Races I May Only Ever Dream About...

There's been some selfie action going on in the Instagram world where you tell your 5 dream races when you get tagged (I have to say I'm not a fan of selfies - my own, I love seeing yours!). It's brought a few races to my attention that I've never heard of, which is pretty cool, and it took me forever to narrow down what my real dream races are, but I finally nailed it. 

So here's my dream races and some of the reason why they made the top 5:

1. Boston Marathon: Without a doubt, hands-down, the only race I need to finish before my running days are over. Boston is a Bucket List race for tons of runners. The fact that you can spend months or years trying to qualify and still may never get in, makes this probably part of everyone's top 5 wish list.

2. Athens Classic Marathon: Who wouldn't want to run the course where the marathon got it's name? After we visit Peru later this year, Ricky and I want to go to Greece for the next big trip. The only bummer is that the Athens Marathon is in November, with what might be ideal running temperatures, but not ideal for laying in the sun on the Greek Isles to extend our trip. Not sure if this will be a race I ever make it too, but it's nice to dream.

3. Runner's World Half (Heartbreak Hill edition): The inaugural race was in 2014, and it's filled with challenging hills (which I hate, but I love a good challenge). If I never make it to the Boston Marathon, at least I'll get to run a race in that city. I'd still love to run it even if I do qualify for Boston one day.

4. Bay to Breakers: This race always falls around my birthday. Even though they don't allow nudity or booze anymore, San Francisco is an awesome city to race in. 

5. Chicago Marathon or Zooma Women's Half Marathon (either Cape Cod or Napa Valley): I was torn - Chicago is a flat and fast course and I love that city, so I would love running in it. Zooma is a race series for women, put on by women. What woman wouldn't want to be a part of that?

So there you have it - although, my list of races I'd like to do some time in my life is soooo much longer than this, you do have to pick and choice your opportunities. More and more of this selfie action was coming up in my Instagram feed last night after I posted my top 5, and one in particular caught my eye. Edgar, who I first met at the Southern California Half, had one of the best posts on this. In my Run Club post, I talked about how I was a solo runner and that the experience of running with a group is so different - awesome really. Edgar exemplifies that idea. His dream races consist of running a race where he knows everyone in it, a race where he can cheer on everyone he knows, and a race where he can support, encourage and bring his friends from beginning to end. It made me see another side of running - I've always seen it as a supportive environment, but it is really a family that you build with other runners.

What are some of your dream races?

J