Better Ways To Spend $135
After spending around $135 on a certain something, I contemplated other ways that money could've been used:
- A ticket to Wrigley Rooftops for a Cubs game this summer
- Rent a BMW for a day via Zipcar and still have money leftover for a meal out
- Buying 35 six packs of Ale-8 back home
- Roundtrip ticket (depending on the weekend) to Nashville via Southwest
- Around 30 tall mochas at Starbucks
- Dinner for two at the Signature Room downtown (except on holidays)
- Go to the movies ten times
- Almost two years worth of Netflix
- A crap ton of Reese's cups
I think you see my point.
What did I spend it on? My entry fee for the Chicago marathon. I voluntarily paid money to put myself through absolute hell for just under 3 hours. Where's the logic in this? I mean, this investment is more than just a really painful Sunday morning in October. It takes a time commitment from me for the next eight months to train and get myself ready.
Why do I want to be ready? Because not only do I want to run 26.2 miles nonstop, I want to run it fast. Fast enough to qualify for Boston. What happens when I qualify for Boston? I pay even more money, buy a hotel and a plane ticket to do it all over again the following April.
What's the point in all this? Why do it? Oddly enough, because I like it. I enjoy coming home from workouts feeling like I'm going to die. I love the feeling after a hard run in sub freezing temps knowing I went out and did something most wouldn't do. I've been doing it for ten years and a six month break from it has been long enough.
Running a marathon has always been on my bucket list. Running Boston has too. If I don't do it now, I may never get another chance. When I cross the finish line, vision fuzzy, lightheaded but under 2:50, it will all be worth it.