Running in Shanghai, China

I'm off to spend another 4th of July in Communist China. I have spent the last few July 4th in Shanghai for work, my company exhibits at a show that lands on the first weekend in July. The first few trips were a lot of fun and a great experience, however, during this time of year in Shanghai it is extremely hot, like 100-120 degrees and humid. Shanghai is about 20 million people and it feels like a very modern and somewhat western city. I would compare it to New York on steroids, the rate of growth in China and specifically in Shanghai is staggering.

For example, Minneapolis is has been planning and is now constructing a 2nd light rail line in the Twin Cities. It is scheduled to be completed in 2014, and planning began around 2003-4, so a 10 year project. Shanghai has built a new subway line every year for 7 years straight, they have built a 110 story building in less than 5 years. They have hosted the most elaborate World Expo the world has ever seen, which drew crowds of millions a day. ( I waited almost 2 hours to get into the Italy pavilion and it wasn't even one of the longest lines.)

So what does this mean for me who is trying to stay in shape and get a few miles in while traveling to Shanghai. First is means no more blog post. That's right the Chinese government censors the internet...HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? Anyways that mean I can't access my blog, twitter, facebook, youtube, sort like the 1990's again. It will also mean running on a treadmill or the crowded and polluted streets of Shanghai.

I'll be sure to take some pictures and try to take some videos and post them when I get back. Sorry you will all just have to live without my blog for 10 days.

Video Post from Rome, Italy

Sorry...I've been on the road this past week or so for work so I've been bad at posting, but here is a quick video post from St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Italy, I guess it's actually Vatican City. I was lucky that the Pope was in town and every Sunday he addresses the crowd in St. Peter's Square and blesses everyone.

As some of you may know I am running my first 100 mile race this April, so I figured I could use all of the help I could get. Even though I'm not Catholic I was quite amazed at Pope Benedict XVI he gave the initial blessing and address in Latin, I think, but then gave separate blessings in Italian, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and one more language I couldn't figure out. He was even giving some shout outs to several groups that were in the crowd. It was pretty cool.

Even though I didn't get any running in today I think I put on about 15 miles of walking. I pretty much started out from the hotel at 10:15 and was walking around until about 6:15, yes I took a few breaks for site seeing but just grabbed some pizza from one of the small shops and staked out a good stop to do some people watching. The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain are great places to hang out and people watch. At one point I actually was next to a group of American students that were studying abroad, it was funny to hear them having the same conversations that I did when I was abroad...oh to be young again.

Well, enjoy the video post I'll try and add some more pictures and videos later. I'm off to dinner, maybe try and find a nice outdoor spot in one of the big piazzas.

Arrivedercci...

Running Abroad: Dusseldorf, Germany

The nice part about Dusseldorf, Germany is that the city is located on the Rhine River and there are plenty of running and biking trails. It is about 40-45 degrees, so warming than MN. I have found a few good routes. Here is a nice 5.5 mile loop.

Running Abroad: China

Above:China Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai

Above: Me eating a chicken leg. It was like chewing on a piece of picked rubber.

Goose, Chicken leg, some sort of nut, and dried fish. Not exactly the best food for running, but I actually liked most of it.

Pu dong Skyline Shanghai

Another shot of at the World Expo

Here are a few pictures of my trip to China. I was in Shanghai for about 3 weeks for work and it was a great trip, but not so great for my running. Shanghai is 13 hour different than Minnesota so it took about a week to get used to the time change. Shanghai is also a city of about 20 million people and is constantly growing, their main object is economic growth not designing a city that is run friendly. This along with a crazy work schedule really limited my running, when I did get the ambition to run it was generally on the treadmill or out in the 90+ degree weather with 90+% humidity and lot of pollution. I have posted a few links to some of the outdoor runs that I did do, but had to really keep them short due to the heat.

China is a fascinating country and Shanghai is the crown jewel of the country. There is certainly a lot of western influence in the city and the culture, but it is still very different that the US. One particular difference is the communist government who does control a lot of things that we really take for granted and don't notice. For example this blog, I was not able to access it and there are not many blogs in China, legal ones anyways. All of the news is government run and so you guessed it approval ratings for the government just don't exist out in public anyways.

All that being aside it was another great trip to China and I look forward to going back. I will just have to plan to not have to run too much while there.

The Great Fire Wall of China:

First off I apologize for lack of posts and updates the past 3 weeks. My reasoning is that I was in China for work and the Chinese government has managed to censor the internet, this means a lot of sites are simply blocked while in China. You may have heard about the problems that Google has had with China.

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and many blogs, especially on Blogger( a google run site) are blocked. So my absence from the blog was a forced one. Unfortunately for many running, I was quite busy while in China and did not have a whole lot of opportunity to run. I stayed in Shanghai, which has about 20 million people and it is less than an ideal place to run. Too many people, cars, bikes, scooters, buildings traffic, crazy drivers and pollution.

I did manage a few runs but the weather was nearly 90 degrees everyday with nearly 100% humidity, so even when I did get out it was difficult to get any quality runs in. Here are a few pictures from the trip and I'll be posting again on a regular basis, don't worry.

Running Abroad: Paris Part II

Stairs to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris (Above)

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (Above) Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris

Moulin Rouge

Yesterday I got in another 10 miles, this time it was through the north part of the city and it was good but a lot of stop and go and too many people to really run. I guess I shouldn't have picked a big shopping area to run in but the 10 miles went by fast and got to see some more great sites, though I'll have to admit that all the old buildings and Cathedral are all starting to blend together.

