Is Running turning into an Expensive Sport ?

Of course it's cheap if you don't compete. I can buy a soccer ball for $10 and go kick it around the park.

Most runners aren't really competing, or at least they don't need organized races to be at the level of significance that they achieve (the nobody really gaf level) . That's everybody not running at least in a JC at those kinds of times and competing in college is cheap.

The couple of hundred elite masters spend a lot of money , I am sure. I guess they are competing. But there are a lot of masters spending money "competing' That are no better than your average hometown age grouper.

Most of us could just get half a dozen friends or people from our clubs and race to a case of beer stashed at some known location and it would be just as competitive as if we paid for a race and you would get a lot more beer of a kind you really wanted in the first place.

You can buy good shoes or dept store crap

You can buy name brand gear or generic brands

Garmin top of the line GPS watch or a simple chrono sports watch

Some niche’ sports drink and chews or Gatorade and jelly beans

Race every weekend or twice a year

Race locally or travel for races

Pay for a private coach or just read the Letsrun board

It’s all what you make it

$1000? Way more than that

Airline Tickets: $450-600

Hotel (2 nights): $800-1000

Transportation (from/to airport and hotel): $60

Food (2 nights): $75

Parking at airport (3 days): $60

Race Registration: $175-200

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Amen brother.

I remember when I lost a local marathon by a minute or so to a guy running in Vaporflys. I actually pity that guy.

Still, far better than most other sports.

Just run naked. Can't get any cheaper.

This is absolutely wrong. For instance, a $5 race in 1982 would be worth $13.63 today. Good luck finding one of too many 5k's or 10k's, let alone marathons for that price ($5 was the price of the NYC marathon in 1975 or 1976, which is worth $23.11 today). Shoes on average may not have gone up much beyond inflation, but the top price shoes are well above it. NYC marathon today is $255 for members. https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=5.00&year1=197601&year2=201912

Lenny Leonard wrote:

Internetsherlock wrote:

In few years time running shoes will be priced 1000$+ and more , exhibiting unreal energy return but it won't be banned because scientists are paid enough or stupid enough to not realise and draw lines on the realities of energy return .

None of this is true.

Running, adjusted for inflation, is effectively the same cost for participants as it was in the past 3-4 decades.

As far as I can see, London is enormously expensive for a foreigner. Good for Age entries, which I'd make by over 20 minutes, are only for the Brits. You have to sign up for a travel package. The ones I saw for a US company are a minimum $1598 this year excluding airfare. You get three nights hotel and that's about it.

FFF wrote:

The New Balance 620 of 1979 was $50. That was a landmark development.

Not just that it was a nice shoe that pushed things forward without being basically motorized, but because it was more expensive than anything else. That $50 then is $185 now. Make of that what you will.

A year later the Adidas marathon 80 were 65.00 and I thought that was expensive. ?

GGGG wrote:

Philip Exeter CC wrote:

It certainly is getting very expensive especially with the necessity of subscribing to an online running coach which can be hundreds of dollars per month.

I'd never recommend this. Distance coaching is a challenge when you know the athlete well. If you're just some random stranger on the internet, you're little more than an income stream being sold a cookie-cutter programme - I'm sure they'll claim they are individually tailored, but in all likelihood that is going to be minimal (e.g. suggested paces altered based on the performance levels of the athlete concerned).

If you can't get a decent actual coach that you can work with in person, invest in coaching literature and coach yourself.

Yep, or get that Nike run club app and use one of their distance based training programs free. I’ve done it and can’t complain. (WARNING: Not suitable for Nike haters)

Sounds like the perfect red neck running recipe ??

You need to realize that the value of money is degrading over time by quite a lot. So that's the one and only reason a shoe will eventually cost $1000+ in the future.

It's funny how a private clandestine group called the "Federal" Reserve can dilute the money supply at will with no audit of their activities and people blame the shoe companies for the high prices of the shoes. You have it all backwards.

.... And don't use wages a as a guideline. It purposefully hasn't kept up.