Frequent Flier Miles: David has run 100 miles with us in NYC

David lives in Windsor in Ontario, Canada and has made a regular trip to New York City since XX. Two of his favorite things to do while visiting are 1) see shows on Broadway—he’s seen an impressive 18 shows—and 2) run with City Fit Tours. He’s run with us so many times that this past December, David ran his hundredth City Fit Tour mile. He usually goes out for more than the standard 5k distance with us, so he’s accrued this amount of miles in 10 runs since 2018.

Many memories in 100 miles

One of his most memorable experiences was running and came across the legendary Holcombe Rucker Park basketball court (many who’ve played in the “Rucker Tournament” have gone on to play in the NBA, like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant). He was so excited to see this iconic cout that he asked his guide John if they could stop and shoot some hoops. But no one happened to be playing ball at that moment, so in order to take a shot, David went into a nearby bodega. He said they must get this kind of request all the time, given their proximity to the court, because while he wouldn’t ordinarily expect a corner store to have basketballs, this one had plenty. So he bought one, tore it out of its box, and took his shot.

Shout out to his many NYC guides: Dina, Jillian, Mike, Tara, Rachel, Joseph, and Melissa. “I’ve developed friendships with them; we follow each other on social media and still keep in touch.”

Reigniting his love for running the streets

Given he’s hit 100 miles in NYC, it may not surprise you to hear that David calls himself a “street runner” but he’s also done 10 ultras. “I've done everything from a 5k to 100k and every distance in between. But trail running is more solo. It was gorgeous, but I think after I ran through New York—how exciting that was—I was like, this you can't beat, this is kind of crazy. When you do street running, you’re more engaged. It got me back into street running and since then I've done mostly street races.”

Some may find it surprising to learn that David considers a marathon to be more challenging than a 50k (about 31 miles), but hear him out. “I find the full marathon way harder because you race a marathon. You go to a marathon with a goal time and it's stressful. A 50k you’re kind of kickin it, eat pizza. It’s a lot more relaxed. But I found the full marathon to be the toughest race I've ever done.

A runner without borders

From his home in Windsor, David has become a bit of an ambassador for runners between his city and nearby Detroit, Michigan. “I run in Detroit two or three days a week during the summer.” 

I interrupted to ask, “Do you show a passport every time?” 

“Well, yeah,” David said. “From my house, I can be in Detroit in 15 minutes. So I run with about three or four groups over there. We've built a community. Windsor and Detroit have come together in running for the first time. We're starting to go over there; I'm trying to bring people there. So, my Detroit friends love Windsor. They love that we have a beautiful waterfront. It's been really cool, this international community.”

He’s been so inspired by his international running that David has started a running group called The Dub City Runners (you can follow in Instagram). “We have a group run every Friday and get together for drinks after at Walkerville Brewery. We are very involved with local community events and have a good running relationship with our American friends across the river.”

When I remarked how neat this was, David said, “I love people. So it's fun to me.”

Client Features: 75Ks for 75 years

By San Diego Guide and Chicago Manager Chelsey Stone

A group of semi-retired professors at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri have set out to walk/run their age in 5Ks, which at 70 and older, is no small feat. It was a delight to hop on a Zoom call with these inspiring individuals aging in stride.

Nancy was the one who started it all. “I turned 70 in 2017. I don't do resolutions anymore but sometime in January of 2017 I wasn't falling asleep and thought Oh darn!—not exactly my word—I'm going to be 70 this year. How do I get my mind around that?”

At that point, Nancy was walking every day and had done a few 5Ks with her children. “I thought, gee, I wonder how many 5Ks—math was not my topic—but how many 5Ks are in 70, and it came out a whole number. I thought, well there you go. I'm almost committed now.” She made the mistake of taking this fledgling idea to her trainer Ryan at her community center. “I said, I'm kind of wondering about doing 5Ks, it's 14 5Ks—not all at once, of course. So Ryan being Ryan, he said to everybody in the training room: What do you think about Nancy doing these 5Ks?” Someone there happened to be in charge of student activities and offered to help Nancy find some 5Ks to sign up for.  

