Before the Boston Marathon, my father and I studied the course map for the best place for him to cheer. Google Street View helped me choose Mile 10: an easy-to-spot church he could walk to from the train without crossing the course. I found him right away. He’d made friends in the crowd, and they were screaming my name like they’d known me forever.
Unjin Lee, 46, a film producer from Manhattan who has done several international races, said her runner friends were her supporters. “It makes me feel safe knowing a friend is somewhere up ahead and another somewhere behind — always someone looking out for you, and someone you’re looking out for,” she said.
MAKE SURE RACE DAY IS ALL ABOUT THE RACE
After the race, your body might want to celebrate, or it might want to nap — and you most likely won’t know until then.
After running a London half marathon, Lee said, she went straight to a soccer match. By halftime, she needed to return to her hotel. Her advice? “Build in downtime, and stay somewhere close.”
THE BEST RACE TRIPS DON’T FEEL LIKE RACE TRIPS
Theodora Yardley, a 60-year-old biotech executive whose husband is a New York Times editor, takes breaks to plan trips with the US chapter of Women Running the World. She doesn’t even bother with her home city (now New York).
Her most memorable trips, she said, let her experience the spirit of a place, like the sweeping vista of China’s Great Wall or the unexpected energy of crowds cheering in Hannover, Germany.
“Every destination has a flavour,” she said, “and you want to taste it.”
During a half marathon in Portland, Maine, a friend and I had just panted uphill before we were rewarded with a view. The water sparkled like crushed glass, the air smelled faintly of salt and pine, the houses looked lifted from postcards.
Crossing the finish line, we dissolved into the neighbourhood, the highs from the race breaking down our typical tourist armour. We stumbled into a bar pool tournament. And there was a potluck, a small miracle to two runners still in race shirts, starving and sunburned. My friend even ventured onstage for karaoke, a roomful of strangers now friends.
“Vacation” quietly turned into something closer to a quest. It’s made me realise that I don’t feel like I’ve really visited a place — unless I’ve run it.
By Amisha Padnani © The New York Times.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
