Change in plans

All along, I had eyed a 5K run in Ontario, Calif., real close to my house. The race is on Jan. 24 and I'd decided to run it.

But now, I've decided against it. Really, the deciding factor is money. Now, the cost itself isn't that bad, just $25. However, I've already spent $50 on the Mud Run, will spend another $45 on the half-marathon and then there is the outside possibility of participating in the Mud Run in October, which would be another $50... not to mention the Disneyland 5K ($40) and the Camp Pendleton Half-Marathon ($40) both of which are strong possibilities later this year.

The whole point of wanting to run the 5K was to beat my 5K time from last year. I ran the Fontana Days 5K in 25:05 in June and wanted to see how I fared now that I had quite a bit more running under my belt. But when I was tallying up the potential costs for races this year, it just didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Aside from the races, I'm going to buy a new pair of running shoes, probably some new headphones, have to stock up on the Vaseline and other creams for my, uh, condition (no setbacks recently!), and then there is the Garmin I was recently turned on to by blog buddy Thrashers Wife. I don't mind investing money into running - it's better than sinking it into useless hobbies - but I have to be smart about my funds.

Another smaller factor is the refereeing. I'm running now despite having games the same day. I ran 3.25 miles on Friday morning and reffed a game that night, and finished the same route earlier today and will ref a game later tonight. I can't quite yet plan out a true training plan because my soccer schedule changes from week to week but I did want to start running more frequently. I may not have the legs to do what I want to do with regards to running while having to ref games as well.

Oh well. Races come and go, and I've got to figure out what's best for me. And right now, running the half-marathon in April (while anxiously keeping one eye on the Mud Run) is what's best.