Having run in New England this past weekend, I think I may now be afflicted with a new bug. It really was a pretty remarkable experience. New England runners are a breed apart. Almost all of the more than 300 people in the race were very serious runners--Boston Marathon-type runners. It got me to thinking of all the places I have run during the past two years. Besides my home state of Tennessee, where I have run in Franklin, Nashville, Chattanooga, Bell Buckle, Memphis, and at Peacock Hill, I have run in:
- Virginia, a couple of times I was speaking in Bristol and Norfolk.
- Washington, in Seattle as well as in the shadow of the Cascades.
- California, in both San Diego and Santa Cruz beside the Pacific.
- Georgia, whilst speaking in Atlanta and again in Rome.
- Idaho, once during a history conference.
- Alabama, for the Mercedes Marathon.
- Missouri, in a really wonderful park near St. Louis.
- Iowa, during a pro-life conference.
- Illinois, in Chicago during the last election.
- North Carolina, outside my hotel one blustery February morning.
- Kentucky, one morning while traveling by car.
- Texas, in the running Mecca of Austin and in San Antonio.
- Florida, along the beaches of Ft. Lauderdale and Destin.
- Mississippi, in Jackson not far from Reformed Seminary.
- New York, as Sara has reminded me, before a wedding.
- New Hampshire, in beautiful Portsmouth.
In addition, I have run in a number of overseas locations as wildly varied as London and Lima, Amsterdam and Jakarta, Vienna and St. Andrews.
Not bad. Especially considering the fact that I have cut back virtually all my heavy travel during the past two or three years (I now accept about one out of every ten or fifteen requests that I get).
So, this got me to thinking: what if I were to try to run in all fifty states in the Union? That would be a worthy, fun goal--and it would surely keep me busy.
