Active dot com Review, Monday 3/26/2018

Active.com Review

Santa Barbara International Half Marathon

Fewer and fewer races that I run use active.com for race registration.  I have been satisfied with my active.com membership in the past, but when my membership expired in 12/2016, I did not to re-up my membership.  I don’t remember why, but, I assume to take advantage of some promotion, I went ahead and signed-up, again, in March of 2017.  The membership was $70.  Here are the discounts/giveaways that I received:

• $85 off of shoes
• I won a free race registration to a half marathon (at least $85)
• I won a free pair of earbuds ($15)
• I got reimbursed for a fishing license that I purchased ($25)
• Free compression socks
• No processing fee (about $13)
• Fifth race was free ($65)
• I think that I got reimbursed something for pics, but I can't remember exactly

Active has easily been the best $70 that I spent in 2017.

I do have one complaint that is eating at me.  I, occasionally, by things from ActiveGearUp (Left Lane Sports).  Over the last 5-6 years, I've probably purchase, 1-2 things from ActiveGear-Up per year.  Either the return policy has changed, or I had never looked at it. I ordered something a few months ago and changed my mind about the purchase before it even arrived.  I asked for a refund for an unopened package, and I was told that there were no refunds.  I had to pay shipping both ways, and they would only give store credit.  That is ridiculous.  Gear-up said, basically, that I should be happy getting a 70% discount.  Really, the items they sell are a little cheaper than I could get somewhere else, but they only sell things that everyone has on sale, like discontinued items.  Maybe it is 70% off MSRP, but by the time it is being sold on ActiveGear-up, everyone has the item on sale.  If you include shipping, you are never really saving that much, if anything, and I’d much rather have the peace of mind knowing that I can return an unopened package.  This policy must work or they wouldn’t do it, but why would I buy something with no returns unless the savings was amazing?  I send all ActiveGear-Up ads to junk, now.

Final Thoughts
The $85 discount on shoes is a real discount. You can get just about any shoes that you want. The price of the shoes aren't artificially increased before the discount. As long as the shoe discount stays in place, I will continue with active, because the membership pays for itself (in my case) with that one purchase. I’m going to buy several pairs of Hoka Cliftons every year, so why not $15 off, and, then, be eligible for all the other active discounts.

Dr. John C Trettin Memorial 5K, Saturday, 3/24/2018

I had to rearrange my MP and speed runs to accommodate the rain. I'm glad I did my MP before it rained, because my MP route is still flooded. I should have done speed on Thursday, but it was raining, so I ran easy. I decided to skip the speed on Friday, and run a 5K today.

This 5K is one that I've run many times. There have been years that I have gotten first female, but I know that those days are gone. It is a tough course, and there is no way that I can hang with the young gals. It is a fun race, but it is single track with few opportunities to pass. There are lots of uphills and sand. You have to be very aggressive at the start, or you will get stuck behind slower runners and never make up the difference. I wasn't nearly aggressive enough to really compete. I never saw the two lead gals during the race.

I was actually in a good position. I ended up being behind some slower runners, but it allowed me to conserve my energy and pass a few women when I was able to make a move. No amount of race strategy or even luck would have changed the outcome. The two lead females were much faster than I am capable of running. I ended up 3rd female, 1st AG (40-49). I stayed for the awards which are always exciting, because they give away lots of raffle prizes.

Dr. John C Trettin Memorial 5K

Relive 'Morning Mar 24th'

I thought that I would go back out and run a few trail miles, but the wind picked up, and I lost the desire. I ran exactly 1.1 miles on the TM to insure a 50 mile week and called it quits. I pretty happy that, despite two unscheduled rest days, I still was able to complete the mileage.