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tkillion810
tkillion810 Posts: 591 Member
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I am looking to sign up for a winter marathon. I find that when I have a race on my calendar, I do better. It will mean traveling somewhere warmer since I'm in Nebraska. My hubby has asked that I keep the cost down, understandably. I'd love to hear how others manage the running budget with out of town runs. I was thinking of New Orleans, Houston, or Galveston areas. I'm not into camping or sharing rooms with strangers :) What's the best way to get good deals on hotels and flights?

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  • davemunger
    davemunger Posts: 1,139 Member
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    Cheapest is if you can convince a running friend to join you and share rooms. Otherwise you might consider a hostel; some of them offer private rooms.

    The trick with the marathon is to find a room that will work for you as you start / finish the race. I like to find a place that is within a mile or so of the finish -- then I can just walk back after the race. In Minneapolis they had bike sharing which was an awesome way to get to the start from my hotel 2 miles away. Looks like Houston has a similar program.
  • DavidMartinez2
    DavidMartinez2 Posts: 840 Member
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    Travel is the biggest expense for racing. I suggest checking Air BnB, you can find some pretty good deals there.
  • Curtruns
    Curtruns Posts: 510 Member
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    I have done the camping a couple of times with decent results. With one, I slept in the back of my van on a futon mattress. The other one I slept in a hammock. I have also stayed at a friend's houses, it helps having friends located around the country. The difficult part is that sometimes your friends live a "loud" lifestyle that makes resting the night before a race difficult. The best solution I have found is to go to a race with a friend so that you can split the costs associated with traveling, and you are both on the same sheet of music as far as what you are there for!
  • pobalita
    pobalita Posts: 741 Member
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    Some of the airlines and travel sites (travelocity is one) send out frequent emails with sales, but it's really a gamble because many are last minute with restricted travel rates. Some of the travel site newsletters or the Entertainment book will give you good hotel discounts - 15% for some of them. AAA membership can get you some good hotel rates. If you book a combo airfare and hotel package through travel sites (expedia, travelocity, etc.) you can save a little. If you destination marathons often, you might consider a credit card with a good mileage plan. I generally get about one free airline ticket per year this way.

    I can sympathize - I'm doing Chicago in a few weeks and hotel and air cost me more than the same for my recent trip to an all-inclusive sun-filled vacation in Mexico. Hmmm, glorious sun and endless margaritas, or fighting 45,000 other runners for a porta potty, getting up at 4 am, and really sore feet??? It all costs the same. Considering the costs of a destination run, I think your best bet is to consider it a vacation and add some other fun things to do to get more value from your travel expenses.

    For Chicago, I'm sharing a hotel room and using public transportation when I get there to save costs.
  • saskie78
    saskie78 Posts: 237 Member
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    I travel a lot and rely on hostels and air bnb. I do the shared rooms in hostels, but private rooms are available and cheaper than hotels. Air bnb is awesome. You can save a lot of money using both of these because you have a place to prep meals--in addition to saving on the cost of the room itself. Saved money = more race entries :)
  • tkillion810
    tkillion810 Posts: 591 Member
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    Okay, I have no idea what a hostel is... originally I thought it was a typo! I've also never heard of air bnb. Off to google to edumacate myself ;)
  • GillianMcK
    GillianMcK Posts: 401 Member
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    Just a thought, but maybe post on here, see if anyone else on the forum is looking at the same marathons that could share accommodation costs with you??
  • sammyneb
    sammyneb Posts: 257
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    like some of the above posters..find running friends or family :) I have ran races in Minnesota, KC, Des Moines, San Antonio (also from Nebraska) and most of those I had someone with me to share cost. But my sister is an active runner too, so it is fairly easy for me to find company :) But I like cold weather running so much better. I ran the San Antonio race in January and it was actually really hard because I had been training in the cold winter then went down there and it was 75 and humid to start the race...wasn't at all what I was used to!

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