Paying for a 5K

Why do people pay to run in a 5 or 10K race?
Why pay for a half or full marathon?
Is it for the shirt?
The 26.2 sticker for the back window of your car?
The issued number to tape to the wall in your office?

It seems that paying for a race is shelling out money for something any one of us can step out our front door and do for free.

Ryan’s 5K. Race time: 8am, tomorrow morning. Race start: Driveway. Race finish: Same driveway. There’s no qualifying time necessary. And the course is already laid out (down the road for 2.5K, turn around, and head back).

We pay for races for the anticipation, the training, and the buildup. Excitement.
We pay for races for the positive peer pressure, the running group, the crowds and celebration. Community.

It’s not about the running.
It’s about the excitement.
And the community.
Those are antidotes—solutions to a problem.
And people pay over and over again for them.