Friday Five – Five Races I’m dreaming About

26 January, 2018 Off By Renée

Friday again!  and it’s a free-for-all week, that means I’m going to share something non-themed and random with you today for the Friday Five.

 

I’m linking  up with Running on Happy & Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup! Check out their blogs for other Friday Five Goodness.

 

Many runners talk about “racecations”  (a word, I’ll honestly say I’m not sure I really like, but whatevs!).  it’s pretty exciting to take a little break, head out to a cool destination and then run a half or a full marathon while you are there (or a 10K or whatever distance floats your boat!).  It’s a completely different way to experience a city.  There are pros and cons to running a race in another city or country.  And of course it generally costs you more than if you would just jump on a train or in the car and travel an hour to where you need to be.  But if you love to travel and running is your thing, I highly recommend it!

I used to travel a lot to go to concerts, making long weekends out of it to actually see where I was visiting.  After I started running races this changed.  I still have travelled a couple of times for a gig, and have added a run or race to that weekend, but now I mostly travel to run.   I have been to so many amazing places and run amazing races.    I can’t think of a single place or race that I thought “ugh, I’ll never do that one again”  (ok, wait.  Brussels Half or Full I have no interest in anymore because COBBLESTONE STREETS).     Last year I started a list of races I want to run, in some cases places I haven’t been.  I expect this list will only grow in the near future.

With that introduction, I give you Five Races I’m Dreaming About:

(in order of Month of race)

    1. Tokyo Marathon – going to Japan is something I have been dreaming about since I was about 20 years old. I was living in Chicago and had a job downtown at a Japanese Bank.  This was my first real introduction to Japanese people and culture and I learned so much from my time there.  The bank where I worked was for corporate banking only and I was inspired to actually learn more about international business, finance and import/ export.  So when I moved from Chicago to Portland I was lucky enough to get a job at a Japanese finance and trading company and I finally knew what I wanted to study in college.  The dream to go to Japan and other asian countries has since then remained.  I not only want to run the Tokyo Marathon (which I think would be badass in and amongst itself), I want to spend at least 2 or 3 weeks traveling around Japan.  Tokyo Marathon is not easy to get into, but I’m going to keep trying and at some point I may just go with a travel organisation to fulfill this dream.  I expect this to happen before or by the time I am 55.  If we go with the latter option, I suppose Ron will run this too, since he’s also somewhat attempting the World Majors.                                          
    2. Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid  – this race has eluded me every year since I started running Rock’n’Roll races!  The problem is the timing! Paris Marathon is in April and so is Rotterdam, London and Boston.  As you know, this year we are going to Boston since Speedy McDutch has made his way into the race.  Another year I won’t be able to participate in RnR Madrid!    And, the thing is, I still want to run Paris again, I would love to finally do Rotterdam and, on the off chance I ever get into London on the lottery this will always remain a bit of a challenge.   I’ve never actually done any race at all in spain so I would really like to rectify this (I have been to Madrid however, and I love the city!) 
    3. Midnight Sun Marathon – Tromsø, Norway  Alright, who doesn’t want to run in the city of Northern Lights?   Who does not want to participate in the world’s northernmost race?  Where the sun doesn’t set?  Seriously.   I have never been to Norway (Only Sweden) so I’d love to not only do this but really have a couple of weeks vacation there to tour around and take in the amazing nature they have.  Of course Norway is super expensive so not too sure how to make this one come true but The Midnight Sun Marathon stays on my Top 5 until then.
    4. Chicago Marathon  – there is no question that Chicago would be THE single most wanted US marathon that I would like to run.  Being that I lived in the area and in the city for a little over half my US life I have Chicago pretty much in my heart and soul.  This marathon I will also attempt entry via the lottery.  Fingers crossed this will be in 2019.  I am already happy that I’ve participated in the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon of Chicago and that I could support the hubs and many friends of mine last year but… the itch is there an needs to be scratched!!
    5. Valencia Half or Full Marathon  – Another Spanish race I’d like to do.  This one is in December, which seems to me like a GREAT time to head off to Spain for a week, run a race and soak up some sunshine.  Because let’s face it,  the Netherlands in the Winter is not awful but you won’t find any of us sitting on a terrace drinking a glass of viño.  After the race, of course!

 

I have so many more races on my list, I just keep writing them down in order of month and at some point in my life I hope to cross them all off.    What is better than traveling and running the world??

 

Do you have a dream race?  Where in the world would you love to run if money and time were no issue?