No one ever told me...

The "take it and run" topic over at runner's lounge today is "Yeah, no one ever told me this about running" and have a I got one for you.

No one ever told me, that a sport as simple as putting on some sneakers and running out your front door, could be so flipping EXPENSIVE! OK, OK. Maybe I don't NEED to run a gazillion races, and have all the fancy gear, the GPS watch and dri-wick clothing....but well, I WANT to! And even the simplest of runners still need to fork over the cost for new shoes every 300-500 miles. Unless you are so zen you run barefoot, in which case, I applaud you. My feet still have blisters from trying that.

Perhaps it's the addictive personality that most of us runners have that makes us want to go faster, further, do more, have more. Come on, you know it's true. Why else would we compulsively log miles and obsess over days we can't get out there and run. Boy oh boy do the companies who make running gear love us. Tell us that your product will make us faster, one step closer to a P.R., and there isn't a price we won't pay. You should have seen the look on my friends faces when I told them exactly what that huge, tacky watch was for (Garmin 305) and what I paid for it. I can almost see you all nodding, I'm sure you've had the same conversation with some non-runner friends!

And don't even get me started on triathletes. Thousands of dollars for a bicycle, thousands more on the rest of the gear, and you STILL fork over almost $500 just to ENTER an Ironman? You people are crazy. And I can not WAIT to join your ranks :)

Now, to the topic of the 50+ club. And by this I don't mean the AARP, I mean the run a marathon in every state plus D.C club. I aspire to do this, preferably before I turn 50 (simply because it's fun to say "50 in 50 by 50!") My bank account cringes at the thought of this. Marathon entry fees are now around the $100 range. Then you add a hotel stay, travel costs, and time off from work....it appears I might need to win the lottery. Or find a sponsor-anyone in the market for a front-of-the-middle-of-the-pack mom of two? I smile pretty and win some local age group awards every now and then!! I'd be an asset to your team, I swear!

Christine and I sometimes ponder the prices of celebrity purses and how much of the 50 states feat we could fund with them. I think we could get pretty far with this lovely number: Heidi Montag and her $22,500 Balenciaga bag. Yes, you read that right. $22,500. I genuinely hope it came with $22,450 inside.

OK, OK, I shouldn't make fun of the purse. After all, I know people scoff at the fact that I give someone else $100 to let me run 26.2 miles. To each his or her own, and whatever floats your boat, right? Right.

So there you have it Runner's Lounge. No one ever told me that running would break my piggy bank. And now, I will spend the rest of the day googling "marathons in North Dakota" and day dreaming of the day I can say "hey kids, it's family vacation time. How does Idaho sounds? Oh what a coincidence, there is a marathon there that week! huh, whatdyaknow!"

Happy running friends :)