Stopping at the Gate

https://5280lsc.com

For about 15 years of my career, I traveled around the world. For quite a few years, regardless of where I was in the world, I would try and get outdoors and run. An excellent cure for jet lag for me was to land in a country early in the morning, go for a short early run then into the office or meetings for a full 8 hour day.

On one specific trip to Europe, I stayed at an unfamiliar location but needed to squeeze in the long run. If I was not in a city in Europe, I never chanced running on the side of the road because the roads were narrower often than what I am used to in the US, and I did not want to wind up in a hospital. I went to the front desk and asked the receptionist if there was a trail that I could run. She responded that yes, just at the bottom of the hill was a trail. Just follow the sidewalk, then you cannot miss the course. I leave the hotel then down the hill, onto a sidewalk, then there is a dirt path. I start to run on the dirt path. The next thing I know, there is a big iron gate across the dirt path tied to a fence that went way off into the distance. I turned around then ran back to the sidewalk towards the hotel, and this time the opposite direction up a painful hill, then the sidewalk ran out with no possibility of a path.

I went back to the receptionist and asked what I had done wrong. She said that…