I recommend travelling away from home to do a marathon. The first marathon I did was in my home city. A friend told me, when he learned of my plan, that running close to home was a good choice. He said that meant I would be able to get a good night’s sleep before the race and it would be much less hassle and cost for me than travelling away. He was probably right about the cost and hassle. But by his logic, I would be even better off if I ran a shorter distance: less cost, less hassle. In fact the logical extreme is that I could minimise the cost and hassle by not running at all. But that’s not the point.
I’m well and truly hooked on the concept of travelling long-distance for a running race. Here are six reasons why you should consider travelling far away from home to run your marathon.
1. You’ll get a better night’s sleep ahead of the race. Check in to your hotel and, if you’re travelling alone, you can retire to bed at whatever time suits you. No chores, no family issues, no noise, no interruptions.
2. Getting to the start line is easy. Book your accommodation early and choose a hotel located close to the start line. In Brisbane this year, my hotel was just 5 minutes walk from the start line. For comparison, think about the commute you would need to make in your home city. Parking probably isn’t available anywhere near the start line. And how do you feel about running 42 km with car keys jangling in your pocket? Public transport might not be feasible very early on a weekend morning.
3. Post-race is easy too. You know you’ll be exhausted but you don’t know in advance whether you’ll feel like going out celebrating in town or showering and crashing for a couple of hours of well-earned sleep or TV channel surfing. With the hotel nearby you can do as you please.
4. As a marathon runner, you’ll see much more of the city than any regular tourists get to see. Even if the only thing you do over the weekend is run the marathon, you will have seen 42.2 km of the area. I’ve only been to Sydney once, but by dragging myself around the marathon course, I got to see some beautiful parts of the city up close: the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the CBD, Circular Quay and the waterfront, Hyde Park, the botanic gardens, and the Darlinghurst/Paddington area between the CBD and the Sydney Cricket Ground at Centennial Park.
5. By travelling away for the weekend and doing the marathon, you can pamper yourself with whatever indulgences you want to fit around the run: restaurant meals, shopping, perhaps a movie, perhaps just lying in the shade of a tree in the local gardens. It’s your chance to be be especially good to yourself.
6. When you return home, you’ll be a better person. Whether the marathon went well or not, you’ll have learned something about yourself and you’ll have had the time between then and arriving home to start to process that knowledge. It might not change your life. But then again, it just might.
Why Stephen runs 