How do you decide or prioritise what to spend on?
As a semi-experienced (10 years, 25+ marathons) amateur runner (4hr+ marathon), wanting to improve, I find this a deep dark rabbit hole my wallet is struggling to keep up.
My current expense ratios for this year:
Races: 2xtrail & 1xMarathon ~$175 (35%)
Shoes: 2xshoes ~$175 (35%)
Gear: socks & bottle ~$75 (15%)
Tech: Garmin HRM ~$80 (15%)
Next on my wishlist are
- road shoes
- running tights
- replacing my 3year old Garmin
- running cap/ sunglasses
- a coach
As a sole breadwinner still wanting to pursue my passion of running ,any tips or philosophies to share to help a brother out?
Shoes: great idea on the training shoes. I’ll go down to the shops to try the fit for a couple, and add them to my favourite e-commerce carts and wait to profit
Garmin: well, my battery is dying, and I’m a slut for more data. I’ll check out coros, the semi-pros and even pros seem to be enjoying them from podcasts and YTs
Coach: I haven’t thought about books for coaching, I’ll give it a go. For me YT/podcasts don’t really do as well as there’s little accountability (read: discipline to apply) to myself. Perhaps with books there’ll be that.
Accessories: yeah I got a bunch of cheap decath/ Chinese gear, but am always swayed by targeted ads or envious of others and their gear. I guess I have to work with what I have
Additional: haven’t sunk into gels/ consumables much yet, been trying to DIY nutrition. In time this will come, but I guess a $20-30/month shouldn’t be that difficult to carve out.
I really like my Coros Pace 2. Relatively inexpensive. Great for running and cycling. Breadcrumb navigation. Long battery life.