In almost every town across the country, the foot race season is swinging into high gear with a race hosted by nearly every charity and municipality.
Recently I participated with a friend in my city's annual marathon and 5k. It was by far the biggest and most expensive race I'd run in to date. The day before the race, we picked up our numbers and shirts and were directed to the "goody bag" station where we were given a large branded sack full of...air and a few ads. My friend and I just looked at each other, confused.
Previous races had always included goody bags with a few promotional items and I'd been looking forward to what this bigger, more expensive race might offer. Thinking I might be just a bit more interested in promotional giveaways than the average person, I brought the topic up to other participants and running friends over the next few days.
The feedback went something like this:
"What, not even a cruddy water bottle?"
"That happened to me too so now I stick to smaller races because they give better stuff."
"You didn't even get a coupon in the ads? Just ads? That's awful!"
"How can they still call it a goody bag if they don't give us goodies?"
Clearly, people don't train themselves into runners for the free promo items. There are easier ways to get water bottles, cow bells, pedometers, and energy bars. However, they do take the goodies into consideration when selecting a race.
Why such a focus on promotional items?
It's actually pretty simple. Social rules prevent most of us from walking into the office or gym and bragging about how we just finished first in our division in the local 5k. Most of us couldn't get away with wearing the t shirt or the medal to work either - even on casual Friday.
We can, however, carry our commemorative Boston Marathon water bottle with us to the water cooler for a refill. Naturally, this will spark conversations like "Wow, Chuck! You ran in the Boston? You clearly deserve a promotion!"
OK, maybe not. But you can't stop a runner from dreaming.
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