Upon awakening Saturday morning, I decided to not enter the 5k. Shocking, I know. But I had my reasons.
The fee for entering the race that day was $25. At first, this fee seemed like a reasonable price to pay to participate in an exciting race, but the more I thought about it, the less appealing it seemed. Sure, I’d be getting a tee shirt out of the deal, but in those situations, the only sizes available usually fit either a canary or an elephant and nothing in between. (And just out of curiosity, why would the organizers of events like a 5k race order XXXL shirts? Is there a large demand from race participants for sizes in that range? I’d tend to believe not.) Additionally, there are days where I would easily pay somebody $25 to AVOID running, so why would I want to fork over that kind of cash to do an activity that I don’t so much enjoy as detest?
Lest you imagine that I instead spent the morning ensconced in fast food wrappers and ice cream tubs on the couch, I would like to mention that I instead ran the 3.34 miles to my parents’ house. I didn’t get a tee shirt from the experience, but I was able to later apply that $25 to a much better cause. Lunch.