Make Your Next Vacation a Runcation

From Redbook

It's hot AF and all I can see are vineyards. There are countless rows of lush grape vines stretching over the hills to my left, and the scene to my right is pretty much identical. Is it the same vineyard? Unclear. Frankly, I don't care, because I'm not drinking wine made at either location at the moment, and all I want to do is finish the final six miles of my half marathon so I can start drinking it.

I came to Sonoma for a "runcation" - an entire weekend getaway planned around the Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon, during which more than 3,500 people descended on Napa and Sonoma to run (and drink) their way through 13.1 miles of wine country. This kind of event isn't unique to region - N2S is part of the Wine Country Half Marathon Series, sponsored by vacation rental site HomeAway, which also includes events in Oregon's Willamette Valley, Santa Barbara, Virginia's Loudon Country, and Kelowna, British Columbia.

And those races are part of the even bigger "fitcation" trend - one that 10% of travelers are partaking in, by planning vacations specifically geared around skiing, hiking, or running. Today's vacations aren't just about planting yourself on a beach somewhere and drinking yourself into a strawberry daiquiri-induced stupor - instead, people want to be active and experience the local culture; they want to actually do things.

I'm always active on vacation - I've hiked Peru's Machu Picchu, done yoga on Puerto Rico's Vieques island, and paddle-boarded all over Vancouver's harbor, but those have all been bonus activities on a previously planned trips. I've never actually booked a vacation for the sole purpose of doing something fitness-related.

That's not to say a fitcation is all about fitness, though. In this case, I arrived in Sonoma and spent the two days before the half marathon vineyard hopping - from Unti Vineyards, where I drank my new favorite rosé (sorry, Woelffer Estate), to Iron Horse Vineyards, where the champagne tasting went right to my head. I tramped through the stunning estate at Jordan Winery, where they grow everything from grapes to edible flowers, and sampled perfectly paired cheeses and fruits at Kokomo Winery. It was exactly the way I would have spent any weekend in Sonoma Country - it just so happened that what brought me there was a race.

Most people who run the Wine Country Half are doing it for fun, so the fact that I broke all my usual racing rules (walking all the place, drinking the day before the race, eating my body weight in burrata at the pre-race dinner…) didn't seem like such a big deal. But for those who are racing - which, technically, I was, until the 103° heat took its toll at mile 8 - foregoing hotels and staying at local homes rented via services like HomeAway can make it feel just like you're prepping for a race at home. I stocked the fridge at my adorable rental house with pre-race favorites picked up from Whole Foods, had chill-out time by the private backyard pool (no annoying hotel guests to deal with), and even got to throw in a load of laundry so I could re-wear my lucky sports bra.

In the end, the race - the thing that brought me to wine country - ended up being just one part of the incredible vacation experience. And the half marathon itself also checked out all my awesome vacation boxes: I got to see new places as we ran through the wineries; sample local wine (shot glasses of chardonnay were handed out at mile 10); and meet new people (nothing makes 13.1 miles pass by faster than making a new friend on the road). And when I got home? There was none of that "ugh, I was just a waste of life for a week" guilt. Instead, I ordered pizza on my way back from the airport. Because I earned it.

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