(Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them. FYI, all were taken today.)

I thought another way to kick jet lag would be to do what I normally do on Sunday mornings back home, that is to go for a run. It was 8am or so when I started out today (or 11pm Saturday night in Seattle) and a bit chilly. But within seconds, I felt great.

I started at the Boudeaus and ran down to the river. I crossed the bridge and then made my way over to a trail I regularly ran when we lived in Nantes 2+ years ago. It was quiet and cool, so reminiscent of my morning runs after taking Ella to school that I wanted to pinch myself, so content was I. I continued in the direction of our old neighborhood, then on to another trail there I ran regularly before hooking up to a city street that took me straight to the Hippodrome.

As I’ve needed to do lately at the 30 minute mark of any run, I stopped at the Hippodrome to stretch and rub out my achilles and calf. I took a couple of photos and started up again, running on the racetrack, the same place that I began running 2 1/2 years ago! My heart was beating fast and it wasn’t from the running.

I crossed the street in front of the main entrance to the Hippodrome and found the tiny entrance to a trail I discovered on one of my many Nantes explorations. I felt like a resident, especially as I passed other runners. Me, in my shirt and watch from Décathlon, running on tiny trails that a visitor would never know of.

On I went, down the tiny trail, before connecting with a larger trail along the camping site at Petit Port. I ran it to the Ligne 2 tram stop, then over to Ella’s school, Le Loquidy, stopping to take pictures. I reversed my trail back toward the tram stop and ran along a road next to the Université de Nantes, then over to another trail that took me to our favorite restaurant, La Belle Equipe.

Having hit the hour point of running and experiencing some tightness in my left calf (a new injury?), I decided to walk back to the Boudeaus. I climbed the stairs to the bridge and crossed back over, stopping to snap a picture of me on the bridge overlooking the Erdre.

Man, if I could do this every day…