My So Called Non-racing Life

I’m not much for participating in races anymore. I just run for exercise. First, there is always a tendency to push harder during a race and my joints just can’t tolerate that. Second, it’s a matter of economics. Paying for race fees is what I consider living beyond my means. I would rather use the money to buy food than for racing. I don’t have ‘mad money’ to spend like I used to and I don’t want to work overtime to earn it like I did a few years ago. I stopped working extra days because I ended up paying more taxes for the extra income. There was one time in my life that I worked one full time and two part time jobs, holding three titles which all meant the same: behavior specialist, mental health worker, and substance abuse technician.

I used to drive all over Southern California to race almost every weekend and sometimes on both Saturday and Sunday. But then, I was younger, faster, uninjured, and had expendable cash to pay for the reasonable fees they had then, when they cost anywhere from $8.00 to $18.00 for the 5K or 10K on the day of the race (late entry). Nowadays it would be rare to find a race for less than $25.00, and that would be for early registration.

Regarding marathons and half marathons, I don’t like the idea of being required to go to the expo to pick up your race packet. I realize it’s a business strategy for the event since they can earn money renting space to vendors and they probably get a cut from the parking fees too. Besides, going to the expo is a waste of gasoline because you have to drive to the event on race day again. In the past, you can have your race packets mailed to you.

I wish some things are back to the way they used to be. I would probably participate in races more, now that I’ve been able to run longer using the run/walk technique. But I know it’s not going to happen.

Public comments below, private comments may be emailed to: noelotp562@all2easy.net. Click here to send e-mail