By San Diego Guide and Chicago Manager Chelsey Stone
Debbie and Clay with NYC guide Jillian
Usually our clients have the same goals in mind when they sign up for a tour with us: sightseeing and exercising. But every once in a while our clients come to us with something unique: Texas couple Debbie and Clay want to run a 5k in every state, and City Fit Tours has been a perfect fit for their goal.
What was the inspiration for doing a 5k in every state?
Clay: It encourages us to work out more often, even just a couple days a week. We get a run on the schedule, like we've got one on the books for October, so between now and then, we’ll be training.
Debbie: It was easy to put travel off and say we don't have time. That coupled with the fact that we were about to be empty nesters, we needed something to do together that would replace all the carpooling and kids’ stuff we had been doing. We decided this was going to be our next phase. Here we are, 24 states later.
Photo 1: Their first race outside their home state of Texas - running down the Las Vegas Strip. Photo 2: Clay running in Lambeau Field in the Green Bay Packers 5K (photo credit to Green Bay Packers 5K). Photo 3: Debbie running in Portland, Maine along the Atlantic coastline.
What was your first state?
Debbie: The first state we traveled to was Nevada. We ran the Las Vegas Strip; it was the 5k associated with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon (see photo above).
A state you’ve enjoyed most so far?
Debbie: We've done a few runs while we followed our kids for their different events, and I know in the big picture of places you can travel to Oklahoma is probably not at the top of everybody's list, but we had a good time in Oklahoma.
What’s your next state?
Debbie: Rhode Island and Connecticut in October. The Rhode Island race is a complete trail run, which we've never done before. We're looking forward to it, but it's a very difficult one with all the elevation. But we live in a hilly area, so I feel like elevation is our strong suit.
Which City Fit Tours have you done?
Debbie: New York City’s Central Park. New York is actually when we discovered City Fit Tours. We didn't have a grand plan for how we were going to accomplish our goal; we were kind of winging it. When I Googled 5k races, I stumbled across City Fit Tours. I was like, ‘Oh, this is perfect. We can see the city, learn all the cool facts only the locals know, and accomplish our goal.’ Chicago was our second.
Debbie and Clay in Chicago May 2023
Clay: Chicago was our fourth 5k in six days that we did in July. We had traveled the Lake Michigan Circle, so we ran in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and then Chicago was our grand finale in Illinois. That was the first trip we've done more than one 5k at a time.
Debbie: We don't do any more than 5ks, and we are perfectly happy with our 10 to 11 minute mile pace. That’s why City Fit Tours is perfect for us: we're not racing and trying to compete with anybody. We're just running to see and do stuff.
For guides, we've had some young professionals, probably the age of our boys, and I love to hear their stories, how they're navigating young adult life. Morgan in Chicago was telling us all the places she had lived. In New York, Jillian was telling us how she takes the subway. We live in Texas so everywhere we go, we get in the car. But Jillian runs to the subway and jogs three or four blocks to get to Central Park. It was just interesting how different we live our lives.
The other piece is seeing the city through the eyes of locals and learning things we wouldn't have. We can walk down Navy Pier all day and not know some of the things we learned. In both New York and Chicago our tour guides have been very knowledgeable, and not just about the historical things everybody knows, but also the not so historical things that are little nuggets kind of tucked away. I started out as a social studies teacher, so that's kind of my bliss on top of all the layers.
Chicago Guide Morgan told Debbie and Clay they’d find a piece of the Alamo from their home state.
We've managed to merge sightseeing, exercise, and working toward a goal in a very efficient manner. That's been the coolest thing. As we hit different cities, we're gonna definitely see if there’s an opportunity to run with City Fit Tours.
What are you doing when you’re not running 5ks?
Debbie: We're both in education. We started as teachers once, and now we've ventured off. I train teachers, and he's a superintendent. So running is an outlet during busy times.
All of us at City Fit Tours are cheering Debbie and Clay on as they work toward their goal, and we’ll be ready to take them on tours in whichever of our cities they come to next.
