Hi everyone! This week has been so, soooooo long. It’s been a rough week for my organization and me and all of my coworkers were just feeling off all week long. I’m perking up at the thought of the weekend though! Since I just feel like I really need a vacation, I was happy to see that today’s Friday Five Linkup with Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney was themed around vacations. And you all know that I don’t take vacations – I take racecations! Even though I’m injured I’m still hoping to take a few racecations in 2016 and cross some new states off my 50 states list. What are my top five choices?
Which race will my next Alaska Airlines flight take me to in 2016?
1. Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Marathon! This is #1 for so many reasons – I’d get to go home to see my family, run in my favorite city, refuel with Wawa and soft pretzels, and it would be my very first marathon! It just so happens that it always takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving so I’d get a few extra vacation days to enjoy being home. I know if I run a marathon this is the one I’d want to do!
2. Montana for the Yellowstone Half Marathon: This takes place in West Yellowstone, Montana, and is actually a trail race hosted by Vacation Races (they did the Zion Half which I loved)! I’ve always wanted to go to Yellowstone despite my total dislike of tourists and crowds, so this is high up on my list.
3. Wyoming for the Grand Teton Half: It might sound random that I want to go to Wyoming, but this race course looks gorgeous and it’s also run by Vacation Races! If I run this race I can run the Yellowstone Half the following weekend and cross two states off my list in one week. Hmmm…
4. Hawaii for Ragnar Hawaii: This race is sold out, but I’m sure I could find my way onto a team looking for one slow but awesome runner 🙂 This looks seriously epic! Plus everyone in Alaska goes to Hawaii multiple times a year (it’s such an easy/cheap flight) and I need to jump on that bandwagon!
5. California for the San Francisco Half Marathon (option 1): I have been dying to make my way down to San Francisco and Yosemite for the longest time! This is a part of California that I have been really looking forward to exploring, and getting to run over the Golden Gate Bridge would be pretty epic. My second choice would probably be the Nike Women’s Half but it’s so hard to get into that one!
I don’t have enough time off or the money to do all of these races, but I’m seriously considering making a few of them happen in 2016! There are so many beautiful places to visit with epic races and it’s so hard to pick just a few!
Where do you want to run in 2016? Which races would you choose if you were me? If you could choose the perfect first marathon, what race would it be?
Mom in the Mtns 
I think I’d like to just come visit you! I haven’t done a racecation, but some of the ones in the western state national parks do tempt me.
Haha do it! And the west coast parks are so gorgeous, I need to go to all of them!
Let me know if you make it to Philly! I’m a recent transplant to the area and have become a huge fan of Wawa. And wow, Ragnar Hawaii sounds like an amazing time!
I will! Wawa is the best so I’m glad you’re enjoying it 🙂
You absolutely should go to HI. I wish it were cheap from here (although keep in mind once you get there, EVERYTHING is super expensive.
Oooh, Grand Teton and Yellowstone seems to be on a lot of our lists. Maybe we need to make this happen. My husband would kill me — 3 halfs in basically one month? But so much beautiful! It would probably knock VA Beach out which would mean no winter vacay. 😦
Let me know if you do it! I’m still not sure how I’ll be feeling by then, but I’m hoping to get to do both!
We’re still talking about it. A lot of the decision actually rests with my husband — I decide what I’m interested & most of the time let him have the final decision (although not always).
If I would be fit enough, I would love to run “The Wall” in 2016. It is an ultra marathon along the Hadrian’s Wall and it is such a beautiful scenery!
But I hope that I will be at least fit enough to do the “Moonlight Run” in Kent/England in 02/16 which is around 36 miles and starts at 6pm!
If I was in the USA I would probably opt for Montana as I love trail and fell races!
These all sound amazing! I hope you get to do them all!
wow! #2-4 sound AMAZING, but for your first Marathon, I think the Philly one does sound a bit PERFECT for you 🙂
Yeah I’m really hoping I get up the courage to sign up!
