How I Conquered a Marathon Without Running Out of Money
Happy Wednesday from Medean! We will occasionally share stories from our own users on how they’ve achieved their personal and financial goals, this week’s story comes from Morgan! Interested in having your story shared on the blog? Send us an email!
Have you ever wanted to run a marathon, but didn’t know how to budget your time and money to make it happen? You’re not alone! My name is Morgan, I’m a Medean user who just finished her first marathon, the Chicago Marathon, a little over a month ago! Training, gear, and supplements can get expensive, so I wanted to tell you how I trained for Chicago without spending a fortune.
Before we get started, let me introduce myself. I grew up on a farm in Carbon Hill, a small town in Alabama. I moved to Chicago for law school and now work as a tax attorney specializing in non-profits. Outside of work I like to read, hang out with my dog and run, although I just started running regularly three years ago!
My running career began when I decided to run a half marathon a few years ago. I signed up with a training group who helped me prepare, and after I finished my first half I trained for my second and third half with my training group as well. Lots of people in my group have run full marathons, which inspired me to give it a try.
Outside of my group training sessions, all the other runs were on my own, which came to be a challenge considering my demanding job schedule. The last two weeks of September are the busiest time of the year for my job, which meant that I had to find a balance between getting my training runs in without compromising my work. My solution was to wake up at 4 AM to go on my 8-mile training run and then head to work. It was a huge challenge but I was determined not to let my training and work take away from each other!
Finances are always top of mind for me, I still have a fair amount of student debt from law school so I always have to be aware of what I’m spending. I signed up for the marathon a year in advance so that I would have plenty of time to train and get discounts on gear on Black Friday (which saved me a ton!). I buy my nutrition for runs at the local shoe store which has a rewards program and I would always buy from there so I can get free stuff in the future.
When you’re training for a marathon, costs can add up quickly but that doesn’t mean you should settle for low-quality equipment. When I started running I just used the running shoes that I already had and quickly developed a foot injury as a result. I had to buy new running shoes, which proved to be the biggest expense I made but it was an important one to make to keep my feet comfortable and protected. I opted against getting an expensive gym membership, choosing to run outside instead.
My company also provides a “Fitness Fund” for their employees to use on fitness expenses so I used that for my training program and race fees. Many people don’t use the money that their company offers for their exercise (and many don’t know that their company offers such assistance!) but it was a huge help to keep costs down as I trained for the marathon. Additionally, my work will occasionally reward us with gift cards when we do things well and I would use those to buy my electrolyte tablets from Amazon.
There were a couple of times that I would get discouraged and want to quit, but remembering that I would regret not following through with the commitment that I made to myself kept me going. I also had a ton of support, training with a team helped, there are so many times that when the weather was bad where I wouldn’t have gone if there weren’t other people there with me. My husband helped out with walking the dog when I would wake up at 4 AM to go on my training run and he put together my charity fundraiser, not to mention all the emotional support he provided!
I learned a ton of tips and tricks on saving money throughout the training process. When I ran my three half marathons, I didn’t use any supplements but when you’re training for a marathon, you have to use your supplements not only for the race but for your training runs as well, that can add up if you’re not careful. I learned to buy my nutrition supplements in bulk to cut down on costs, but not before you experiment with a couple to learn what works best for you, not all supplements work for everyone!
Since I ran with a charity, I was given the option to train with the charity’s marathon team which would have saved even more money had I not already had my training team from my prior half marathons. To hit my fundraising goal, we rented out part of a bar in Chicago and spent the night singing karaoke with friends for an awesome cause! Renting the bar didn’t cost anything since we brought so many people, and they gave me a portion of each drink purchased towards my charity!
Medean also offers a bunch of tools to make sure that your training is breaking the bank! By consolidating all my financial information in one place it was able to tell me where I was overspending so that I would know to cut back when and where I needed to. Their achievements feature added extra incentive to save more throughout the process (check out Frugal Flex!), and its ability to project my savings rate throughout my training helped me ensure that I was never projected to spend more than I was earning as my equipment expenses rose.
After months of training, race day finally came! The race was a lot of fun, I was terrified for the two weeks leading up to it, but when I got there I found that it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The weather was incredible, the crowds had a ton of energy, and my family drove up from Alabama to support me! It was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget, I’ve already started planning for my next race!
Loved Morgan’s story, and want to learn how you can accomplish your personal and financial goals at the same time? Check out Medean, the budgeting app that’s using data-driven insights to help you save more and spend smarter!
