Not world class. I have come across a lot of Kenyan runners in Asian countries taking part in local races and winning price money not that much but i believe they race every week travelling around. How good are these runners actually? Its difficult to find their PBs on the internet. I would love to travel around the world and make money enough to get by since i am single and have no serious commitments other than running.
Thanks
Get a real job where you make good money and have lots of vacation time. Use your money and time to travel to races.
You aren’t good enough.
How many Turkey Trots have you won?
There are plenty of races in the middle of the United States from March-November where a runner can make $100-$500 running times like 15:00 5k, 31:00 10k, 51 minute 10 mile, and 68 minute half marathon (all times that aren't crazy)... So if you you find a race like this that's a 7 hour drive from your residence 3/4 of the weeks and average $250 each race you're looking at $750 a month from running. Subtract gas money and that's more like $650 a month. Get a wife that can run the same, saving the gas money, and now you're making a combined $1,400 a month from running. Being just a little bit faster, like a 65 minute half guy and a 2:17 marathon guy increases that by a lot if you pick the right races.
I've come across a Kenyan runner that ran the small local races in Minnesota/Iowa/Illinois/Wisconsin/Tennessee/Kentucky/Missouri... These races are often won in the times I stated above, but he has PR's of 27:56 for 10k, 62:08 half marathon in Istanbul Turkey, and 10 mile of 6:14 in Portsmouth England.
As someone else posted, you're better off working a regular job and making real money, and then traveling to these places on the weekends if you really want to. Or just work 8 months out of the year and live like a bum (you'd be living like a bum if you wanted pursue the running/travel life style anyway) and then travel for 4 months with the money you saved.
The guys that go around winning halves for a decent chunk of change are usually running 63 minutes...well under 5:00 pace. You may be able to find some lesser known ones and get the W with a 66...still fast. If you want to travel and be "pro" just be a trail runner, much easier, Takes the talent of about a 71 minute half marathoner.
Maybe you can win a lot of these races where you get a bit of money with something like a 31:00 10 k.
However, your 10 k PR has to be sub 30 definitely, better to be in the 28-29 range. Because not all these races are flat and fast and you won't be able to run a 10 k a few seconds close to your PR every week.
Even more difficult to race a decent half marathon quite often enough that you can make a living out of it. And don't underestimate traveling expenses...
To run around the world, you don’t just have to be good. You have to be Jesus Christ.
For a place that is as broke as you can get, in Puerto Rico almost all road races pay some kind of cash ranging from 500.00 up to 3,000.00. for a half marathon with a lousy 1h:08. Even the age groups have some kind of cash incentive. But there is a trick: To be eligible for prize money you have to be local unless the race is designated "INTERNATIONAL". Another drawback, races are in the afternoon, between 4:00-5:00pm, when the temperature is scorching and humidity is a female dog.
Back in the 90's and up to 2010 the local "elites" could be making 40k a year or sometimes more on weekly races. Nowadays is less since prize money has dwindled a bit.
Don't ask me why.
Ce la vie!
Or just work 8 months out of the year
Become a teacher, work 10 months. DO NOT coach. You'll have weekends free- vacations and all summer to travel and race.
I'm a teacher. I didn't become a teacher until I was 37 and I coached from the start until about 2 years ago (I'm 60).
I always thought about "what if"- I had started teaching at 24 and not coached.
I work 7:30-3:00- time for doubles. Friday I'm out early enough to leave for a 4-5 hour ride and still get enough sleep to race.
Plan races around long weekends, breaks, etc and you got it made.
I became a teacher solely for the job security and amount of free time. Having 2 months to work out 4+ hours a day is amazing.
runn wrote:
Or just work 8 months out of the year
Become a teacher, work 10 months. DO NOT coach. You'll have weekends free- vacations and all summer to travel and race.
I'm a teacher. I didn't become a teacher until I was 37 and I coached from the start until about 2 years ago (I'm 60).
I always thought about "what if"- I had started teaching at 24 and not coached.
I work 7:30-3:00- time for doubles. Friday I'm out early enough to leave for a 4-5 hour ride and still get enough sleep to race.
Plan races around long weekends, breaks, etc and you got it made.
And, to start out right away- can you sub in a local district? Mine pays about $100.00 a day, others are more or less.
You can choose when not to work- no Fridays or Mondays for travel to and from races.
You won't have benefits but it's a way to bring in money while having the time to train and race.
If you're African, 2:10 marathon caliber at least. If you're a skinny white boy with beard, 2:35. You can be a sub tenant of sub elite and enter elite ultra running. You have to be real good at IG and making yourself look cool.
If you travel the world or even the U.S., maybe even regionally in the U.S., you will spend more money on travel than you make in prize money.
The earth is 24,901 miles around. It would take you, like, a month or some sh!t to run around it.
I live in New England and like 6 or 7 years ago, I used to see lots of races with money, but every year there are less and less. Even races that gave money stopped or reduced it over the past few years. I think it'd be a pretty rough life trying to survive of winning small races. As others said you are way better off getting a real job and travelling that way. I work from home and would have so much free time if I didn't have a wife and two kids. I could even work anywhere in the country if i didn't want to burn vacation time and i was trying to race in the area .
No doubt you will have to at least have a part time job, and your gonna have to really go through the crap shoot before you finally pop off a race that gets you free hotels. I work full-time at a running store, and check for dirt cheap plane tickets, and beg for a free room... sometimes it works. I raced 3 races last month and the winnings totaled up to $1850 for the month. I live in a RV, I don't have a girl friend.. I just run and work.
My Pr's are
5k - 14:24
10: - 29:34
HM - 65:15
Full - 2:22:40
So to answer your question how fast does a "Sub Elite" have to be to run around the world making a living...
In the United States... sub 2:10 in the marathon :P
Thanks all for the response. I guess if you live in a country like Europe or US living off a sub elite lifestyle is almost impossible without a real job to fully sustain the expenses.
Also can anyone please shed some light on whether these sub elites that win local races with a 32-33 10k intentionally run easy just to win the prize money since their PB is well under sub 30. Thanks
Unfortunately, RDs discovered they can make much more money mass-marketing races to thousands of walkers, instead of attracting good runners with a prize purse.