Kid Amnesiac

The dawn of my decision to run went something like this:

“Hm. You are forty (one) and beginning to have skinny-fat legs. What are you going to do about that? Yup, yup, there’s no use denying it; you are going to have to work out. But how? Back to the gym? No. You never go, and it’s expensive. I know! Let’s run. It’s cheap and you don’t have to go anywhere. Just strap on a pair of shoes and go. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll run.”

Hahahahahaha!

I got part of that right. I don’t have to go anywhere, and I’m enjoying it more than the gym. I am now 8 weeks into running and 13 weeks into working out. This beats my previous stick-to-it record by about 450%. Sad but true.

So running is much better than the gym for me. Oddly, I would skip going to the gym if it meant walking or driving through rain to get there, but I have run in rain at least three times now without thinking much of it. But the cheap part? Hardly. Here’s the breakdown on my “cheap” new sport:

No Boundaries program fee: $75

Winter/early spring running wardrobe (on sale, including a bra and two insulated tops): $100.50

Summer running wardrobe (two tops, one Capri, a skort, and shorts): $82

Shoes: $118

Socks (including special wool ones): $30

Water bottles*: $24

Race entry fee for first 5K: $25

Pro Stretch: $30

Cheapest iPod available to keep me company: $50

Total to date: $534.50

And I’m not finished yet. I need one more bra and an extra top or two going into summer, I’ll also need a hat or visor or some sort, and by late fall I’ll need to buy Gortex shoes because on colder days I’ve had problems with numb feet and white toes.

I can understand and justify most of these expenses, but I have to confess to an element of bewilderment. I imagine there are people—lots of them—running across the open spaces of this world for much greater distances and at twice my speed, equipped with nothing but shorts, a shirt (maybe), and bare feet to keep them going.

So is my $534.50 outlay a reflection of Western values, wherein we spend money and buy stuff for everything? Or does it reflect the reasonable cost of running for fitness as a middle-aged person living in a variable climate? I’m not sure, but something seems terribly, terribly out of whack even before I spring for a watch that tracks my mileage and time, electrolyte pills to keep me going, a trigger point therapy kit, a second pair of shoes to alternate, a fancier iPod, etc.**

*The water bottle. Determined to keep costs in line, I bought a cheap, $4 water bottle at Tuesday Morning about two weeks ago. I used it once. The thing was too heavy, too big to comfortably hold, and attached to a wrist strap that was too springy to be useful. After one run with this sucker, I went out and bought the $20 contoured model with an adjustable strap and zipper pocket. I still think Jeff, the owner of Fleet Feet, planted the cheap ones at Tuesday morning to prove a point about cost vs. value.

**I won’t be buying any of these items, fyi. I cannot imagine the day that I will run far enough or fast enough to require electrolyte supplements or a technical device to track my “speed”, especially when my fastest time to date is 29 minutes for 3 miles.