When Kelly asked me to help her plan a trip to Tahoe for a weekend of birthday festivities, how could I say no? Tahoe is an outdoor girl’s fantasy, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to go spend four days in the wilderness with good friends, great weather, and some “OK” views… just kidding about the views, just Google the word ‘Tahoe’ and you’ll see what I’m talking about. After months of planning which usually consisted of meeting Kelly at the pizza place next to work, drinking a glass of wine, and talking about everything butthe party, seven of us took off for a weekend of activities in the quaintest of quaint Tahoe cabins. We went rafting, we hiked, we swam, we played, and we had fun.

I think any distance runner can agree that spending time in the woods with good friends is fantastic, but it’s awesomeness is punctuated by the ability to get out in the morning and go for an early AM trail run before anyone else gets up. Living in San Francisco, I don’t often get this luxury. Sure, I can get up and go for a run in the city when it’s just me, the streets, some utilities workers, and the occasional leftover bar rat who forgot to go home the night before.

Running around Lake Tahoe in Tahoe City, CA

There is no contest between these two types of runs, and that got me wondering if I live where I run, or run where I live? To the non-runner this question may sound redundant and unnecessary, and for that person running is usually just a form of exercise. For a someone who has chosen running as their passion, the question takes on more meaning. Surfers move to the shore, alpanists move to the mountains, cyclists move to the country, so runners should feel free to move to a land where their runs are amplified by their environment.

Runners are lucky in that they can easily take their sport with them and practice it nearly anywhere they can find an open road/trail/beach/sidewalk, but what would happen if runners were encouraged to live in areas where they are constantly motivated to get out and train just by the enticing trails surrounding them. Would the challenge of getting up in the morning before the sun raises to head out on a cold, often wet, trail turn into a lovely and welcomed experience? Would we be running and training so often that we become the endurance athletes of our dreams, crushing goals and setting records? Would we be taking to the trails and roads so often that we become injured and unable to run? The best runners in the world live where they run, and they reap the benefits. This weekend as I cruised around on the trails above Lake Tahoe, I couldn’t help but wonder what my sport would mean to me if I lived at the trailhead. There are lucky runners out there who certainly take advantage of with their location, and those who have to make do. Because we can take the sport with us wherever we are, we make compromises and insist on running where we live, but this doesn’t mean we can’t maximize our efforts and enjoy our sport if we move to the place where the sport is practiced best. Who knows if I’ll end up picking up my San Francisco house and heading into the mountains, but it is encouraging to dream of living where I run.