As predicted

As predicted NYRR raised the price of the entry fee to the NYC Marathon.  What might you think the price they raised it to would be? Well some might say ten to twenty dollars might be fair, after all it is the NYC Marathon.
Well forget that, how about $60! Oh yeah I know what some of you are thinking because heard this all before. "NYRR does a great job and blah blah blah" Shut up, please just shut the F**** up because you know you are that same person that complained about your taxes coming out of your pay check and the price of gas going up, your rent and so on but because you have a hard on for running NYRR races so they get a free pass to rape you and everyone you know and we'll just call it inflation.  But think about it, sixty bucks a person by forty thousand runners is twenty four million dollars! That's a lot of "not for profit."
Hers a few things That were shared with me through North Brooklyn Runners that I would like to share:

Guidestar.org has a lot of basic information available for free. For instance, I've already learned that NYRR shelled out $ 11,324,727.00 in "salaries, other compensations, employee benefits" compensation in 2010, vs $ 9,915,302.00 in 2009; that the total number of individuals receiving compensation of $100,000 or more was 12; that Tavern on the Green received almost $484,000 for the pre-Marathon party, and that Robert H. Glover Associates in in Sleepy Hollow made off with $328,000 for "running classes" in 2010. Oh, and in Section B: Policies: I learned that this organization does NOT have either a whistleblower policy, nor a "written document retention and destruction policy".In "Part III- Statement of Program Service Accomplishments", they justify the tax-exempt status of their marathon revenues by citing the number of people they reach via televised broadcast and live spectatorship, and further state [all CAPS are theirs, not mine]: THIS MASS PARTICIPANTS [sic] AND WIDELY-VIEWED ANNUAL EVENT ALLOWS AND INSPIRES PERSONS OF ALL AGES AND ABILITIES TO ADOPT AN ACTIVE AND HEALTHY LIFESTYLE THROUGH RUNNING, WALKING, AND RELATED FITNESS ACTIVITIES"
hm. Maybe if they had a "couch to marathon" outreach program that included babysitting services.(Don't laugh: community colleges such as BMCC offer babysitting on premises. Many of their students would not be able to study otherwise.) Regarding inspiration: I grew up in Greenpoint and came out to watch the Marathon every year, but all it ever served was to perplex and awe me---I never imagined it to be a physical accomplishment that could be ever be accessible to me. Kinda smells like BS to me.

But the plot thickens.  Here's a  story in the New York Times last February about the NYPD raising fees....

Race Directors Raise Concern Over Proposed Police Fee

In an effort to generate revenue to cope with the city’s budget deficit, the New York Police Department wants to charge the organizers of the New York City Marathon and dozens of other races the full cost of controlling traffic and other services.
By charging a new, separate fee, the police are trying to offset the rising costs and increasingly burdensome job of shutting down traffic for popular athletic events. ...
The Road Runners, which last year paid more than $850,000 to city agencies, including $107,000 to the police, is willing to reimburse the police for more of its costs, Wittenberg said. But because many race fees are set months ahead of time, they want the police to put off changing the rule until at least 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/sports/10running.html?pagewanted=all

Thanks NBR for keeping me informed.

You know either way this is bullshit. This is a day at the parade for police officers minus the rowdy drunks. Let's be honest they're out there cheering with the rest of the us and getting paid to watch cute girls run by in tight clothes all day. Sure as hell beats working the night owl shift in the South Bronx on a Saturday night.

 As for NYRR not sharing any of this information on their website only goes to show their lack of concern when it comes to their paying customers.  Because thats what we are as runners paying for these races, customers. You know it's beyond me why they don't even mention why prices keep going up the way they do. Hell they might even have a good answer as to why in 6 or 7 years races in the park have more than doubled while giving the runners less than they had before. But in case you want to be reminded of what your paying for when you run the NYC Marathon here's a photo.

This and a medal are the reason they need so many porto johns on the course.

 As of yet I haven't made up my mind if I want to run the Marathon again in 2012. Because even with all the B.S. that comes with running this thing it's a really cool event when you're in top condition. But running a marathon can be like "chasing the dragon."  Sometimes the best way to slay that dragon is to forget it till you get your mojo back. Only then can you sneak up on it and cut it's head off. Right now I have to forget it for a while.

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