Written by Stephen Sall
It’s time for Tuesday Tips! My topic is destination races. I’ve been doing them for a number of years, I currently do six a year, one every two months. I thoroughly enjoy them, not just the races themselves, but also the various destinations and the planning process itself. I’m going to spread the topic over two weeks, a somewhat general perspective today, a more specific one next week. You’re thinking its something you’d like to do, where do you start? The best place to start is to stress to yourself that the reason you are doing this is to have fun, to have a good time. So, first off ask yourself a number of questions: What type of race do I like the most? Half marathon? Full marathon? Ultra? 10K? Where do I like to run? Downtown in a large city? Along the ocean? In the mountains? Along a trail? Do I like point to points? Loops? Out and backs ? How much elevation change am I comfortable with? What about temperature and humidity? What levels am I ok with? Am I OK with a 4:00am shuttle to the start? Also, ask yourself what you want to do at the destination. Do you want to see a play, go out to a ballgame, visit a few breweries, walk along a beach at sunset, take a foodie tour, go to a historic museum?
Now, start to search out the perfect race. There are a bunch of ways to do this. I do a lot of online searching, as an example I’ll google “Half Marathons in Florida” or “Half Marathons in Florida in December” or “ Half Marathons in Miami”. You get the idea….. Or ask around in the club, many of us have done destination races, ask us what our favorites were. But be careful here, ask a lot of questions, what I thought was nirvana might not be something you would like. As an example, one of my favorites was the Philadelphia Half Marathon, but it’s very urban, includes the downtown core of a major city, it also involves a very early morning shuttle bus to the start, that may not be for you. The next factor to consider is to remember that travel can be an inherently stressful activity. The period before a race can also be stressful. Be honest with yourself, what are your stressors? Through careful planning, you can eliminate some of them completely and reduce others to a manageable level. Again, the key here is to plan ahead, to be prepared. Examples might be: will I get there on time? What if my flight is late? What if I’m not comfortable in my hotel or BNB? I have a specific pre race routine, it spreads over a couple of days, can I still do it on the road? What will the weather be like?
In part two, next Tuesday, I will talk in more details about these stressors, including bareing my soul to you, I’ll discuss my stressors and what I do to eliminate or manage them. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions whatsoever. It I were to be reincarnated it would either be as a travel planner or a history teacher.
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