As part of my training plan for the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon on March 17, I ran a 5k this past weekend in Wilmington, Del., for Wilmington Police Patrolman Justin Wilkers, a law enforcement officer who was shot in the face Feb. 3 during a traffic stop and is currently recovering. The event generated a great amount of support from the community, drawing more than 1,000 runners and walkers and raising over $20,000 in donations.

After the 3.1 mile race, I ran some additional miles with a group of runners who were also training for the same half marathon. We started talking about future races we are signed up for and races we would like to run; almost all of the races we mentioned are local, like the Broad Street Run and Delaware Marathon, but two of the runners discussed their plans to register for the Berlin Marathon, scheduled for Sept. 29. They expressed how excited they are to pass through the Brandenburg Gate, into the formerly Soviet East Berlin, with runners from all over the world.

The idea of combining a marathon with international travel immediately intrigued me. A look at the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races calendar shows several marathons in countries around the globe, including Italy, Norway, Japan, Colombia, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Kenya, Korea, Ireland and many more. Many of the races, such as the Stockholm Marathon and the Amsterdam Marathon, pass through the country’s Olympic Stadium, and all of them offer the chance to see their landmarks.

The marathon I found the most fascinating and would enjoy running is the Midnight Sun Marathon in Trømso, Norway — a marathon in 24-hour daylight. Located 1,000 miles north of Oslo and 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Trømso is the Land of the Midnight Sun during its summer months; the sun doesn’t set from mid-May through mid-July. The event, this year on June 22, is a nighttime race that starts at 8:30 p.m., but runners experience the evening run in bright daylight. Much of the route is close to the city’s shoreline, and the race provides beautiful views of the surrounding fjords, islands and mountains. I hope to one day run in the Arctic under the midnight sun with runners from more than 50 countries and explore the city by foot.

— Monique Barrett, advertising and editorial coordinator