. . . that you speak of?
I have to admit that sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just roll out of my bed and do a half marathon. Would you believe I never have? The longest race I’ve ever done at home is a 15k.
I am joining the Friday Five 2.0 from Fairytales & Fitness and Rachel @ Running on Happy with five reasons you should get out of your comfort zone and consider a racecation, too.
Bust the boredom
Maybe you’re blessed to live in an area with miles of trails outside your door. While there are many lovely places to run where I live, most require a drive. Often I don’t have the time. So I run around the same neighborhood I walk the dogs around every day — a lot. And tend to stick to about two to four different paved paths to do long runs. It gets old — really, really old.
Enjoy new weather
NOLA at the end of an upstate New York winter? Yes, please! Utah or Idaho when we’re sweltering in the humidity and high dew points at home? Pretty please!
Explore different views
I love the ocean, but it’s a long drive from here. We do have mountains, but they’re not quite the same as the Cascades or Rockies. We definitely don’t have a lot of cacti around here — you’ll only find that in someone’s house, not growing wild in our backyard like we did when we lived in TX.
Explore a new city
A long run through a new city is one of the best ways to explore it (maybe the best way is with a food tour — you know me, everything leads to food). Most of the time they close off the streets for you, feed you at the end, and provide beverages throughout. Plus the medal they hang around your neck when you finish.
Leave the stress at home
I won’t lie: prepping for a racecation, at least for me, is stressful. All the cleaning. Arranging for pet sitters. Prepping all the furkids’ stuff. Writing up a bunch of blogs in advance.
When I arrive in my new home away from home, though, I can breath a sigh of relief. I don’t have to walk dogs, scoop poop, scoop litter, constantly refill the water dish, clean, cook, do laundry, get out of bed early . . . I need that every once in a while to recharge my batteries!
Talk to me. Leave a comment or answer a question:
Racecation or local race? Why?
What was your best racecation ever?
Chocolaterunsjudy 
I still haven’t run the San Jose Rock and Roll so all of my half marathons are racecations. I hate travel so there probably won’t be any more.
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Traveling is a pain — getting READY to travel is really a pain! — but I always enjoy it once I’m there.
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Racecations are fun, but they are short. It’s good to have actual vacations where you don’t have to worry about the schedule, and just relax. I’ve done both local and racecations, and it’s hard for me to take days off if I do a local race. I didn’t travel and I slept in my own bed.
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Our racecations are usually longer, because they really are our vacations — it’s not just go out & race. It’s why I usually don’t get a lot of states per year. It’s a great way to explore the country!
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I did a lot of racecations early on when I first started running. I like them of course but I have also learned to enjoy local ones as well. I think my favorite racecations are ones that I can drive too. Less stress than flying and thinking of forgetting something.
You mentioned that the ocean is too far away? I thought you were closer to the coast up there in NY. How far is say, Brighton Beach or Coney?
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We are only a few hours away from beaches in NH, Conn, MA, NYC, NJ. Definitely too far for only a day trip though.
3 hrs from Coney Is.
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Like Darlene said, it’s a good 3 hours at least to the ocean — and the nicer places (the Cape, ME) are more like 4-5 hours away.
When I started to do my states, we started with the states that we could easily drive to. Neither one of us really likes driving, so even VA is a bit of a stretch — we have driven there but it’s a looooooong drive. We’ve already done most of the states that are easy for us to drive to — only NJ & DE (maybe VA) are left. Anything further south we’d fly to.
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I don’t do races and never have but I think a destination race could be a fun way to see a new place.
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It absolutely is a good way to see new places!
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I love your neck of the woods! Love Corning and Watkins Glen and the Finger Lakes. Any of those destinations sound great to me! 🙂
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Well, those aren’t super close to us. And I love PA, too!
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I do enjoy the opportunity to see new things that racecations give me. I begin to get bored of the local running routes after a while.
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I get bored running the some routes too!
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I definitely prefer sleeping in my own bed the night before a big race such as a half marathon. Luckily there are so many local ones. Eleven have been local and I still have more to choose from.
I do love race-cations because I love to run in different places as you have mentioned. I don’t care about the distance so I have run 5ks and a few 10 milers. Really just enjoy running in a new place even if it’s not a race.
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I always enjoy a change of scenery in running, whether I’m racing or not.
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We have so many races around here. I’m not a huge fan of racecations, but my favorite was the NYC Half Marathon. We had a great time before and after the race.
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You travel so much for work — I know that sometimes when that’s the case you just want to stay home when you get home!
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The bulk of my races are within driving distance. When the kids were still in school, it was tough for the hubby and myself to take an extended trip without them. Taking all three of them was costly LOL So….there weren’t too many racations until the past few years as they’ve gotten older (and have been away at college).
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It can still be costly for us, we have to pay for pet sitters . . . but none of the furkids go to college. 🙂
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Luckily, I have quite a few races around where I live. But I have done a few in South Africa which involve a 4 hour drive. The packing and prepping can be a hassle but I always love the experience once I am there! And I love the vibe of South African races – so much energy!
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I’ve only ever done local races – apart from the “roll out of bed and go” aspect, they tend to be quite a bit cheaper than destination races (and that’s just the registration fee, not travel costs). I’d jump into a race that just happened to be going on at a vacation destination, but probably wouldn’t plan a vacation around a race.
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Both, to be honest. Central Park is my home race, a 1.25-1.5 mile run from my apartment to most of NYRR’s start lines. That is many folks’ race cation. I’m a haul from the NYC marathon start, but 1.5 from the finish at Tavern. I probably take it for granted.
No kids, fur kids or need to pre write blog posts (I’m happy to skip a week), but I do love to travel. Your NOLA example was my Fort Lauderdale this year and next, and something special about Cherry Blossoms in DC.
Where is that gorgeous gorge photo?
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