So, it was already expensive just to make it through the races.
But what I never thought about while thinking of all the costs of travel and registrations was all the other things that weren’t totally necessary (but would be great) that would come up.
Think about the photos!!!
I barely bought any of the pro photos during the year, ’cause I just didn’t have the extra money to go around… or even really the time to worry about them. By the time they’d come out, it’d be on to the next race.
But then, once the year was over, it was a race to get to the photos before they all expired. If I did this huge project, I’d love to have a lot of documentation of it.
And of course, I did with personal photos and blog entries and such. But there’s something nice about having the pro ones too.
Between 52 races, I’m sure at least over $2,000 was spent on photos. I believe 6 of the races did free photos. Some had very cheap options. I ended up waiting for sales on some of the races, which was very helpful. My family bought me some as Christmas presents – also very helpful.
But the money adds up so quickly. For most races, I tried to just pick one or maybe a few that did the trick. But for races that really mattered (my dad’s first half, the Goofy Challenge), or races where there were just a bunch of pictures I liked, I got the whole shebang. That can be over $100 in some instances (though usually I think it’s more around $60 – 80).
But for most races, even if you just want one photo you’re gonna end up spending about $30, because that’s the price of one digital download (their way of trying to convince you more is a better deal – which totally worked on me more than once).
You can get prints, which are cheaper. But a) you’re adding a hassle to your life. I went with prints sometimes. But they never look as good scanned in. And you have to get them all scanned in, and it’s a whole thing… Digital is way better when you can afford it (in my opinion).
b) You still have to pay shipping and handling, my friend!
So, there was that big expense.
There’s also the expense of what you’re gonna do with the stuff! Are you gonna frame your medals? Are you gonna quilt your t-shirts? I feel like just taking care of the stuff becomes expensive in itself. But since this next bit of time is dedicated to talking all about what I did with all that stuff, we will get into that soon enough, my friends!