! I can match three of them. I lived in Tampa for a couple years in my 20s so I ran there many, many, many times. And I’ve run in Prague and Vienna!
So many of your places look amazing, but the one I want to go to most is Zion National Park. It’s on my bucket list!
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I definitely still have a bucket list. I’m so impressed you ran in Prague & Vienna. If I’d been further in my running journey maybe I would have. Most of the times I visited Europe were before I started to run.
Zion was so much fun!
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I had so much fun reading this! I could probably go through the alphabet and say that I did run there. Now to make it interesting. Something to think about.
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It’s great fun to walk down memory lane sometimes! Truly, we are so lucky.
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This is great! I may have to try it. But I definitely cannot think of an X!
Interesting that you went to the Big Cat Rescue back in the day….
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I don’t even remember how I found out about it back then. Apparently it was 2005. I’m a sucker for anything involving cats, big & small. We once went to a cat show (cats doing acrobatics & such) in Vegas & it was so much fun!
I almost had my photo taken with one of the lion cubs at the MGM (back when they still had lions). I kicked myself for not doing it, thinking I could do it at some other time.
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Fun to see all the places you’ve been and the different stories/times of your life.
I love distinguishing between indoor.outdoor runs. So many places where I can say “I wish I’d been a runner then”
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Oh, absolutely, there are places I wish I’d run . . . but then again sometimes you see deeper when walking.
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