Running vacations
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For years there have been vacations and tours centered around the interests of various recreational groups: guided cycling tours of the French countryside, wine tasting weekends in Napa valley complete with grape stomping, and even fantasy basketball camps for aging dribblers. Sadly it seems like the runners have been largely ignored – or have we?
Searching for running vacations on Google I found runningvacations.com and a site that doesn’t seem to have been updated since 2005. The site promises exciting running vacations to Argentina, the “Paris of South America” and Chile but it looks like the business model didn’t pan out in the end. Runner’s World is next in the search results but all they have is an article about how to run while ON vacation (snooze – who doesn’t bring their running shoes on vacation?). Gordon’s Guide advertises a slick search engine for finding the perfect running vacation tour operator but the only result is an outfit called African Bikers Tours in South Africa. Er, no thanks.
All this got me thinking that I actually already know people who go on running vacations: They’re called marathon runners. Yep, most folks who marathon like to travel to run their races in new and interesting places and the opportunities are pretty much endless. Why else would I travel to Chicamauga Battlefield if I’m not into Civil War history? Or how else would I get to see all five buroughs of NYC without paying a monster taxi bill or riding the subway for hours? Yep, marathons are a good excuse for travel and there’s really no better way to cover ALOT of ground on your sightseeing trip.
If you’re not into marathons, how about picking a 10K in a place like San Francisco or Boulder, CO? It’s a great way to mingle with the locals while seeing the sights. Use our race finder to track down your dream vacation run!