Start running, they said. It’s an affordable hobby, they said.

Runners be Blessed but Broke

(You’re either broke or happy. Or both. Photo by Stephan Wieser)

Remember when they told you that running is one of the least expensive sports because you only need a pair of shoes and are ready to go? Forget that. It’s not true. Running is usury. Allow me to explain to you why. 

The deeper you dig into the rabbit hole of running, the more it demands from you. Physically, mentally, but most of all financially. While we’ve all been easily satisfied with 2 pairs of shoes and 2 sets of shirts and shorts in the beginning, we soon find ourselves in an inferno of sports gear. Trialing and erroring our way through hundreds of products each year to find that one item which will improve our running life dramatically.

Pay for Shoes

You require a special shoe for every occasion and terrain.

• One for tempo runs

• One for long runs

• One for recovery runs

• One for race day

• One for days off (still a running shoe, though)

• One for asphalt

• One for dirt roads

• One for trail running

• One for fell running (that’s something different)

• One for the track

• One for your maximum weight

• And one for your racing weight

• Running sandals because they used to be cool

Also, the black one is particularly nice, so you need that one, too. All in all, a total of let’s say…. 15 pairs of shoes. The same goes for shirts, socks, jackets, hats and shorts, of course.

Know-it-all runner once said that a running shoe is done after +/- 800 km. And that was before those carbon-plated super shoes were invented. These are usually categorized by the number of marathons you can run in them, and we’re speaking of either 3 or 4. Then the super shoes are not so super anymore.

Anyway, when you heard about those 800 km for the first time, you just thought:

“Haha, I’ll probably die before I even reach that number!”.

Well, after a couple of years of running, it turns out that a single marathon preparation easily gets you to this point and beyond. So you might just want to double the above number of pairs of shoes you need, given your ever-increasing milage.

Pay for Gadgets

While a simple running watch with a GPS sensor can already cost the amount of an all-inclusive holiday, this is just the tip of the tech iceberg. You’re very soon hankering for more data. Because more is always better, right?

First, you need a proper heart rate sensor, because the built-in one in your running watch isn’t trustworthy enough. Then you’re going to get one of those powermeters to put on your shoe because… well you want to know the watts you push, don’t you? There’s also sensors for glucose levels and sweat loss, of course. You also aim to track your sleep with a high-end wristband or ring device because your running watch is too clunky for that. Sleep is important. Yes, it is. And finally, you need the latest and most powerful smartphone to process all this data in various apps. Connecting all these dots and drawing helpful conclusions for your training and racing might seem overwhelming in the beginning, but trust me, it’s not getting any easier the more data you collect.

Pay for Food

Now let’s talk about food, as it is simple math: the more you run, the hungrier you are. The sheer amounts of food you devour and process every day becomes increasingly insane and your friends and co-workers look at you like a freak, when they spot the size of your servings when you eat out together. And the size of your second helping. And the third one, for that matter. And finally the sum on the bill. 

But it’s getting even worse. If you would rather not die from diabetes or cardiac disease, you will have to shift from chocolate bars and french fries to more nutritious food options, eventually. And that means: (you already guessed it) extra costs! It’s a huge scandal, that organic fruit, vegetables, and legumes cost so much more than processed junk food. If you add plant milk and an occasional veggie schnitzel, your housekeeping money will soon outstrip your rental costs. True story.

Pay for Supplements

We’re not done yet. Continuously over-stressing your body with milage and ‘too fast for your age’ speed workouts automatically leads to nutrient deficiencies in the long term. Bottom line: You need supplements. No matter if your weapon of choice is iron, zinc, magnesium, omega 3, vitamins B12, C or D, you better bank on a good extra amount of cash every month. 

Pay for Races

And don’t you dare to participate in races! Apart from the ever increasing entry fees and traveling costs, you will most definitely consume a huge amount of high end gels and sports drinks during the event, which are not particularly ‚value for money‘, regarding the fact that in most cases they contain nothing but cheap sugar. But hey, with their help you can make something out of nothing and this new PB almost runs itself. So you better invest your hard-earned money to extract that hindmost 1% of your peak performance.

Pay for Medical Care

Did we talk about injuries yet? No? Good. They happen. A lot. But don’t run away with the idea that your health insurance will be useful in any manner. It’s not. Ordinary doctors and physicians will only help you if you’re about to die. If you need to fix an injury because you have to (!) finish that peak week of your training plan, or because your A-race is coming up, they will gladly send you home, telling you to:

“Rest for a couple of weeks and then see if it gets better”. 

If it doesn’t, you possibly hear the even more shattering recommendation:

“Find yourself a new sport.”

We all agree that this is not an option. Thus, you’re most likely ending up becoming a self-payer, while finding someone who actually cares about your problem. And about your money. 

Blessed But Broke

So here we are, the running people. Simply doing what we love. Poor, but also truly blessed. So why complain about money.

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Everything not Running

(From left to right: Lisa, Toto, Me and 1/2 Harry. Photo by Chris Drüke)

It was my wonderful wife’s birthday yesterday, and I asked my best man Chris to take a family picture as a gift for her. Well, as you can tell from the photo above, this didn’t really work out.

Speaking of family. This is a concept I had abandoned in my youth, after my upbringing was somewhat troublesome. The bond among us Z’s was never very strong, and we were all terrible at getting along and keeping in touch.

This changed a lot when I reconnected with my dad through running about 7 years ago. I paced him to his goal time at his first marathon, we traveled to the USA together to both run the Boston Marathon, participated in a number of local races and he even crewed me during my first 100k race, the CCC in Chamonix. I am glad we reunited in such a beautiful way.

But I even more rediscovered the concept of family when I met Lisa. With her, I learned that family is not about being related on paper. Instead, family it is a safe space. A place of retreat. One that is built on trust, kindness, encouragement and accepting each other as they are.

With that being said, this might neither be a typical family photo nor a typical family. Yet, it is my family, and I am forever thankful it exists.

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Sprachnachricht

Wie immer gibt es vom Das Z Letter auch eine deutschsprachige Audiozusammenfassung. Zu finden unter dem Namen “Das Z - Sprachnachricht” überall wo es Podcasts gibt oder hier:

Start running, they said. It’s an affordable hobby, they said. (SPRACHNACHRICHT #17)