We need to have a page on letsrun where we can keep track of all the best races (not insanely expensive, good competition, and general friendliness of race directors towards running competitors (as in NOT competitor group)).
We need to have a page on letsrun where we can keep track of all the best races (not insanely expensive, good competition, and general friendliness of race directors towards running competitors (as in NOT competitor group)).
JMartin wrote:
No kidding.
luv2run wrote:#firstworldproblems
#thingswhitepeopleworryabout
First world? White people? You boys obviously don't pay much attention to running and racing.
rupkin wrote:
+2 - I live in NYC and recently tried to find a decent 5k on a fall weekend - buncha tiny charity runs - I showed up to one in newark, there were just 30 people. I ran well, but I was alone the whole time. Won my entry fee back in prize money tho.
We get spoiled by the nyrr - I just wish they ran some fast flat races every once in a while. Sick of the cp hills.
NYCRUNS does a bunch of their races on Roosevelt Island. The course is practically dead flat although it does have some annoying turns and I find it boring.
If you want to see what you can do for a road 5k, I suggest racing in Prospect Park - not as hilly as CP, easy to get to, races there tend to get a solid turnout.
And NYRR does have their "Dash to the Finish" 5k which I gather is pretty flat and fast but also seems overpriced.
Sponsor wrote:
We need to have a page on letsrun where we can keep track of all the best races (not insanely expensive, good competition, and general friendliness of race directors towards running competitors (as in NOT competitor group)).
I like this idea. It would be nice also if members could add "reviews" like you see on most stores' websites. I suppose a lot of this is scattered about the message board, but it would be useful to have it organized.
Is there some kind of a website that has a database of races with cash prizes? With pretty much any race anymore there's always a downside. There's a race with good competition but you have to register two months beforehand. There's a race with race day registration but it's 40 bucks. There's a race that's only 5 bucks but nobody fast shows up. But targeting only prize money races is the way make it reasonable. For example, there's a race near me coming up where race day registration is 50 bucks, but 1st place is $300, 2nd $150, and 3rd $85. Plus there's age group awards of $75, $50, and $25 which 1st through 3rd aren't eligible for. So while the initial race day fee seems a little high, there's plenty of chances for serious runners to either lessen that cost or actually make a profit.
College races are a good way to go. Many schools allow unattached runners at their track and XC meets. I lived near a Big Ten school for a while and was able to jump into the occasional mid distance race during their home track meets. I'm sure I could have run in their XC meets as well if I'd been interested in longer events.
I agree with the OP. It's hard to find good marathons. Also having a thread about quality races with minimal trolling would be nice.
Totally disagree about the NYRR. How much is the NYCM upto this year? $250 and you can't even put your stuff in a bag? The HMs are also ridonk.
NYRR races sellout fast. The next race is sold out on 10/27 and 11/2 is almost sold out. If you are not a member its $37 to run a 5M in CP on 11/16.
I like the idea of a thread about the better races to run.
There are still good races out there which is why I like to race.
I just ran the Great Race in Pittsburgh and the Peace Race in Youngstown and both are excellent races. The Wheeling half marathon and Parkersburg half in WV have always been great. Charleston 15 mile seems to be trending toward higher tiered entries and far in advance registration though. The Papa Johns 10 mile is $30 up to 12 days before the race and that is a nice competitive race. (They do really jack up the entry fee after that but you should know 2 weeks before whether you are going to run it.
I've went to Buffalo a few years and ran the Subaru Chase 4 mile in the summer. The price is reasonable, fantastic competition, fast course, and they comp a lot of top runners. And free beer after the race. Others in Ohio include the Johnnycake Jog and Minster.
marathoner 2020 wrote:
You it the nail on the head, but the thing is the marathoners will wake up first. They'll start holding their races on the track, then everyone else will wake up too.
What if someone got lapped in a race like this though? Could they come back to win it?
Old Salty wrote:
Totally disagree about the NYRR. How much is the NYCM upto this year? $250 and you can't even put your stuff in a bag? The HMs are also ridonk.
NYRR races sellout fast. The next race is sold out on 10/27 and 11/2 is almost sold out. If you are not a member its $37 to run a 5M in CP on 11/16.
I agree that the NYC Marathon and the NYC 1/2 are both ridiculously expensive, but the member price for regular races remains $23 and an annual membership only costs $40.
Yes, the races do sell out now that the Parks Dept has forced NYRR to cap participation, but the race on 10/27 was still available two weeks before race day and it's entirely possible that none of the post-marathon races in 2013 will sell out at all.
I don't think NYRR does a very good job with its XC races and the price for those has gone up a bit, but they're still only $15 to all comers and can be entered on race day.
Fresh Pond every Saturday of the year @ 10am. Free. Pretty good deal.