There was one very neat cathedral on top of a big hill that over looked the city which was a great view and though the legs burned a bit while running up the over 200 stairs it was worth the view. Unfortunately I didn't have time to stop in at Moulin Rouge.

Here are a few photos from my run. Today I was supposed to do 10 miles of LT (lactate threshold) training but this morning I went to move an end table to plug something in and really tweaked my back. Nothing serious I don't think but made it quite uncomfortable to run and pick up heavy objects. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow and I can get back to it, I don't need any more reasons to not get my runs in while traveling.

Running Abroad: Paris

Though I did not run yesterday, I did get in a nice 20 mile run today. It actually worked out well because I had to run 20 miles but not at a specific pace. Generally on my long runs without a set pace I'll run anywhere from 7:45-6:45 minute miles on average usually there is a bit of up and down, and today there was a lot of up and down.

I set out with my hand water bottle my SPI belt packed with my camera, gels and a granola bar, which I didn't really need. I think it was that apple pastry and double espresso I had before I ran that helped a bit. Side note, I don't know why but whenever I am in Europe I drink espresso like...well I drink normal coffee in the US a lot of it. It's a little cup of ambition for me and I love coffee in America and in Europe.

Anyways, my hotel is about 3/4 of a mile from the river that runs through Paris, so I figured I'd do a big loop down one side an up the other. Got to see some site along the way, I'll upload the actual route as soon as I can get my Garmin to start working the upload feature is not working well.

Some of the sites I ran past were, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and the Louvre, there were others but I don't really know what they were I'll have to look them up.

It was one of the more enjoyable 20 mile runs that I have ran, though being Paris is a major city and I was running around the city center there was a lot of traffic and people which made for a slower than normal running. I think there is a new kind of running out there that I have experienced on this trip and I'm calling it Urban Running. Unlike trail running where you have to deal with rough trails, hills and even rivers. Urban running you have to deal with crazy drivers, cross walks, traffic, car exhaust and even smokers, which I might add I seems like everyone in Paris was smoking while I was out running. It was a battle with smokers, car exhaust and a river that didn't always smell to good. I guess that is the price you pay for getting to see some of the great site in the world on your run.

All in all it was a great run and there is still plenty of Paris to see so I'll have amply opportunities and miles to see them. I friend strongly recommended the City of Versailles, I mapped it out and it is only 10 miles from my hotel and the route looks runnable. The only question is after running 10 miles then site seeing will how to get back, I'm think the train will look a lot better than another 10 miles.

Here are some pictures from my run, I am getting pretty good at taking pictures of myself.

Running Abroad: Spain

Now don't worry I have not taken part in this sort of running while in Spain, but it would provide plenty of motivation to keep that pace up.

I have not been in Spain for three days and I have been able to run everyday and do my scheduled workouts. The hotel that I am staying at has a nice room with two treadmills so I am able to run there. I would like to run outside possibly in Parque Retiro (It is similar to Central Park in NY, but in Madrid) or Casa de Campo (a very large park that was formally the royal hunting ground of the King and Queen of Spain). Unfortunately the weather has been cold and rainy and I do not have proper clothing to stay dry, so I have been forced to the treadmill. Perhaps tomorrow it will be nicer out and I will be able to get outside for a nice run.

One thing that is difficult is not only the time change but the culture here is Spain is a lot different, obviously, than in the US. For example, I went out with a friend for "Tapas" (similar to appetizers, but they are often given for free when you order a beer or glass of wine) and we were out until 12:00am which is somewhat normal in Spain, they eat dinner much later but get up a bit later too so I have been trying to get over my jet lag and some of the difference in culture.

Being in Spain again has brought back a lot of great memories from when I studied abroad here. Though it is interesting to see the city now that I am not a student. Though I have had several Doner Kebabs while I have been here, which was a staple of my diet while studying abroad, I figure that the company likes it too because they are only 4 euros so quite a bit less to charge. Unfortunately I only have one more day here and I will be off to Portugal and it will be adios to Spain again.

Running Aboard:

The one thing that I feel will be a major challenge for me this year is making sure that I can dedicate the amount of time and effort to my training that I feel is necessary to achieve the goals that I set for this year. There is only a handful of runners who can either afford to dedicate all the time they want to running or are good enough that someone pays them to dedicate all their time to running. I am neither at this point.

Currently I have a great job and allows me enough time to run and have a social life, however, this upcoming year I will be traveling quite a bit for work. I will be actually traveling internationally quite a bit for 2-3 weeks at a time. This is a great opportunity for me to gain a lot of great experience while also getting to see the world. Do not get me wrong I am extremely excited about these opportunities.

The challenge is that the nature of my work requires me to meet and discuss with clients and potential clients a lot which tends to make for long days. I recently returned from a trip to Mexico City and each day started at 7 am and generally ended around 1am by the time we eat and caught up on emails. This will be a challenge amount all of the other challenges there are in making sure you exercise while traveling for business or pleasure.

I know that this is extemely latebut when I was in France last October I was able to fit a few runs in during my trip and I took my camera along for one run. Sorry it is still quite dark out I believe it was around 6am when I was out but I got to run up and done the most famous street in Paris, the Champs-Elysées which has the Arc de Triomphe at one end and the Louvre Museum at the other.

Warning if you get motion sickness; watching this video might not be for you.