Jill Radsken, Boston Herald, November 2, 2011
If a walking tour of Boston isn't your speed, how about running your way through the sights of the city?
Jared and Abby Perrine's RunBoston gives guided tours of the historic Hub while hoofing a 10-minute mile.
The Perrines started RunBoston after taking visiting family members on running tours. And they've organized hundreds of customized runs (www.runboston.org, @runbostonorg) since they started this "labor of love" -- she works in PMG Publishing in Plymouth, he in technology at Benjamin Banneker charter school in Cambridge -- in 2009.
This weekend, RunBoston will launch its first group tour -- a 4.4-mile run along the Freedom Trail, Cambridge and Copley Plaza -- for tourists and locals who want to see the city while breaking a sweat. They plan to have multiple guides on hand to accommodate a variety of fitness levels.
Guide Wayne Levy gave the Herald an abbreviated tour earlier this week -- a 3- to 4-mile loop starting at the State House steps.
"You can set the pace," he offered.
A guide since RunBoston began, Levy has run competitively since high school and runs 10 miles daily on top of his RunBoston tours. The pace was easy enough to take notes during, and Levy, 46, offered several possible stops along the route.
"JFK proposed to Jackie, and Malcolm X was a bus boy there," he said, pointing to the Omni Parker House Boston.
A private tour costs $50 to $60, depending on the distance. More than a dozen runners have signed up for this Saturday's 10 a.m. debut group tour, including Angela Kyin of Quincy, who plans to run with a group of girlfriends.
"One does triathalons, one does marathon distances and another friend runs leisurely," said the 23-year-old accountant. "I thought it'd be a good way to get us all together."
Kyin and company won't be hitting the wall Saturday, given that the tour group (currently at 14) will be stopping at traffic lights and crosswalks.
"The workout will probably be second to the actual tour itself," she said.