As Nancy was feeling more committed, she brought it up with her friends during a wine night, and “everybody said hey, that would be so cool. Can I go with you?” 

Nancy said, “for all but one of the 14 I did, I had a team with me—these people here [gestures to those on our Zoom call]. So I made a shirt for everyone, and we started doing them and I thought, you know, why would I stay just in Maryville? I started connecting with people: a friend I hadn't seen in a very long time in Michigan, a brother and sister in California.” With these trips planned, her next thought was, “we've got to end this on a bang. I was looking at 5Ks all over and that's when I found the Central Park tour in New York City.”

She emailed Mike at City Fit Tours and he offered to lead a personalized tour. “A bunch of us showed up in New York City for that and it was amazing.”

From left to right: Sue, Vicki, Cathy, and Nancy

Sue was the next to turn 70 and complete 70k, finishing in Memphis for a friend whose son came through cancer treatment at St. Jude's Children’s Research Hospital. 

Cathy, the next to turn 70, said “if it wasn't for Nancy, we'd all be big blobs sitting on our couch. I told her, you made us strong. We did the ones together we could, and we ended up in New York again.” This time Mike took out their group of 12.

Cathy continued, “it was the highlight of being in New York. Now I'm starting to do 75Ks by the time I hit 75. I've done 14 or 12. I do some of them with Sue as she's going and some with Nancy and some of them with Vicki, so we just keep going on and double dipping.” As they should with so many to run!

Sue said of their upcoming trip to Chicago (completed since our interview),  “the one we're doing in Chicago this time is my 75K for 75 years because I turned 75. My grandson who's 23 is joining us [from D.C.] in Chicago.

“I chose Chicago because I don't know Chicago. I haven't been there for probably 50 years, so I just really wanted to get to know Chicago.” Once she confirmed with Mike that we offered tours there, Sue was set.

Next up? Vicki: “I turn 70 in 2024.” [“she’s the baby,” Sue interjected. “Well Cathy too,” Nancy added.] My birthday is on the 24th of August. So I decided to do 24 5Ks from age 68 to 70. So I'm at about 12 after we go to Chicago.”

Sue and the gang in Chicago with our guide Noma for Sue’s final 5K.

Vicki said, “these people here set the bar pretty high. I've done a few by myself recently and I really do enjoy that. It surprised me a little that I liked doing it by myself because I just love doing it with all of these folks, but it's kind of peaceful sometimes to just be out there walking by yourself.”

Of the tour experience, Vicki said, “One of the things that stands out for me, at least from New York City, is we learned so much about the history of Central Park. Mike focused on different things both times, the history piece of it was hugely important to me. The second time reinforcing what we learned the first, but I never would have known all of that about Central Park if it hadn't been for Mike.”

Nancy said the City Fit Tours have become “the capstone for ‘All right, we did it.’ I'm grateful that Mike’s been flexible with us. I know that it's not the usual, but that's motivating for somebody to recognize that in us and be willing to adapt.”

Cathy added, “he did a great job of adapting to us. That's my big point with it. He just really focused on what we needed, which was stretching and walking at a pace where we were good.”

Nancy said, “The funny thing is that I was almost 70 before I ever got a medal that was athletic.” “Me too,” a few of them chimed in. “And now being 70 we're in another age group, which is a smaller pool so you might even win.” Not that this is what it’s about for them, but it certainly adds some fun. Sue even decorates her Christmas tree with her medals.

When I asked if they were going to keep at it until they were 100 and do 100K, Nancy said, “If it's divisible by five and I can wiggle, I’ll start working on it.” Sue added, “I think we can all echo that.”

Frequent Flier Miles: Personalized Tour Experience

By San Diego Guide and Chicago Manager Chelsey Stone

One thing that often comes up when talking with guides across the country (from San Francisco to NYC) is how much we love leading personalized tours. City Fit Tours offers at least one standard 5k route in each city every day of the week, but for personalized tours, the client determines the distance and location, which lends itself to a rare opportunity for a guide to showcase different parts of their city. 

