Running: Pricey or not, running events thrive

When I ran toward the end of the Jersey Shore Half Marathon last Sunday, I was focused on two things: pass the woman in the alpine-themed shirt, and get to the finish line in under my time goal.

What I did not expect at that finish line was for a member of the Civil Air Patrol to put a medal around my neck. It was, after all, a $35 race. This may be the least I've paid for a half marathon ever (in comparison, the Philadelphia Half Marathon costs $125).

The Jersey Shore Half Marathon is a 42-year-old event at New Jersey's Gateway National Recreation Area, a national park more commonly known as Sandy Hook. It's a two-loop course on the park's paved roads, which are shut down for the half marathon and a companion 5K. This year's event had 835 finishers in the half and 163 in the 5K, with runners coming from 17 states and four countries. It was a well-organized, well-run event, and I'm still surprised they can do it at that price.

"I'm a big believer in being frugal," said Isabel Meldrum, race director and lifetime board member of the Shore Athletic Club of New Jersey, one of the running clubs that puts on the race. "The local runners appreciate that they can do a quality race and it's not going to cost them $200."

She and her race team do this in a lot of ways: They get volunteers from the Civil Air Patrol to help with setup and breakdown, and students from local colleges help man the water stations. They return any timing chips that aren't used because they're charged per chip. They've made and even recycled awards, and those medals? They cost $1 each.

The biggest cost saver, Meldrum said, is in people power. "Nobody on the committee gets paid," she said. They will have enough money left over to donate about $7,000 to charity this year, too.

I've heard grumblings since I started running that racing is becoming entirely too expensive, and I agree with that to some degree. I paid $255 to run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2, which still seems absurd even though I signed up and agreed to pay that fee.

But what the success of the Jersey Shore Half Marathon shows is that events on both ends of the pricing spectrum can thrive. In 2013, the United States had 1,136 half marathons and 1,100 marathons, according to Running USA. I chose to run in Sandy Hook after I dropped out of the OCNJ Half because of heat. I wasn't worried about finding a substitute race because there's one in this area almost every weekend. Loving a frugal, small race doesn't mean I can't enjoy the big, glitzy show like the New York City Marathon. They're just different racing experiences that cost different amounts of money.

The medal for the Jersey Shore Half Marathon is incredibly simple: It's about the size of a silver dollar and features a sneaker with the word RUNNING across the top with specific race information on the back. I don't doubt it cost $1. But when I put it on my banister, which is where I keep my race medals, it stood out for its simplicity, especially because it rests on top of my last medal earned, which is from the Broad Street Run and includes a lot of glitter. RUNNING is really what it's all about, no matter your price point.