I'm all about getting sporty on my trips. When I was training for the NYC marathon, I had to visit Washington, D.C. at a crucial point of my training. Instead of halting training or spending hours running on the hotel treadmill, I hired a running guide through City Running Tours who took me on a sightseeing run through our nation's capital.

So when I heard about a physical fitness event  -- again, in Washington, DC -- coming up on October 11, I thought I would share it with you. Bike for the Heart is a day-long event put on by the Sister to Sister organization, a group dedicated to educating women about heart health and risk prevention and providing free heart health checkups.

The day consists of four events:

 - a family-friendly five-mile bike ride around our nation's capital (this would be my choice)

Please join us in welcoming Catherine Sanderson to The Window Seat. She lives in Paris and is the writer of the popular blog Petite Anglaise.

Many visitors to Paris remain unaware of the existence of the Canal Saint Martin, a waterway constructed in the early nineteenth century to bring fresh water and freight into the French capital.

Please join us in welcoming William Mullins and Leslie Banker to The Window Seat. They are the co-authors of Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British and their guest blog reveals the top rock sites in London.

When you marry a Londoner who loves music as much as he loves his native city, excursions around the city follow a different narrative than the usual guidebooks. That’s how I know that Notting Hill was the neighborhood where Jimi Hendrix finally kissed the sky and where the riots occurred that inspired the song “White Riot” by the Clash. We were in London last spring doing research for our book, Britannia in Brief, and as we walked for miles William noted a few of his favorite music destinations in the city.

Please join us in welcoming writer and humanitarian Susan Skog to The Window Seat. She is the author of six books, including her latest The Give-Back Solution: Create a Better World with Your Time, Talents and Travel, which features Travelocity’s Travel for Good program. Her guest blog tells of her volunteer vacation through Thailand with her son.

My teenaged son, Evan, and I were hanging out the window of the Death Railway Train as it plunged through the emerald Thai countryside, dropping down along the River Kwai. We grinned at each other, our faces pulled tight by the wind, as tamarind trees with outrageous purplish plumes, enchanting temples, and farmers tending sugarcane fields rushed past our rolling car.

Please join us in welcoming renowned travel author David Yeadon to The Window Seat. He is the author of several travel books, including his latest At the Edge of Ireland. His guest blog reveals his top travel tips for Ireland's Beara Peninsula.

If you’ve ever been charmed by twinkle-eyed Irish raconteurs, dreamed of hikes across wild mountains and moors, or imagined yourself at a Guinness-primed ceili in an authentic Irish village pub, then you would love the Beara Peninsula, a remote mountainous finger of land in the southwest corner of Ireland that juts out thirty miles into the Atlantic.

Please join us in welcoming renowned travel author Rolf Potts to The Window Seat. He is the author of several travel memoirs, including his latest Marco Polo Didn't Go There. His guest blog reveals his top five travel experiences in his home state of Kansas.

My new book Getting Into Guinness, was released by Harper Collins on September 16th, and ever since, my life has been a frenzy of radio interviews, plus the occasional book signing and television appearance. This activity, in turn has taken me places I might never otherwise go-- like Philadelphia!

Philly is a great tourist town, and I can’t say why I haven’t been in about 15 years, other than that I grew up in New York and went to school in Washington, D.C., and always just sort of took it for granted. But its attractions are many, and packed into a very user friendly pedestrian downtown. From one of the world’s greatest art museums (and for film fans, the steps Sylvester Stallone ran up while training as Rocky) to an American Icon, the Liberty Bell, downtown is full of tourist sights worth seeing.

Today, September 16th, is just another Tuesday for most people, but it is a huge day for me. After more than two years of research, interviews, writing, and editing, my new book Getting Into Guinness is being released by Harper Collins! For that reason, I am back in my hometown, New York City, for the book release itself, and for a book launch party my sister was kind enough to throw for me this past weekend.

I grew up in New York City, and despite having been to most of the “major” cities of the world, from San Francisco to Paris to London to Sydney, I still love New York whole heartedly. I just couldn’t ever live here. But I love to visit, and in the nearly 20 years since I moved out and relocated to the bucolic Vermont countryside, I have become the consummate tourist in my old haunts.

Please join us in welcoming Catherine Sanderson to The Window Seat. She is the author of Petite Anglaise, a popular blog and new memoir of the same name. Her guest blog gives you an insider's look at a special Paris neighborhood off the beaten path.

Please join us in welcoming Liza Monroy to The Window Seat. She is the author of Mexican High, a new novel about Mexico City that goes on sale today.