Cost of a "Road Membership" (Read 172 times)

As I retired my 26th pair of running shoes and checked in my 30th pair into RA's tracker, I got to looking at the cost of running -- something I normally consider "free".   There's always The Road.  No membership fee required.  But if you take a closer look, it costs me about $0.23 per mile.  (I exchange my shoes at around 500miles, depending on how they've held up).

Let's call it a quarter per mile for easy math.

So, my casual weekly mileage of 35mi/week is about $8.75/wk.  Or $35/mo. $420/year.

When I was training, I regularly ran 65mi/wk or about $65/mo. $780/year.

Kinda surprised me that something I mentally think of as "free" is quite expensive.  Compare this to a $19/mo non-running gym membership.  I stipulate non-running because obviously miles are miles and you still need something on your feet.  But if you just consider weight-lifting or whatever, you could get by with a single pair of cross-trainers for a year or more.  Still $100/year.  So, a total of $328/year.

I'm not even going into weather related running clothes, garmin, race fees, gu, protein bars . . .not to mention injuries.

Cheaper than all those cartons of cigarettes and the associated medical expenses.

You must buy some expensive shoes!

Since I've ended up running with Skechers the last 4 years or so I would guess my average cost is less that 10 cents per mile for shoes.

I've actually worn out quite a few socks and a few pairs of shorts over the last 12,500+ miles that I guess you would need to add into the equation if you were really calculating out the cost.

The numbers that might surprise you are the costs of entering races over the years, especially if you factor in the travel cost if you have any races that you've traveled to.  I know you could run without racing, but I don't think I could.  I need races on my schedule to keep me motivated.

 

and the cost of a shrink or meds needed for sanity

This is very true.

 

Err....pool membership, swimsuits, goggles, caps, "toys" (paddles, buoy, etc)

*virtually

Goggles last 24+ months ($4 - $40)

Swim Buoy, not necessary, but lasts 5+ years

Kick Board not necessary, but lasts 5+ years

Cap not necessary

Pool membership - expensive (approx. $30 / month)

Master's swim class - expensive

Lake access - dependent on location, but can be free, but seasonally accessible.

Dollar for Dollar, I'm fairly confident that swimming is cheaper than running if you're willing and able to swim open water

It's possibly the same if you're swimming at the gym and have to add a gym membership to swim.

And yes, I was somewhat stirring the pot and making a play of it.
Yes, these games we play are luxurious, and cost money.... but well worth the money we spend

 swimming on thin-ice

Mixed metaphor or uncomfortable swimming. I don't like running on thin ice, either, but it might reduce wear on shoes.

Kinda surprised me that something I mentally think of as "free" is quite expensive.

I consider something that has as much value as running and costs a lot less than 1% of my annual income to be very cheap.

Maybe not free, but approximately free.

The Cincinnati Heart Mini Marathon is my favorite local road race and my favorite distance, 15K. I would submit that it get a pass for the name.

It's been run every year since 1978 when ~2,000 people registered and about another 1000 bandited (!). Bob MacVeigh, former co-RD of the Boston Marathon, was co-RD of that 1978 race and invited the man who would be it's inaugural winner, Bill Rodgers. From then on it became a popular Boston tune up and Cincinnati springtime ritual. It has progressively turned into the standard weekend fundraiser with a bunch of different events. It brings in north of $3M for the AHA, and now the half marathon draws a similar number of entries to the 15K "mini".

On topic: I'm heavy and have lousy form so I'm unable to get more than ~350 miles from most shoes. Fortunately Running Warehouse always seems to have decent clearance options for $50-60.