Too Many Races, Too Little Time (and Money!)

With the hot summer days coming to an end, a plethora of road races have started to pop up on my calendar. Unfortunately, many of them share the same date or simply cannot be a part of my marathon training. Not to mention, some of them are so ungodly overpriced or conflict with my high school cross country program. Combine all of these factors together, and you’ve got one sad runner.

(source: http://completerunning.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/runningmoney.jpg)

A quick glance at my local running club calendar shows 7 races between September 07 and October 17. This does not include 2 other races that I am already signed up for (Ragnar Relay DC and the Leaf-Peeper Half Marathon). That’s roughly a race a week! There is no way that my body or wallet could withstand that type of punishment. I mean seriously, in a 2 month span, I could easily shell out somewhere around $200-350, depending on registration dates and club discounts to run all of them.

So, what can I do about it (financially)? I’m glad you asked. I have a few ideas milling around in my brain that I shall share!

1)      Don’t Run in (some) races: This is a hard pill to swallow. I love competing and comparing myself to others. And now, since I am close to fully recovered from chemotherapy, I am curious to see where I am at --- and need to make up for all the races I’ve missed!

2)      Setup a crowd-funding website: Honestly, this seems like the best bet. I contact a charity (probably http://www.forlucas.com – Team Runningdad represent!), ask for donations, take a portion of it to pay for my races, and give the rest to charity. Obviously, a set plan needs to be laid out, but that requires research and thinking. Maybe a blog post for another day, if I decide to go that route!

3)      Run as a bandit: Not going to happen. Proceeds go towards a good cause, I’ll be taking away resources from the race itself, and I know too many people who will chastise me for doing so. Plus, it is just plain douchey to do.

4)      Pay for it – Beg for forgiveness: My least favorite. Mainly because it will result in either 

      my castration or death. All I would do is secretly sign up for the races, not tell my wife, and then run for the hills so she *hopefully* can’t find/catch me.

Other options include getting sponsorships (I’m not fast or popular enough), mug somebody and steal their registration and bib number (I’m not strong enough), and/or run in the race and simply say I lost my bib number (see number 3).

Running is probably the most expensive, free sport there is. Race fees alone can crush a wallet. Throw in the cost for shoes, watches, vests, and other accessories and you’re broke.

Anyone have any ideas on how to make things cheaper?!