I took Elise and her husband Troy on a tour of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, 10 miles from the start of our Chicago Highlights route downtown. I lived in the nearby Uptown neighborhood and couldn't have been more excited to share the history of my local landmarks.

Having heard plenty from our guides, it’s time to hear from a client about their experience booking and running a personalized tour.

Elise in Brooklyn on our tour while visiting NYC. (Click the right image to see more.)

This was not Elise’s first rodeo

The first time she ran with City Fit Tours was in Seattle in 2015. “I went to Seattle by myself, I was only a couple years out of college. I felt I should go on an adult vacation, but friends were not able to join. So I was like, I guess I'm gonna go by myself somewhere. And I wanted to incorporate running into the trip. I was originally thinking about doing a 5k and then stumbled across running tours.” A few years later Elise ran with us in New York City. “My friend and I were staying in Brooklyn. I got to know that part of New York. Then I ended up doing a Boston one spring of 2022.” Between these she also did one in Washington, D.C. in 2019.

Elise on our DC tour August of 2019.

Any similarities among all the cities you’ve run?

“How knowledgeable the guides have been, including yourself, and the information feels ingrained but not boring. I think of someone in Florida giving a boat tour 10 times a day—that would get boring—so it's nice to have guides who are really knowledgeable but haven't lost energy with the information.”

“I enjoy hearing how running is incorporated in each guide’s life, whether they're a parent or student or starting a new job or transplanted or been in that city for a long time.”

“Usually I get to hear a story or two about another client. When I was in Boston, the tour guide was talking about how she's run with a flight attendant and then she's run with an Olympian who just needed to log these miles. The flexibility [of what City Fit Tours can accommodate] is impressive.”

Troy and Elise on our tour of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood included the edge of the nearby Edgewater neighborhood.

After so many standard tours, why choose a personalized run in Chicago?

“My aunt and uncle have lived in Rogers Park most of my life. It hit me that I've visited family in Rogers Park for years, and I've spent very little time in the neighborhood. I came back [from the tour] with some facts I don't think they knew, or they said, ‘oh, yeah, that makes sense,’ but just had never played tour guide in that area.”

a great alternative when your destination doesn’t have a race during your stay

“It's a nice option for people that feel they're getting exercise in and sightseeing but not having the pressure of needing to train. It seems the runs are designed where the pace is set by the slower members. That's more inviting.”

Running with City Fit Tours instead of a race is also “less logistically complicated. You don't have to pick up your bib and wait for [the race] to start and then do it and then be at the finish line and get to your parking spot.” While Elise has traveled for a few races before, she said, “I'm not usually looking to put that stress on myself.”

Elise with Mala joining our Zoom.

puppy love

Elise and Troy’s dog came up on our run and made her presence known on our Zoom. “She thinks running involves sprinting and then dragging behind me, so that's her form of running. She doesn't quite understand pacing.”

And the name Mala?

“Troy picked her name because when he adopted her, her name was Miranda. Which she didn't really respond to because it was too complicated, three syllables. But he wanted to keep the “m”. And he likes the Lion King. So Nala but also Mala because it means bad in Spanish.” And she certainly can be a little mischievous.

Consider a personalized tour on your next visit

The next time you are in one of our cities, a personalized tour is a great option for those who want to see beyond a city’s typical highlights. Learn more on our website.

Frequent Flier Miles: Two clients on a quest to run a 5k in every state

By San Diego Guide and Chicago Manager Chelsey Stone

Debbie and Clay with NYC guide Jillian

Usually our clients have the same goals in mind when they sign up for a tour with us: sightseeing and exercising. But every once in a while our clients come to us with something unique: Texas couple Debbie and Clay want to run a 5k in every state, and City Fit Tours has been a perfect fit for their goal.

What was the inspiration for doing a 5k in every state?

Clay: It encourages us to work out more often, even just a couple days a week. We get a run on the schedule, like we've got one on the books for October, so between now and then, we’ll be training.

Debbie: It was easy to put travel off and say we don't have time. That coupled with the fact that we were about to be empty nesters, we needed something to do together that would replace all the carpooling and kids’ stuff we had been doing. We decided this was going to be our next phase. Here we are, 24 states later.

