Remember when you could find and interesting race, send in your money and go run? It wasn't that long ago either. I decided on a whim to run a marathon in 2003. Looked on the internet and found 2 nearby in Cincy and Pittsburgh. Decided on Pittsburgh because I could go the day before and sign up for only like $10 more than early registration. Wasn't that expensive either.
Just started looking for a race to run this winter for a vacation destination. 15k to half marathon would be a good distance.
One race you had to sign up for a lottery six months ago.
Another race is $125 to run 25k on a trail.
A bunch of charity 5ks that get one runner under 19 minutes.
Races with low limits on the number of runners allowed that sell out months before the event.
Races that their info page has no links to any past results to see how competitive it is.
Races that increase the cost to participate 4 or 5 times over the course of 6 months before the race that make you feel you are really getting ripped off knowing the guy beside you might have paid half by signing up a month ago.
One race said they would guarantee a shirt to the first 300 runners. The next line said they would only guarantee the correct size to the first 100!! What the fukk is that?
It's not just about the price. It's about the difficulty of planning races or even knowing if you are going to be available or healthy at that time.
I race 20-30 races a year but it is getting increasingly harder to do and I'll probably only race 15 times this year.
There are still great races around but they are getting harder and harder to find.