The Real Cost of Running the Boston Marathon

"Here's to ringing in Thanksgiving with a run. Christmas, with a run. New Years Eve and day with a run and quite frankly if you wonder at any time where you can find me it's ON THE ROAD....running."

Kristen Carstensen's weekday alarm goes off at 4:37 a.m. While her family sleeps through those dark, early morning hours, Carstensen is on the treadmill. Or she's out on the road, knocking out anywhere from six to ten miles before returning in time to put breakfast on the table.

A personal trainer, nutritional therapist, and mom of three, Carstensen was more prepared than most for the physical stress of preparing for the Boston Marathon.

And it wasn't an endeavor taken on lightly. It's been a dream since Carstensen was 10. The family, originally from Woburn, watched the race every year. She remembers watching the Marathon on her parents' TV and hearing her dad warn her, "Only the greats run that."

But she had more than the physical toll to contend with. Running a race of this caliber doesn't come cheap, and it devours free time down to the bone. It carries hidden personal costs — and benefits — even Carstensen didn't anticipate.

'Part-Time Job'

Between warming up, running, and stretching, Carstensen said her time commitment for training is about 20 hours each week — the equivalent of a part-time job.

She disperses those runs throughout the 22 weeks of training leading up to April 18, putting in six to ten miles weekday mornings and taking a long Sunday run. Last week, she logged a total of 60 miles.

Each run is squeezed in around work and family. When she sets her weekday alarm for 4:37 a.m., it's with one question in mind: "How many minutes of extra sleep can I get in?"

It's constant "go, go, go," said Carstensen — down time no longer exists.

On her GoFundMe page, she talks about brushing her teeth at 7:30 p.m. and crashing into bed by 8. The physical strain means her body demands nine hours of sleep each night.

But even as the workouts devour her normal social life, Carstensen said she's connected with the running community in a powerful new way. Even people in remote Boston running groups, she said, feel just as close to her as friends, even though they've never met in person.

"It's amazing to me, the community I've gained just becoming a runner," she said.

Family Impact

As a working mom training for one of the world's biggest races, Carstensen knew the run was bigger than her. The effect on her family has been alternately tough and rewarding.

She first noticed it in her son's school assignment. The red marker drawing shows their family — Dad, two sisters, and Mom, her legs drawn like long, looping S's.

"Yeah, my mommy's running," he explained to his teacher.

Her 7-year-old daughter now wants to be a runner, too, and is talking about track and cross-country.

"I didn't realize it translates so much to them," Carstensen said.

It also means delegating more of the parenting work. Carstensen's husband now gets tasked with prepping and providing Sunday morning breakfasts. Sundays, Carstensen sleeps in to a relatively luxurious 7 a.m., before embarking on the week's longest run, up to 22 miles.

Sometimes, she feels as if the family is wondering when this "hobby" will end. As a mom and wife, there's an added layer of emotional struggle, overcoming a nagging sense of guilt for taking so much time to herself.

"It's hard for [my husband] to be my cheerleader all the time — it's a struggle for him, just like it's an emotional struggle for me," she said.

Carstensen hopes her children see in her an example, that they, too, will feel up to the challenge when someone tells them the Boston Marathon (or anything else) is only for the "greats."

Above: A marker drawing by Carstensen's son shows the family, with his mom's legs in motion (far right). "A picture only a mother would love," Carstensen joked.

The Bottom Line

Then comes the financial crunch.

The family jokes that Carstensen now eats as much as her husband.

"When will we be able to afford to feed the rest of the family?" they tease.

But there's some truth to it. Carstensen has tallied up the extra grocery spending her workout regimen entails, and it's substantial. She's scrimping and saving on what would normally be her monthly "fun money" in order to save for the Marathon.

A 2015 estimate pegged the average Boston Marathon runner's expenses at a minimum $1,667. That accounts for entry fee, plane ticket, lodging and running shoes.

That comes close to Carstensen's total, according to her own detailed spending breakdown. Not factoring in the cost of meals while in Boston, she estimates a net cost of about $2,000.

That includes, but isn't limited to, $808 (round-trip airfare for her and her husband from Portland), $220 (supplements), $360 (shoes) and $100 (for a Boston jacket, which Carstensen jokes is a necessary expense). The Carstensens are saving an estimated $2,010 by staying with a family friend, a big relief as Boston-area hotels book solid and Air BnB rates skyrocket.

Still, with Carstensen working part-time and her husband teaching full-time, the family lives what Carstensen describes as "a pretty middle-income life." That means an extra $1,600 isn't just lying around.

From the outset, "I thought, 'Out of my pocket, how am I going to be make this work?'" she said.

A friend suggested doing what many Marathoners do — creating an online GoFundMe page. The outpouring of generosity there has staggered Cartsensen.

"People just come forward," she said. "People you'd never expect."

At the athletic club where she works, co-workers voluntarily fronted her $180 qualifying marathon entry fee, Carstensen said, and GoFundMe donors have covered more than $600 of her Marathon expenses.

Even as a person who's been planning to participate since age 10, Carstensen said she didn't realize what a big deal the Boston Marthon really is.

"Even if you're not a runner, you get it," she said.

Now, just one week shy of the Hopkinton start line, she gets it, too.

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Images courtesy Kristen Carstensen. Middle photo shows Carstensen calling her parents after learning she had qualified for Boston.