WHY DO WE RUN?

We run to find ourselves, and sometimes that means finding ourselves in a foreign country, toeing the starting line of an international marathon. It’s one of the greatest running experiences you can have. But how do you know where to find an ATM in Reykjavik? How can you hydrate enough when you’re touring around Dublin? How can you find a hotel close to the finish line? And where is the best post-run party?

As a Run Amok Tour participant, you’ll have all these questions (and more)  answered for you. Join us as we go out and run our best on the marathon course, and then have fun and celebrate our accomplishment.

We eat local foods, drink local wine, beer, and/or liquors, and meet friends from all over the world. We swap race shirts, compare marathons we’ve run, and moan about our worst races. Running is a great equalizer. It’s an instant conversation-starter. It’s a common denominator among runners across the globe.

Run Amok purposely keeps its groups smaller than 20 participants so that we can connect with and get to know everyone we’re traveling with. You’ll have an instant group of running and traveling buddies, so if you want to go out for a quick run the day before the marathon, you won’t have to find your way alone. Or if you want company when you visit the hot springs in Reykjavik or the Tivoli gardens in Copenhagen, you’ll know where to find us. Group activities are available throughout the trip - some are included in your trip, many of them are optional. Join us for drinks, dinner, dancing, touring, or spend an afternoon on your own; it’s up to you.

ABOUT T.J. FORD
The travel bug bit me in my early 20s, when my husband and I flew to Oxford, England for a three-year stay. I was instantly smitten with everything about travel - the plane ride (full disclosure: I actually LIKE airplane food!); the people; the landscape; the architecture; the history. In Oxford, I acted as de facto tour guide for the nearly constant flow of visiting friends and family members, and the longer I stayed, the wider my head and my heart opened to the wonder and fascination of this planet.

Since then, I’ve taken every opportunity to hop on planes to Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. I spent 5 months in Guangzhou, China learning traditional Chinese medicine. The rest of the time I traveled around - sometimes with a friend, occasionally alone, often with tour groups. I always preferred the connection and camaraderie of being around like-minded people, and found that my traveling companions added depth and breadth to the experiences. I’ve made lifelong friendships with some of those fellow travelers.

And where does running fit into all this? I haven’t always been a runner. In my early 30s, I was overweight, out of shape, and depressed over the death of my sister. One day I saw a jogger and thought, maybe running a marathon would be a good way to relieve some stress and lose some weight. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing, and as I hobbled across the finish line of my first marathon I thought to myself , “I’m never doing THIS again”. And in fact, it was almost a full year until I started running regularly again.

What changed for me was finding others with similar goals and dreams but also with varied experiences. I realized how universal running is, and connecting with others made it seem much more worthwhile. Since then I’ve run 36 marathons from California to Boston to Reykjavik to Copenhagen, and my world has expanded exponentially. Run Amok Tours developed from the alchemy of these two passions of mine. We’re an independently owned company with location advisors in every city we run in. Running gives us a common language with people we’d otherwise never meet; a common goal that we strive for; “marathon”, “finish line”, and “good job!” are universal concepts no matter what the language.

Running pushes us beyond our self-imposed limits, and it can take us anywhere in the world. And that’s the goal of Run Amok International Marathon tours: you can go farther than you think you can, and you can have a hell of a good time doing it.