With support from a fellowship, Becky Wade hit the road for a year, parlaying her running background into a passport to global running cultures. A graduate of academically prestigious Rice University in Houston, her athletic credentials include being a four-time American long-distance runner and the third-fastest female marathoner under the age of 25 in US history. These credentials helped her in connecting with fellow runners in England, Japan, Ethiopia, and six other countries.
The resulting travelogue is laced with racing and training experiences with new friends, and even recipes from some of the places she visited.
Here’s an excerpt from Run the World:
“Switzerland’s natural beauty is a main attraction for any visitor – especially when that visitor spends a substantial part of each day surveying the land by foot. In my year designed around long-distance running, it only made sense to include one of the world’s most scenic, idyllic, and running-friendly countries. In my poll of well-traveled runners, Switzerland came up repeatedly.
“Beyond the gorgeous views and mountain trails, I had two other motives for including Switzerland in my itinerary. First, I’d heard about the country’s punctual trains, orderly post office lines, and cooperative political system (seven collaborative presidents) – and the organized, perfection-seeking planner in me was curious to see if the Swiss athlete would offer a different kind of elite running scene than I’d experienced either at home or in my travels so far: much smaller and more intimate. I wondered how the opportunities for Swiss Olympic hopefuls compared to those in the United States, and I was fortunate to connect with two girls my age who could fill me in.”
