Fit Five Friday – 5 Reasons to run a “foreign” race

15 April, 2022 13 By Renée

WEEKEND! And boy, do I need it!

Welcome to the Fit Five Friday

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Thanks for joining the link-up! We have FIVE amazing hosts – me, My First 5K and MoreRunning With Attitude, Runs with Pugs,  and  Zenaida!

Today I want to chat with you about —

Five Reasons to run a “Foreign” Race

Ok, so basically I’ve put “foreign” in quotes because I live in a tiny country and have done plenty of races here, BUT it’s also really easy to travel just a couple of hours from here and be in another country. If you live in a big country, then you can just apply this to anything out of state, county or province.

It’s not just to have a goal, there is excitement added

For some of us it’s already quite exciting to run our local, cherished races. Some of us don’t NEED the added excitement or we can’t take too much time out for the event. However, if you do have time (days off) and the gumption to travel, it’s definitely exciting to run somewhere new and different.

My first “foreign” race was the Milan City Marathon in which I was part of a relay group.

Traveling to Run takes planning but is FUN!

Sure, wherever you may be going you probably have to make some special arrangements. Hotel, possibly, maybe even airfare. And you have to be sure to have your perfect race day kit with you! It’s the worst if you forget you game day shorts or your favorite pair of Goodrs! However, if you are going with someone or meeting up with your favorite bloggers (for example) there is much fun to be had at a “foreign” race!

Rock ‘n Roll Dublin with InB friends (and my good mate Steve!)

New Sights, New Sounds

Imagine you book a race in a place you’ve always wanted to go to… Iceland, Italy, Greece… there are so many places in the world where you can participate in a race! Normal travel means doing all the tourist things that literally everyone else does but when you run a race you are seeing it in a completely different way! Obviously if you are traveling far then I’d personally suggest you take more time to actually do some tourist things, but AFTER the race. Active recovery, am I right??

Athens Authentic Marathon 2016

Oh and did you know that cheering the runners on sounds different in different countries? It’s invigorating to hear “Forza!” in Italy or “Courage!” in French or even “Zet ‘m op!” in The Netherlands! The vibe is pretty much the same, the encouragements just sound different.

Races are on Sundays, you can parkrun on Saturday

Who doesn’t love a little shake out run before a big race? parkrun is THE perfect place on a Saturday to gather with other runners who are most likely participating in the race the next day. Start building up the excitement the day before with automatic friends!

(You must have known I’d throw parkrun in there – ha!)

Saturday before the Half Marathon of Berlin (on Sunday)
163 participants joined in, at least 40% were running the Half Marathon

Bragging Rights

Yep. I said it. You ran the Paris Marathon? Comrades in South Africa? The Midnight Sun Marathon in Norway? You’ve definitely earned the right to brag about that!

so chuffed I ran my first marathon – in Paris!

It’s not always easy, but there’s always a good or crazy story afterwards

When you travel to a foreign race, you are dealing with a lot of unknowns. What will the aid stations look like? Will there be anyone there who speaks my language? What if I’m injured during the race? Will I be able to find something to fuel properly beforehand?

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking the leap. And usually there is ALWAYS something good, wild or crazy to talk about afterwards!

What “foreign” races have you run? If none which ones would you like to do that might be a bit of a leap for you?

We will be running Stavanger Half Marathon in August this year as part of our training for the Chicago Marathon. I’ve never been to Norway before so I’m really excited about this!

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