Photo 1: Their first race outside their home state of Texas - running down the Las Vegas Strip. Photo 2: Clay running in Lambeau Field in the Green Bay Packers 5K (photo credit to Green Bay Packers 5K). Photo 3: Debbie running in Portland, Maine along the Atlantic coastline.

What was your first state?

Debbie: The first state we traveled to was Nevada. We ran the Las Vegas Strip; it was the 5k associated with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon (see photo above).

A state you’ve enjoyed most so far?

Debbie: We've done a few runs while we followed our kids for their different events, and I know in the big picture of places you can travel to Oklahoma is probably not at the top of everybody's list, but we had a good time in Oklahoma.

What’s your next state?

Debbie: Rhode Island and Connecticut in October. The Rhode Island race is a complete trail run, which we've never done before. We're looking forward to it, but it's a very difficult one with all the elevation. But we live in a hilly area, so I feel like elevation is our strong suit.

Which City Fit Tours have you done?

Debbie: New York City’s Central Park. New York is actually when we discovered City Fit Tours. We didn't have a grand plan for how we were going to accomplish our goal; we were kind of winging it. When I Googled 5k races, I stumbled across City Fit Tours. I was like, ‘Oh, this is perfect. We can see the city, learn all the cool facts only the locals know, and accomplish our goal.’ Chicago was our second.

Debbie and Clay in Chicago May 2023

Clay: Chicago was our fourth 5k in six days that we did in July. We had traveled the Lake Michigan Circle, so we ran in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and then Chicago was our grand finale in Illinois. That was the first trip we've done more than one 5k at a time.

Debbie: We don't do any more than 5ks, and we are perfectly happy with our 10 to 11 minute mile pace. That’s why City Fit Tours is perfect for us: we're not racing and trying to compete with anybody. We're just running to see and do stuff. 

For guides, we've had some young professionals, probably the age of our boys, and I love to hear their stories, how they're navigating young adult life. Morgan in Chicago was telling us all the places she had lived. In New York, Jillian was telling us how she takes the subway. We live in Texas so everywhere we go, we get in the car. But Jillian runs to the subway and jogs three or four blocks to get to Central Park. It was just interesting how different we live our lives.

The other piece is seeing the city through the eyes of locals and learning things we wouldn't have. We can walk down Navy Pier all day and not know some of the things we learned. In both New York and Chicago our tour guides have been very knowledgeable, and not just about the historical things everybody knows, but also the not so historical things that are little nuggets kind of tucked away. I started out as a social studies teacher, so that's kind of my bliss on top of all the layers.

Chicago Guide Morgan told Debbie and Clay they’d find a piece of the Alamo from their home state.

We've managed to merge sightseeing, exercise, and working toward a goal in a very efficient manner. That's been the coolest thing. As we hit different cities, we're gonna definitely see if there’s an opportunity to run with City Fit Tours.

What are you doing when you’re not running 5ks?

Debbie: We're both in education. We started as teachers once, and now we've ventured off. I train teachers, and he's a superintendent. So running is an outlet during busy times.

All of us at City Fit Tours are cheering Debbie and Clay on as they work toward their goal, and we’ll be ready to take them on tours in whichever of our cities they come to next.

Frequent Flier Miles: Client Mitch A.

By Guide Chelsey Grassfield

The first tour I led with City Running Tours was for an American Chemical Society conference at McCormick Place in Chicago. This is how I met Becca Greenberg, when we lead this tour with another colleague. This is also how I met Mitch, one of the runners in my group; we’ve been following and encouraging each other on Strava since. I invited Mitch to share his experiences participating in running tours through conferences.

Mitch is on the far left in the green hat.

Mitch has run tours coordinated by the American Chemical Society in San Diego, Boston, and Chicago. “They have two national conferences every year, and it seems that no matter which one you go to, no matter where it is, there's always been a running tour for an affinity group of younger chemists, folks getting into this kind of intimidating world of big time research. This is one way to make friends, to make it feel a little bit more casual.”

