On Saturday, I did a longish run in the morning, on Old La Grange Road. It was awesome. It is still a rather challenging course to get to and from Old La Grange Road from our house, but once I got there, it was great. Running in the morning meant it was cooler and shaded. I ran by sheep, and there really are a lot of trees. It will be beautiful once the colors start to change (ironically, it seems like today, 2 days later, there IS some fall color now), and there were actually other runners there. It was awesome, and I actually was able to get the 7 miles done in less than an hour. Whoo Hoo! No walking up hills, I am getting more used to them, and running in less hot is definitely faster/easier.
My diet got really off track this week, and I have to get it back under control. Thankfully, the underpants run is over. However, I do have a mini tri this Saturday. Initially, I thought I would wear a sports bra/tri short or just a bathing suit, since I don't particularly like swimming in tri tops. That got me worried about my poor diet. At least I have 4 days to work on that. My other concern is now that it is going to be cold!!! I guess that means I can wear a wetsuit, right? Yup, I am considering wearing a wetsuit in a 400m POOL SWIM. I am such a bad swimmer, I am totally not afraid to be that dork in the wetsuit. Especially if it is cold. I am totally going to do it.
Finally, it felt like fall here in KY today. It was awesome. I busted out my orange patagonia shirt that means FALL (or ski vacation), to do a short, leisurely ride with a couple of the ladies here. It felt great and smelled like fall. Awesome!
Now, onto the real concern. I can try to sign up for the Boston Marathon on Sept 16th at 10am. It is going to cost $150 to register. Yikes. It is also 17 hours away by car. Uh oh. Hotel rooms are EXPENSIVE!!!! And the have bad cancellation policies if you go through the race site to get the better deals. The race website also says the only way to guarantee you get to the start is to take a bus from downtown. I can't afford to stay downtown, and had hoped to stay near the start, because I found a reasonable hotel that I can cancel up until the day before. There is one place that we might be able to afford downtown through the race site, but I can't book that until I get in. I am just hoping I get in, and that I can reserve that room. Then I just need to figure out how to GET there. I knew it would be expensive, but I guess I wasn't prepared how expensive. I have been trying to get there for 7 years!!! I think I should have been saving money that long too now. I am sure we will figure something out between now and then, but I had to look into it before attempting to register. I am so thankful that Ryan is going to indulge me in this, and honestly, I don't know if I am going to do any other races this year that I have not already paid for since this is going to be so darn expensive!
Anyone have any tips on getting to Boston cheaply? Anyone run the Boston Marathon on a budget before? I have wanted this for so long, I want to have an enjoyable experience, but I know I won't enjoy spending huge sums of money to do it. I would rather spend huge sums of money on a ski vacation or Alaskan cruise, in terms of money spent on travel. Does this mean my priorities are messed up and that I don't want it that badly if I don't want to spend the $$, or does it just show that I want a vacation that my family can enjoy and that isn't just for me? Don't get me wrong, I am not bailing on doing it, I just want to do it affordably. If I can get signed up, I WILL be finishing the 2012 Boston Marathon, if it is the last race I do for a LONG time.
5 comments:
You should message Colin on facebook about Boston. We stayed at a nice hotel, reasonably priced for Boston in 2010.
I haven't qualified for Boston yet, but I expect to, and I think about the money part of it all the time. It does pretty much come out to a small vacation once you add up race fees, hotel, travel cost, plus anything extra while you're there. Honestly, if I were to qualify, that's what might keep me from actually running the race. Clearly I don't have any tips for you, but best of luck to you getting it all figured out!
First, don't wear your wetsuit in a pool. Chlorine ruins it. That's a lot of money to throw away for a 400m swim.
Secondly, there is no cheap way to do Boston. Marathon Tours can get you hotels on the cheap, but they go quickly. You almost have to book a year in advance. Seriously. And although it's expensive, there's nothing like the Boston experience. You'll want to stay downtown and FEEL the marathon. The bus ride to Hopkinton is part of the experience. Traffic is HORRENDOUS so take the bus. Boston is worth it the money. I promise!
I hope the Boston thing works out for you! I'm sure you'll find a way to make it work and may be surprised at a deal out there somewhere :) I have a few friends who have gone recently - happy to refer them your way if you'd like!
Email the bishops in Boston and see if anyone in the wards are willing to have you as a home stay, I did that for my trip to Boston for a week
Post a Comment