Priced Out

My mind has been on the Spring lately. I'm already thinking about a spring marathon or a spring half.  Immediately, when I thought of a great early spring race, I thought of the Atlantic City April Fools race that I did back 2012 with my friend Vee. It was close to home, flat, and I'd get to do a little shopping too!

I went to the website to look at registration, and I was floored. The fee was already up to $80! (from the base price of  $70) I checked back in my emails, and indeed I had a reason to be surprised. I had a receipt from Active.com dated 2/20/12 for a $65 race fee (plus a $5 processing fee) So, last February I was able to register about 45 days before the race for $65, and now it'll cost me $80 to register for a race in 6 months. For a better comparison, if I waited until February 20, 2014 to sign up for the race, it would cost $90.

I can't possibly be the only person who thinks race fees are getting out of control. I understand wanting to get races full earlier, but I've lost count of how many times I've been scared off by a $70+ race fee for a half. And then there's the possible hotel/travel fees. Sometimes it's just not possible to plan my life out 6-8 months in advance for a race, and sometimes I don't even learn about these smaller race until a few weeks before the actual race.