Keeping Fit While Studying Abroad

Here at Spanish Abroad, our favorite way to keep fit is running. The majority of the year it is warm and sunny in Phoenix, so it is a natural way to take in the outdoors and much more affordable than the gym. All you need is a good pair of running shoes, some basic clothing, and you are good to go. Running is also a great activity that you can do no matter where you are, weather permitting, but a little rain or snow won't kill you.

Runners in Retiro Park by Baby Dinosaur

Running is perfect for general travel as well as vacations, where a fitness regiment may fall by the wayside among busy schedules and trying to find a gym or the proper equipment to work out. You can also take in a lot of the scenery in a very personal perspective, in a much quicker amount of time than walking. You definitely see a lot more from this intimate view point in comparison to a stuffy tour bus. While it can have its limitations with some areas having limited space for running amid busy car or foot traffic, most cities or towns in Latin America or Spain have parks or other natural settings with some type of foot path for easy running routes. 

If you are an avid runner and have trained for a half or full marathon, you may have run into a circumstance where a vacation or business trip fell right in the middle or in some cases towards the end of your training schedule. This means running in a totally different environment which may have different hilly terrain, higher altitudes, or weather that can make the change in scenery less pleasant than what you have become accustom. 

When I have had this situation befall me, I threw caution to the wind and let the road take me where it led. This turned into some of my greatest running experiences including running along the Oregon Coast, sprinting through the beautiful Retiro park of Madrid, and probably the most challenging course was braving the hilly streets of Lisbon, Portugal. I may have thought I was going to die while climbing a never-ending hill in Lisbon, but I am still kicking and it is a fond memory I hope to repeat some day. 

A great resource we have come across is the Travel Section of Runner's World. While in its infancy, it is rather limited in travels to Spain and Latin America. We hope that through submissions from our Spanish students as well as other world travelling runners, this can develop to a very interesting reference point for great places to run no matter where you may be travelling to study Spanish Abroad. It certainly has a lot of content for the United States given its key readership, but we hope they spread the world and gain valuable information on running in Buenos Aires, Santiago, Quito, San Jose, Barcelona, and beyond. 

One thing I like to do is pick a destination specifically for targeting a half or full marathon. What better way to take in a city than run through its streets for 13.1 or 26.2 miles without the worry of traffic or walkers blocking your speedy path. The Marathon Guide has a great resource with it's International Marathon Calendar. If you want to take the guess work out of choosing the "right" location to learn Spanish, you still have time to train for the 2011 Buenos Aires Marathon coming up on October 9th. 

Related Posts: 

• Top Ten Reasons to Learn Spanish in Buenos Aires
• Oldest Restaurant in the World: Madrid, Spain