I thought that before I moved on, after so much talk of money, I should re-visit the question, “Was it worth it?”
And the answer is, I don’t know. I think you could argue either case…
Obviously, when we did the math, this whole thing cost many thousands of dollars.
Would it have been better to try and go back to Berklee, and pay for a semester of school? Would it have been better to take a ton of dance classes? (I miss dance so much!) Would it have been better to go to Tanzania, climb Kilimanjaro, and go on a safari?
Most importantly, would it have been better to use that money to try and move to New York? After all, I do talk all the time about my dreams of living on the east coast again…
So, you could make the argument that there’s a lot of other things I could’ve done with that money.
But, in the argument for the 52 half marathons…
It was a project that lasted all year. That trip to Africa would’ve been incredible. But this was a year-long adventure. So, we should take that into account.
Also, thousands of dollars were raised for a good cause through this project. Embarrassingly, and unfortunately we didn’t even raise as much as I spent. They do have thousands of dollars they wouldn’t have had otherwise. But you could make the argument they’d have been better off if I’d have just donated the money it cost to do this project…
But, there’s an argument to be made for awareness too. Many people hadn’t heard of Broadway Impact until I started doing my fundraising…
Another thing in the pro-this-project camp: I know that I learned a good deal from this project.
Plus, I definitely got catapulted back into enjoying running and healthy living. Hopefully now I’m in this habit for life, and this project was helpful in getting there.
Also, I’d never been into journaling before this. And I love that I’m finally keeping some kind of record of my life. It’s nice for me to be able to read about things I loved and remember them more vividly.
I love how many cool people I met. I love how many cool places I saw. I had a truly amazing time, and I will never forget that year of my life.
Also, here’s one more thing to think about when asking if I should’ve spent that money on something else. It wasn’t like I actually just had many thousands of dollars just sitting around thinking, “what should I do with this?” I just started the races, not planning out the expenses, and I tried to make ’em work.
A good amount of that was just put on credit cards. If it weren’t for the Price is Right, I’d still be paying them off! And I think one of the reasons I got on Price is Right is ’cause I had sort of story/hook. Maybe I would’ve made it on without that. But we’ll never really know.
So, if I was only able to afford the races, really, because of Price is Right – and I only got on Price is right because of the races – that becomes a loop for how it all works together…
So, I don’t know… The question of whether it was worth it doesn’t even necessarily need to be asked because it happened. It’s over. Everybody survived. It was great and fun. So, there you have it.