Sounds like the Philly Marathon would be perfect for you! I know that you’d love being able to run your first marathon with the support of your family members, and then having a nice extended celebration afterwards.
It would be awesome! I have no idea if my family would even want to come (they’re not super excited about me running and have never made the effort to come see me run) but I know my friends would be there to cheer me on!
With Philly not that far away, I have considered heading there for their marathon. The city itself would have so much to see while running!
It’s definitely a fun course!
OMG your cover picture is absolutely amazing! Is that in Anchorage? I want to run there!! You don’t need to leave that place!
I live a short plane trip or 7 hour drive south of San Francisco and it is a wonderful place to run. The weather is always perfect for running and running over the GG is as awesome as it seems. These days though I’d love to change up my races to more trail races and more scenic, less city. The national park runs seem like they’d be really cool to experience. This link up sure has given me a lot to think about. Ok,…I just got new running shoes…now I just need lots of money and spare time! If I were ever going to take that leap and pick a first full marathon, I think I pick a downhill one! I am so used to half marathons…doubling it will take some work. Have fun running the Philly Full!!
Haha! It’s in the mountains overlooking Anchorage – you can see the whole city from up there. It’s such a beautiful place! You’re so right about this linkup, I’m finding so many good ideas out there. And I think there are some downhill marathons out there so hopefully you can find one for your first!
You should go with Chicago Endurance Sports to run the Cabo Half 😀
Haha I’ll add it to my list!
um yeah you should jump on that cheap alaska / hawaii flight. absolutely! 🙂
Haha they’re only really cheap a few times a year – but I consider all of them cheap compared to how much it would cost to get there from Philly!
Hawaii would be stunning I’d imagine! I’ve not been further west than Oklahoma so I’d love to see California! Cash money is just a huge road block for me currently. So we are visiting family in Nashville this April so I’ll be running as a StJude hero at the RnR marathon then. 🙂
That’s awesome! Any vacation no matter how far away is pretty exciting honestly 🙂
These are fabulous destination races! Love them! I want to do the Alaska Solstice one!
You should! It’s awesome up here on the solstice – the sun literally never sets!
Ohmigosh, that would be too weird, hehe! I’m sure it took some time to get used to!!
Even though I’m not a big trail racer, I would totally do the Yellowstone one! My family may vacation there in 2016 and I’m so excited – even though I can’t stand crowds, Yellowstone and Yosemite are high on my list of places to visit.
Yay! I’m really hoping we choose to go there, I’ve always wanted to see it too!
I hope you get to run in Philly. I’m sure your family would love to see you too!
They probably wouldn’t come to the race, but they’d love to have me home for a while!
Those all sound amazing! The Grand Teton half is probably the most gorgeous course ever. (Or let’s be honest, Hawaii probably isn’t half bad either!)
Have you ever been to Grand Teton? I’d love some tips in case we go there!
We will be honey mooning in October 2016 and were thinking of running a race on our honeymoon out west somewhere. Not sure where yet, but your list sounds great!
That sounds like an amazing honeymoon! Hopefully you’ll get to run one in a gorgeous place!
I have a 50 states goal too, so I love seeing your ideas for races out west!
Also I never knew Hawaii was an easy flight from Alaska- I would’ve thought they were so far apart that it would be several hours (like flying east to west in the contiguous states). That’s great that a tropical vacation isn’t too far off!
I’ll be running Boston again, but am also hoping to run the Eugene Marathon next spring. I’m thinking of crossing another east coast state off my list next fall 🙂
Oh it totally does take a few hours – but it’s direct which is a huge deal since most of our flights have to go through Seattle first (which is a 3 hour flight alone!). And when I lived in Philly it would take all day to get to Hawaii so I’m thinking of it in those terms. And if you do east coast you should go to Philly for sure!
Awesome list and great locations for sure!! I want to do my first triathlon in 2016…I would loveeeee to do the Malibu Tri!
#2 and 3, count me in!! I never realized I was actually excited to go to Montana or Wyoming 🙂