I was thinking about some of the races I ran years ago and wondered what made me drive to a town or city for a race. It occurred to me that there were a few races where the drive was a couple of hours away. What made me drive for that length of time to run a race? The question that came up while recalling some of the past races was, ”How far will you go to run a race?”
It is great when the race is in your home town and it only takes a short time to get to the race. Often the race might be in a nearby town that is less than an hour to drive to get there. I am talking about races in smaller cities or towns as large cities have races almost every weekend. San Antonio and Austin have a race in some part of the city on every weekend. There are a few weekends where these cities may have up to three races on the same day for local runners to choose from. For the size of the area of both Austin and San Antonio the distance across the city, and the increase of traffic, is similar to a runner in a smaller city driving to another smaller city. For runners in San Marcos the towns of Lockhart, Wimberley, Seguin, New Braunfels, and Luling, are under an hour driving time to arrive at the race location.
San Antonio and Austin are also close enough to drive in under an hour. The extra time is after you arrive in the city is getting to the location of the race. Some of these races are near the outskirts of the city and it may take another hour driving time to get to the race after you get to the city. And if it takes over an hour to drive to the race what is it that draws you to the race that is worth a few hours driving time? What is it about a race in Old Dime Box, Fredricksburg, Waco, Pflugerville, or College Station that makes the time to drive there worth that longer drive?
