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Sep 17, 2011

How long would you go?

Rest day on the schedule today.  While I usually do some kind of cross training today i've been lazy, I have a race tomorrow.

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While the race I'm doing tomorrow looks great and it's going to be great weather, it is a fairly long drive(1.5 hours).  I would probably say that this is about the maximum time I could want to drive to a race without staying in a hotel for the evening.

My routine regularly includes getting up, bathroom and weigh myself(which takes a few minutes), getting dressed, using the foam roller, getting on my running clothes and making sure I have everything for the race.  I do set out everything before so I know I have it all but it still takes time.  Then the races start anywhere from 7:30am to 8:30am.  Of course, we have to get to the race and find a parking spot and pick up the packet and that can take time.  We have to get back to the car(unless they have packet drop off - which I don't usually use) and drop off our race shirt and trinkets and then walk back to the race.  Wow!  And that does not even include driving to the race itself.

All this means is that I get to wake up around 4:30am in the morning on the weekend to be ready to run a race at 7:30-8:30am.
While I could get a hotel, there is the expense of the hotel but also you have to sleep in a bed that is not yours.  Unless I'm farther than 1.5(maybe 2) hours away, I stay at home.  Frankly, this is the farthest I will have driven to a race so it should be interesting.

When I see Jim over at 50 after 40 drive hours and hours just after he finished a full marathon, I think there is NO WAY I could do that.
I wish I could.  I understand why he does it because who really wants to stay an extra day in a really small city with nothing to do and pay more money to stay there.  Of course, if it were New York or Marine Corp Marathon, I could see saying longer to get in some sight seeing(assuming I can still walk, haha!)


So my question to all of you is this.  How far would you drive to run a race without staying at a hotel the night before?  Would you drive back home right after the race or stay another night?


Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!
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9 comments:

  1. Christy @ My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's BlogSeptember 17, 2011 at 11:55 AM

    I think an hour and a half would probably be my limit too! Otherwise you just have to get up too early and your whole day is consumed with driving

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  2. ShannonSeptember 17, 2011 at 4:16 PM

    I'm doing the same half I did last year, but this year I don't live in the city, which is about an hour and a half drive, and I'm considering getting a hotel. I can't imagine having to be ready to leave the house by 4:30 in the morning and still being able to function well enough to run the race.

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  3. Meg O @watchmegorunSeptember 17, 2011 at 5:20 PM

    I think about 2 hours would be my limit. If I had time, I'd definitely stick around to hang out and explore, especially if I had never been there before.

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  4. Sue G.September 17, 2011 at 7:38 PM

    I have stayed overnight two hours away from home to run a half and a full. This particular race only lets you pick up race packets two days before the race, and not on the day of the race, so you kinda have to. I enjoy staying over.

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  5. Jim ... 50after40September 17, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    I've driven 21 hours one way, but I stayed a couple of nights ... CONGRATS to the Tigers by the way ... great Championship for "The D"!!! (Watch out for the Royals next year ... but then again, I've been saying that for 36 years now!)

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  6. XLMICSeptember 18, 2011 at 1:09 AM

    The farthest I've gone is about 80 miles... I did a 30K that far away from home and did the two-way drive same day. I did a one-way marathon and drove home about 2 hours after finishing... it was about a 2-hour drive (80 miles though) in a stick-shift... I got out to stretch every so often.

    Hope the race is rockin' :)

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  7. MichaelSeptember 18, 2011 at 9:18 AM

    Pre-race definitely not more than 2 hours...post race I have driven (or ridden) about 5 hours. I have had to get up at 2:30-3:00 am for a few races though. There is a tri I do about an hour and a half from my house and gates open at 5am...that means leaving the house at 3:30. It's crazy!

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  8. AndreaSeptember 18, 2011 at 2:04 PM

    Congrats on the PR, Jeff. You are so going to ROCK MCM in a few weeks!

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  9. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2011 at 7:31 AM

    I have driven about two and a half hours to/from a marathon. It wasn't too. I also drove from Dallas to Houston, which is just over four hours, right after finishing a marathon. That one kind of sucks because you really can't stretch the legs out much while driving.

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