Lessons from traveling abroad: Running a race overseas

The first thing to remember when you're planning on running a race any time it requires travel, is to give yourself plenty of time on both sides of the race both to prepare and recover.  I arrived in Dublin on August 2nd for the Rock'n'Roll half-marathon on August 5th. This gave me time to navigate from the airport to the hostel and find the crucial places like ATMs and grocery stores the first day without worrying about needing to be anywhere.  It also gave me two full days (the 3rd and 4th) to sightsee because I had a pretty good feeling that I wouldn't be up for walking around the city much after running 13 miles.  I also gave myself a few days of recovery before hoisting my enormous backpack up and trekking on to another country.

And time for selfies with my shiny new medal!

Don't forget to make time for the expo.  Many races do not allow you to pick up your packet the morning of the race.  No packet = no race bib = no race for you.  Carve out a chunk of sightseeing time to find your way to the expo and pick up your packet.

Obviously when you travel for a race, it's not a good plan to try and bring every piece of gear you own, so you need to figure out what gear is crucial.  Even though I didn't train while I was backpacking, I had planned on doing so.  For that purpose I brought:

• Two pair of lightweight running shorts
• Two Brooks D'Lite Micro Mesh Racerback tank tops
• One quality sports bra
• Three pair of sweat wicking socks
• My iPod shuffle and quality headphones
• Running shoes
• Road ID slim

The great thing about this set up is that you can basically roll everything up and shove it into the shoes so it doesn't take up a lot of space!  Also, if your race is near the beginning of your trip and you don't plan on continuing to train in those running shoes, you can use them as your touring shoes.  (Or be like me and pitch the worn out tennis shoes you wore on the first half of your trip, and switch to using your running shoes: It made for one less thing in my bag before boarding my Ryanair flight.)

If you have room in your bag, may I also suggest bringing along The Stick.  It really does wonders to help you recover more quickly and both the sprinter version and the travel version are short enough to fit in a large backpack or a carryon suitcase.

Have a plan for getting to and from the race.  Make sure you note both the starting location and ending location when picking your lodging.  I picked a hostel that was within a mile of both the start and the end of the race because I knew I would not want to walk much after the race, but also knew that getting a taxi with the roads shut down would be difficult.

Don't be afraid to rest.  Am I disappointed I didn't get to see more of Ireland during my week there?  Yes, of course.  If I could do it over would I force myself to leave the city and explore more of the highlands?  No.  I still had a lot of travel ahead of me: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, France (again), Belgium, and the Netherlands (again).  Especially since I had done a poor job training and it's possible the race gave me a stress fracture since my foot hurt for months after my trip ended.  

Now, if I did it over would I just axe Northern Ireland and explore the highlands that I missed?  Yes, and that's another story for another day.