Med-City Marathon Costs / More Notes

I'm sure that there are a handful of you - and you're part of a small group that have access to the blog - who wonder what kind of money I spend when I go do a marathon like I did on Sunday.

When we were in Pearland last Sunday, I asked Sarah what she paid for her bike (knowing that triathlons can be an expensive proposition.) When she told me, I thought to myself, "Hmmm ... I can pay the entry fee for about 14 to 15 marathons." :)

I meant to do this breakdown when I went to do Oklahoma City last month, but here goes:

Pre-Saturday
$5 - Continental fee to book the reward travel (AMEX)
$60 - Med-City Marathon race entry fee (AMEX)
Saturday
$2.50 - Toll road fees from house to IAH (AMEX)
$8.19 - Lunch at Papa John's in IAH ($)
$10.01 - Dinner at Bilotti's Italian Villa in Rochester, Minnesota (Visa)
$10.09 - Tylenol and sundry travel items at HyVee in Rochester (Visa)
Sunday
$91.69 - Marriott Courtyard (Visa) - included $4 parking fee
$6.08 - Lunch at McDonald's in Rochester ($) - could have stopped and eaten better, but I was hurting and wanted to get moving towards the MSP airport ASAP
$22.99 - Gas at Marathon in Richfield, Minnesota (Visa)
$27.73 - Advantage Rent A Car (Amex)
$2.60 - Snack/Drink in MSP ($)
$12.00 - Parking at Parking Cents lot at IAH (AMEX)
$2.50 - Toll road fees from IAH to House (AMEX)

It cost me $261.38 to get in marathon No. 19 and state No. 12.

I could have used some of my Marriott points, but I gave about 80,000 of them to my Dad for my Mom, daughter and two nieces to use next month when they go to Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents. However, Marriott was running a discounted price in an e-mail that I received during the week. Otherwise, I could have done it all for about $170.

The dinner that I had at Bilotti's was well worth it. (I also had water too.)

I, of course, try to get an economy car when I travel now. The Dodge Caliber SX got 27.4 miles to the gallon. Sure wasn't as sexy as the Mustang that I drove to Fargo and back to Minneapolis last year, but sometimes practicality beats the "cool factor" most of the time.

How could they keep the marathon entry fee at $60? Well, the entire back half of the marathon didn't need to be run on a single road at all as it was on the Maywood Trail.

These Marines ran the half marathon carrying a USMC flag. My Dad would have enjoyed seeing that. (Read the story here.)

They were officially calling it a "breezy, muggy but overcast" race day. It was cool compared to what I had run in on Saturday morning. The winner did a cartwheel at the finish line! (See it here.)

And finally, Post-Bulletin columnist Gregory Sellnow finished in 5:08:03. I didn't know there was a media division. If so, I might have pushed through the pain a bit more. :)