My healthy happier life

ashleyd / November 27, 2013

Gift Guide – Winter Running Gear

Hello, hello! I am so excited for Thanksgiving! Even though we are living abroad this year, we are still celebrating the holiday in the best way possible: hosting friends! Tomorrow night 14 people will crowd around our new dining room table for hours of laughter, good food, delicious wine, and memories as we bring together people from six different countries. We’ve had a few stressful moments this week such as realizing we didn’t have enough china, silver, or chairs for this large group.

In order to help de-stress from both the holiday chaos and work, I’ve been spending more time than normal running outside this week. As this week’s running has also coincided with the first week of sub freezing temperatures, I’ve become very familiar with piling on the layers. Today’s gift guide is one that I’m especially excited about as I have actually added many of these to my own Pinterest wish list this year after receiving suggestions from many of my blogger friends, including the ladies of Team Naturally Run, a motivational Facebook group for those training for upcoming races in the London area. Check out these ladies awesome blogs who recommended some of the below items! (Charlie, Lucy, Felicity, Jen, Samira, Zoe, Lauren, Rebecca, Laura, Leah, and Hollie)

From top left:

Lululemon Speed Tight Cozy ~ Brooks Adapt Gloves II Nightlife ~ Lululemon Run with Me Ear Warmer ~ Under Armour Cold Gear Compression Leggings ~ Nike Element Half Zip ~ VX Refresher Long Sleeve ~ H&M Sports Top ~ Asics Women’s Spry Jacket ~ Pro Compression Marathon Socks ~ Oiselle Lux Layer ~ Sweaty Betty Fleece Earwarmer

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ashleyd / November 25, 2013

Paris Running Tour

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen a few pictures from our weekend in Paris.

It was an absolutely perfect weekend which Bo and I are both so thankful to have enjoyed together. Living in Europe definitely has some benefits and the ease of travel is one that we are taking full advantage of each month!

I tried to consolidate our Paris weekend into one overview post, similar to what I did for Brussels, but I found it impossible. Therefore, I will share one overview post later this week in addition to sharing the details of our Paris Running Tour in today’s post!

When Bo and I started planning our weekend in Paris, I requested that we invest in a running tour. A New York Times article, Paris at the Speed of Sneakers, had inspired me earlier in the week. While we often run through a city we are visiting, I knew that both Bo and I would love learning the history behind the magical city first hand from a local. We are both history buffs so having the opportunity to combine exercise with a sightseeing tour of Paris seemed like the best way to make use of our time!

When we searched for Paris running tours on Google we quickly discovered a company by the same name, Paris Running Tours. Featured in a number of different magazines including Travel & Leisure and Elle magazine, Paris Running Tours boasts personalized tours led by knowledgeable tour guides who can design tours through Paris based on your previous experiences. For those people who want to keep things simple and plan nothing, they have 7 pre-planned tours as well

Right Bank tour (less than an hour in length)
Left Bank tour (less than an hour in length)
Most Beautiful Palaces tour (less than an hour in length)
Banks of the Seine Tour (less than an hour in length)
French Revolution Tour (more than an hour in length)
Paris Marathon Tour (more than an hour in length)

When working with our run guide, Jean-Charles, we let him know that we wanted to do a run ranging from 7-9 miles in length and focus on the big sights as this was Bo’s first trip to Paris. He also let us know that the run would start and end at our hotel, making the run even more convenient!

The tour, which covered 8.84 miles in total, was absolutely incredible! Though we were caught off guard by the weather which was 10 degrees colder than predicted and quite windy, we were smiling the entire time and soaked up every piece of trivia he shared!

As you can tell from the above, one of the added bonus’ of the tour was the fact that he brought along a camera to capture the experience. We stopped 10-12 times during the run to hear history and stories but the rest of the time we were keeping around a 9:30 pace through the streets of Paris.

While the personalized private tour was not cheap it was well worth the investment in our opinion. We saw more of Paris in 2.5 hours than we would have seen on foot in a full day. While there are most likely less expensive tour groups, there is something to be said for a tour guide who goes at your pace and builds the tour to meet your needs.

Your turn: If you could take a guided running tour through any city, where would you choose?