Most of you are probably reading this because you want to see someone who is pushing himself in the way you hope to do. I applaud that! Of course, I’m not perfect either. One of the areas I have discussed before as a place where I can improve is in planning ahead. This will be good for me for two reasons: first, OCR is an expensive hobby, and planning out my races will allow me to better budget out my year; second, it gives me a better focus on how I should train for these races, also making me a more focused athlete in the process.

With that, here’s my prospective 2017 calendar:

• Warrior Dash competitive wave, February 11, 2017, Clermont, FL (Update 1/5/17: I am signed up.)
• Spartan Race Sprint, April 29, 2017, Miami, FL
• Spartan Race Super, July 29, 2017, Asheville, NC
• Tough Mudder, October 28, 2017, Bartow, FL
• Spartan Race Beast, December 9, 2017, Central Florida *Location TBA

So now comes the fun part: how do I pay for all of this? (As of the writing of this post, I have not yet registered for these races.)

Well, this is where smart budgeting comes into play. And if you’re like me and you want to do several races in a year, it’s wise to consider your budget. Here’s what I’ve learned in researching this particular plan of action:

• It pays to pay early. I have been TERRIBLE at registering early for races. As an example, I signed up for two of my three Savages Races within one month of the race date. The first time, I signed up two weeks before! Part of the reason it’s taken me so long to finally run a Tough Mudder event is because I’ve waited too stinkin’ long to commit. By committing early (and in this case, ‘commit’ is a euphemism for ‘pay’), I’ll ensure a lower cost and stick better to my budget.
• Look for multi-race passes. One of the awesome things I learned about Spartan Race is they are fully aware that many of their Spartans want to get their trifecta (that’s my goal too). So they help out by offering several passes in which one pays a single price for several races. My plan is to sign up for the South Region pass, which will enable me to sign up for three races in a year that are in the same region. That’s why I picked two races in Florida and one in North Carolina. I also have a couple of other races in the same region as backups in case one these doesn’t work out.
• Consider other arrangements aside from actual registration. One of my 2017 goals is to travel out of state for at least one race. The Asheville Spartan Super was picked out specifically. One of my longtime best friends lives up there, and when I mentioned to him my plan of action, he was completely on board with me crashing with him that weekend. That removes one headache of traveling. Now I just have to budget how to get there. I also have to make the same considering for the Miami Sprint. Although I’m not a fan of doing so, it’s technically close enough that I could make a drive down in the morning and back in the evening. It would just be a really….long…drive.

With my plan in place, now I can start my preparations for each race. It should be one awesome year!