A way to casually network

“As someone who's young in my career, I want to network. I am thinking about opportunities to meet people. Otherwise, conferences can be fairly impersonal. You can go from meeting to meeting to meeting, seeing people talk but never actually having a one on one conversation.”

A running tour is a way to get this meaningful interaction with other conference attendees. “You end up striking up a conversation as you run from place to place, and then, if that conversation turns out to be kind of a bust, there's an automatic reset point where you can find somebody else to talk to [he’s referring to the stops we make to talk about points of interest].”

Checking all the boxes, Mitch said, “I'm doing it as a tour, a way to network and meet people, and to have something fun that's not work related. I really appreciate that break in the day.”

A way to stay healthy

Maintaining fitness when traveling for work can be challenging, but a running tour provides an opportunity to get a run in you might have otherwise skipped. “Where I am in my running career now, I don't need external motivation to go run anymore, but I can imagine for folks who are new to running or have this motivation to be healthier, it can be challenging. Going on work trips is not the thing you do when you want to get healthy; you just eat whatever garbage is there. So having this run, I think it makes you feel good that you're going to do something you want to do anyway (see the city) but do it in a way that has a positive impact on your life.” 

“Always after we're all done, I chat up the tour guide: now I want to go on my own run, where should I go? And then you've already been running all over town; you know all the good spots and the places to see. It’s great fact-finding.” Mitch uses these runs as a launching point for his own adventures in new cities, getting the lay of the land with a local first. At the end of his running tour of Chicago, he asked me about The 606 trail, how to get there and if it was a nice place to run (recommended the green to the blue line and yes!).

A chance to be a perpetual novice

“When you have a conference that large, even if I am the most seasoned chemist that's ever been, there are still so many different ways I can feel dumb. You stand in this very narrowly focused lane. But the moment you step outside of that lane suddenly you feel dumb all over again. Any of those folks that I ran with, they knew so much more, so much different information than me. We likely couldn't have this sciencey conversation, anyways. So it was nice to just connect on something that was different that we could all just sort of bond over; we all know running in one way or another.”

Attending or hosting a conference soon? See if a running or yoga tour is offered. If not, suggest it. These are a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle and connect with other participants on a deeper level while on work trips, just ask Mitch.

Frequent Flier Miles: Client Melissa C.

By Chicago guide Chelsey Grassfield

I ran with Melissa and her husband Stuart when they came to Chicago for work in March. It was a bitterly cold day when we set out from the warmth of their hotel lobby and ran through the nearby attractions on a 6 mile/10 km tour. In between stopping points, I learned that Melissa had done a tour in NYC in 2013. I was curious what had made that experience stick after all this time, prompting her to book another in Chicago ten years later.

Melissa and her husband Stuart on their Chicago tour in 2023.

When it comes to the traditional way of visiting any city’s attractions, Melissa had some strong feelings. “Sometimes the thought of sight seeing doesn't get me very excited because it makes me think of when I was a kid traveling with family and you would stare at the same thing for what felt like hours... How boring.” 

Melissa appreciates an opportunity to multi-task and doesn’t need to spend too long at any one attraction before moving onto the next: “sightseeing by running tour is amazing. Not only do I get my exercise in but I get to see so many different sights but at a quicker pace - long enough for me to say I saw them but not long enough to get bored–some might say I have a short attention span!”

Not to toot our own horns, but of yours truly and her NYC guide she said, “the City Running Tour guides are so knowledgeable and great runners, so I can learn all about the history of things as we run by them - I like that I get to run and listen at the same time.”

A running tour can be a great way to get the lay of the land before setting off to sightsee on your own: “In NYC the running tour was on our first full day and I did a long run, ~15k I think, so I got to see so much and learned of really cool places to go back to after with my sister - including taking the subway, visiting Wall Street, and shopping in SoHo.”

For these reasons, Melissa’s next trip will include a running tour as well. Let’s just hope you see her earlier than 2033! “Now, every time we travel to a big city a running tour is the first thing I think of to book (with City Running Tours, if they are there,) and it is always my favorite part of the trip.”