How much do you noramlly spend on a 5K?

You got me curious, we have a couple of bigger 5Ks here that run $35 (Ottawa Marathon Weekend) & $30 (Army Run) and both include a shirt, finishers' medals etc. but both of these races have thousands of entrants; I would expect local races have a lot of the same expenses without the economies of scale.

About $20 including shirt. $40 seems steep for just a 5k.

You know it never occurred to me that you'd have to pay to enter a race! I'm going to be doing my local parkrun, which is a 5k held every saturday morning, gratis. Ok there's no medals, but they do do t-shirts for people that have made milestones, like hitting 50 parkruns, 100 parkruns etc. And it's a properaly timed event, with a barcoding system so that you can get accurate times logged for each event and compare how you do over the weeks. It's entirely volunteer-run, and I think it's fabulous!

I spent $25 for a 10k.

Most around here are $10-25, including a shirt or other commemorative item (hats, mugs, etc).

That's really expensive, but I noticed that when I lived out by you guys as well (probably because there aren't very many available). That's why I didn't do it any out there- they were all expensive & just banging on concrete & roads (kills my knees).

I usually spend $20-25 for one that comes with a regular cotton t-shirt (it's never an extra cost), or $25-30 for one that comes with a dri-fit style shirt (the thin, fancier work-out shirt, also called technical tees sometimes). ONCE I did $35 when it was a nicer trail run with limited runners, with an excellent amount of food & free samples, and the coolest fitted dri-fit shirts.

If you start looking into special events though, like the Warrior Dash (that's a 5k with obstacles) or Down & Dirty (mud run, obstacles), those can cost around $75.

P.S.- I would look for race schedules up in the mountains on trails, or up in Carson City or Reno. With a bigger population, you might find much cheaper races with better shirts that come with them. It'd be worth the $5-8 in gas.

Like here is one in South Lake Tahoe in June: it's a trail run which is way more fun (I'd practice a few times, because it can be harder at first if you're only used to the flat valley, just getting used to angling your feet over rocks and stuff- but it's WAY MORE FUN). $30 WITH a free t-shirt:
http://www.active.com/running/south-lake-tahoe-ca/tahoe-legends-10k-and-5k-run-2012

I am looking at a 10K this weekend in Moncton, NB and cost is $20.00. (5K is the same price). Not sure if T-shirt is included as no mention of T-shirt on registration site.

Wow - I was about to answer then realized I've never done a regular 5K, only over-priced Disneyland 5Ks at $50 a pop. But with those you get to run through Disneyland and California Adventure, including through backstage areas and there are characters cheering you on along the course, and a cute, themed, medal for finishing so it's worth it to me.

I've done a 7K, a 10K and a half, and those were around $45ish for the 7K and 10K, with shirts (and a necklace for the 10K). Both race packages also came with re-usable shopping bags. The Half was $75 and came with a tech tee and a nice quality medal for finishing. No bag, but a bunch of coupons for local sports stuff and plenty of freebies at the packet pick-up.

I'm also doing Bay to Breakers, which is a 12K, but it's a super, crazy, popular race and they can charge a little more and get away with it. I opted for the normal tee (you could choose a normal tee or a tech tee for additional costs for each) and I think that one cost around $55 or $60 after everything. There might be a medal for finishing that one, can't remember offhand.

Then the Disneyland Half Marathon in Sept was stupidly expensive at $150. Again, it's Disney though, so it's worth the extra for the park path for the beginning and end of the run. Plus the Half runners get a tech tee and a medal as well.

The races out here in Southern Oregon can be spendy, I am thinking that the 15K I did a month ago was the cheapest at $25, but the sweatshirt was another $30. Bay to Breakers which is coming in May cost about $90 with the T shirt, The Color Run I just signed up for was $40.00 including the T shirt. Its all worth it to me though and I don't run! I walk these races.. have not gotten that far in my C25k!

Nice! I will be at Bay to Breakers too! I am walking it though! Good luck with your runs.

Just checked my registration confirmation and Bay to Breakers was $73 after the participant tee option that I selected and the $6 processing fee. So a little more than I'd noted earlier.

And to mccarol, are you coming down from Oregon just for Bay to Breakers? That's pretty cool, and makes me feel less goofy for traveling to SoCal for the Disneyland runs.

I think the hardest part of that run, for me, will be when it goes through Hayes Valley two of my favorite shops in the City are on the street that the course follows. Will be hard to run past them without wanting to go in. lol

Yes we are coming down to San Francisco for just the run. There is a group of us going for it. Most of us are walking it though. I hohpw to be able to run a 5K by the time the Color Run gets to Sacramento.. if not I guess I will be walking it too! LOL

I would totally go to Disneyland to do a Disney race! I do not think I will ever be able to run that far again though. It has been 27 years since I quit running!