I spent some time in the in Nice, France and Monaco recently. One of the first things I did was to look for potential running routes on my way to my hotel.  I didn’t have to look very far. One of the nicest running routes was the Promenade des Anglais, which ran parallel to the beautiful blue water. It is called La Prom these days. This was my third or fourth visit to Nice. But my first time in warm weather. I, thankfully, did not run into the pushy crepe vendor this time. He wouldn’t take no for an answer the last time, when I declined his repeated invitations to take me salsa dancing. I avoided La Prom the previous time, because I didn’t want to run into him. Plus I thought to myself “salsa dancing in France, I don’t think so.” But alas, apparently there is indeed a lively salsa party at one of the hotels across from the promenade.  Maybe I should have accepted the crepe vendor’s invitation because it looked like fun.

Back to running. Alas, I did not get a chance to run along the promenade, priorities, priorities. But it did look like a cool thing to do. Seems like people ran throughout the day and night because I saw runners in the early morning as I headed to work and late at night when walking back to my hotel from dinner. I did snap a few pictures on my 1 hour trek into the city center which was suppose to take 15 minutes, but I kept walking in the wrong direction. You would think I would have a clue after almost walking back to the airport! Which brings me to my helpful recommendation should you find yourself in the area, the best times to run along La Prom are of course early morning and in the evening. Being in the sun for that long left me delirious, thirsty and wilted and I like the heat.

I also had the opportunity to see parts of Monaco. I ended up walking a great deal around Monte Carlo. I don’t think I’d have the guts to run in Monte Carlo with my tattered running gear. That place oozes posh and expensive. It is scene, a seen and be seen type of place. Even my fanciest business suit looked like rags at Cafe des Paris amongst the well heeled. But it is a nice place to visit or pass through. Although walking along parts of the Moncao Grand Prix route was really cool. Monaco has a running event in March, it is now officially on my running bucket list. Some of the turns on that course require a level of driving skills that I will never possess. But running those tight corners would be awesome.

On my way out of Nice they were setting up for their Iron Man competition.  I’m definitely not ready for that race, yet!