Dudas McGrudas wrote:
marathoner 2020 wrote:You it the nail on the head, but the thing is the marathoners will wake up first. They'll start holding their races on the track, then everyone else will wake up too.
What if someone got lapped in a race like this though? Could they come back to win it?
theoretically, yes they could. The winner may even be lapped twice during the race and still pull out a win. As long as it is a marathon on a track this will no doubt happen.
On Jaunary 19th in Baton Rouge, LA there is the Louisiana marathon and half marathon. It is usually not too hot or too cold. The half marathon there that is usually won in 1:14 to 1:15. Plenty of people in the 1:25 range. The half is up to $90 now. They also do the "register several months out" thing. Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana. It has some stuff to do there and is only a little over an hour from New Orleans. It has a good after party with free beer, ice cream, and several other food joints that offer louisiana food. It is a fast course also.
GSUfan wrote:
On Jaunary 19th in Baton Rouge, LA there is the Louisiana marathon and half marathon. It is usually not too hot or too cold. The half marathon there that is usually won in 1:14 to 1:15. Plenty of people in the 1:25 range. The half is up to $90 now. They also do the "register several months out" thing. Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana. It has some stuff to do there and is only a little over an hour from New Orleans. It has a good after party with free beer, ice cream, and several other food joints that offer louisiana food. It is a fast course also.
The reason that big races do the "register severals months out" thing is because they'll make a lot of money off the people who get injured in training, get hit with an unexpected commitment or are too lazy to show up.
I did the Carlsbad Half a few years ago while on vacation. It's $95, but a nice race. No circus. Just a nice race and you'll have company from 1:03 to over 2 hours.
jamin wrote:
The reason that big races do the "register severals months out" thing is because they'll make a lot of money off the people who get injured in training, get hit with an unexpected commitment or are too lazy to show up.
Lol this is the dumbest thing I've heard today
jamin wrote:
The reason that big races do the "register severals months out" thing is because they'll make a lot of money off the people who get injured in training, get hit with an unexpected commitment or are too lazy to show up.
This is not true. The reason that big races do the "register severals months out" thing is because the vast majority of the costs of the race occur before race day. They have to pay for advertising, police, T-shirts, medals, medical support, and so on, well before the day of the race. If people don't register several months out, the RD has to go into debt to pay these expenses.
The only costs on race day itself are... hmmm, maybe prize money? The RD can peel some $20s off of the stack of race-day entries and hand them to the winners, but otherwise the money is paid out in advance.
ddnbb wrote:
This is not true. The reason that big races do the "register severals months out" thing is because the vast majority of the costs of the race occur before race day. They have to pay for advertising, police, T-shirts, medals, medical support, and so on, well before the day of the race. If people don't register several months out, the RD has to go into debt to pay these expenses.
The only costs on race day itself are... hmmm, maybe prize money? The RD can peel some $20s off of the stack of race-day entries and hand them to the winners, but otherwise the money is paid out in advance.
I think there is some truth to what the other poster is saying. Why are entries non-transferable? I can only think of one explanation: RDs know that some portion of registered runners will not actually race and they can sign up more people if they know that some won't actually run. If you know from experience that only X% of people who sign up for the Chicago Marathon actually show up, you can allow(actual capacity)*(1/X)) runners to sign up. If registration is transferable, then the number of people who show up will be basically the same as the number of people who registered, so you can only register (and get money from) the number of people that the race can actually accommodate.
Essentially, race directors rely on being able to take some amount of money from people who don't actually end up racing. Otherwise, you'd be able to transfer registrations for every race.
I've been living in a developing country since 2009 and so have not run any races in the US for a while. I'm coming back to visit for December and I started looking up some of the races I used to run.
The local 5 miler (organized by a running store) now costs $65. The local running club (a non-profit) still has weekly races for $2 though.
Just on a quick glance, it looks like you will have to find races organized by running clubs to avoid overpaying. The competition will be lower, but it seems like most "real" runners are pretty annoyed with high racing fees. Surely you can lobby your similarly annoyed friends to start competing in the lower-key races. If enough of you do it, you'll have decent competition and negligible cost.
Or, you can always bandit the organized races. I don't think most decent runners care that much about a finishers medal/t-shirt.
3rd World wrote:
The local 5 miler (organized by a running store) now costs $65. The local running club (a non-profit) still has weekly races for $2 though.
I'm sure you're talking about the Celtic Solstice 5 miler. While it's true the race costs $65 this year, that's not the whole story.
The race premium is usually a very nice, top-of-the-line running shirt with the race logo. Sometimes it's a jacket. These are not your cheap "tech tees" that most races give out. They are shirts that would usually cost $50+.
Race day entries are $30 without the premium. But this race sells out because it's very popular, so there may not be spots available. However, I do think every race should have the "t-shirt delete" option for a lower cost.
I just hate to see someone lumping one of Jim Adams' races in with the color run/rock'n'roll/mud run group.