This is exactly my problem, too. He doesn't run and while he doesn't mind if I run while we're on vacation, right now he doesn't understand why on earth I'd want to run a race.

 

Our favorite NJ shore town has a half marathon this year on our anniversary (September 29) so making it an anniversary trip might not be bad, but that's probably not the ideal way to spend our day together.

Same. My DW is fully supportive of my running addiction but a vacation centered around a race for me wouldn't exactly be a great way to spend time together.  However, I could see it working out if the scheduling was something like:

1. Arrive at destination on Saturday, check into rental and go to the expo.

2. Race Sunday morning.

3. Spend the rest of the week lounging in the sand with a umbrella drinks.

I've recently had 2 difference scenarios regarding this occur:

1. I got drawn for the lottery for the Grandma's HM. I had sticker shock when booking a room, especially with the 2 night minimum. I started looking at the timing of everything and realized that my wife would probably have a crummy day. She's not in to crowds and things just didn't seem appealing. (Lesson learned here was don't do a big race in a medium size town.) What I will end up doing is waiting until a couple weeks before the race and try to score a hotel room as cheap as possible for one night (after they lift the 2 night min. requirement). If that doesn't work out I'll go camping. Worst case scenario is sleep in my car or pickup.

2. My wife wanted to go to a bridal party a few hours away, and she enticed me with a HM that was near by. We got a hotel about 15 min away. We did a 3 day weekend and things worked out pretty great. My 1 year old did make it difficult at times, but things worked out. In that situation I just had to put on my running gear and leave the hotel; I really couldn't come back and get ready.

I could definitely see us doing destination races in the future. You just have to look at the scenario and I would strongly recommend booking your stuff as far in advance as possible, as long as you can cancel if your plans change.

Before I choose the date for the vacation, I check the marathon for that city and plan the vacation around that. I have also signed for the race and then plan for a vacation around it.

and we have had great vacations around my marathons.

I've raced on vacation only twice and one race wasn't planned. The first one was a marathon. The race was a disappointment because I started developing blisters early, a VERY rare occurrence for me, so I DNSed. As a result it didn't have a major impact on the rest of our activities. The second one I was single again and visiting my former coach who was coaching a HS xc team. They had a meet while I was visiting that included an open xc race so I ran it.

I'm thinking more about combining vacarions and races now. I've had two vacations that involved FEs and races but I wasn't running the races, only cheering. I expect to have more mini-vacations involving both races and FEs in the future, but then I don't have a wife or family that I need to accomodate. Not sure how my family would react to my racing while visiting them.

I prefer to make vacations out of vacations and do local races.

DW and I booked a vacation to Ft Myers Beach Florida back in March for this coming week. After I booked the Condo and flight i decided to see what was going on in the area during our stay. Sure enough I found a 5K just a few miles from where we are staying. I have rented a couple of bikes to get us there since we are not renting a car this year.

She does mostly run/walk and i am still with a bad knee. I could probably run the entire race but we will do it together this year at least and do it to simply have fun and jump in the Gulf upon completion.

Hopefully we will return next year and I can actually race instead of limping to the end.....:-)

Recovering from a race seems like a good vacation strategy.  My first race, the Mayors Marathon in Anchorage, I went Halibut fishing in Seward the next day, and visited Talkeetna for 3 days after.  If your spouse isn't into race day spectating, They can do what they want on that day that isn't YOUR thing.

Since then my racing has been close to home trail racing where an overnight camping trip was the accommodations.

Truth be told a little DOMS kinda helps me gear down and relax. The night after the race is usually a time of high emotion and party atmosphere.

But I'd probably find something out of race city central to vacation at so you aren't competing with everyone else who had the same idea.

The race is one persons "thing" so the Vacation has to focus on the other half's interests.