She Runs by the Seashore

I traveled to Richmond on Friday for an event the following day, and didn’t really have any plans for Friday. But I did know that I wanted to get a run in, and I did.

It was a very slow run, between stopping at lights, being careful around ice and snow and running up hills. But it was enjoyable, and I had fun seeing new scenery and running in the city environment.

I followed a GPS into downtown Richmond, and parked and just decided to run, exploring as I went.

Right away, I noticed that it was very hilly — which was great. I have been trying to add a weekly hill workout into my marathon training, and so far, I have done two hill workouts. But rather than running up and down a hill 10 times or so, this way, I could just work hills into my regular run without having to repeat the same hill over and over.

At one point I came across a group of TV reporters — across from The National in Richmond, which had long lines out the door — and I had the unusual feeling of not knowing what they were there for. As a reporter myself, who is generally in the know about local events — but I wasn’t in my local area, of course — I did wonder, but I figured I should just keep running, as I was off work that day, and that’s what I did.

As I ran, I saw at least a sign or two for the Canal Walk, so I decided to check that out. I enjoyed running at the Riverfront Canal Walk, where there was a very short paved path. There were some cool views and it was something different.

I get the feeling there is a good amount of community pride in Richmond, which is cool. There were plenty of “RVA” flags/banners — the type of flag/banner you would see on a light pole — and I saw a good amount of “RVA” stickers on people’s cars in general during my trip. (It’s also an active hashtag on Twitter, #RVA.)

It was a nice six-mile run, one of the longer weekday runs I’ve been able to get in recently, particularly given the cold weather.