Running 6 Marathons in 3 Years Helped Me Save for a Down Payment

Here’s how it happened

I started seriously saving for a down payment in 2012. Coincidentally, it was also the same year that I seriously started running (again). When I say “seriously,” I mean that I ran more than twice per week.

In 2012, I made it my goal to run a marathon and get more aggressive with saving money. At that point, I had no idea that these goals would consume three years of my life.

Having only run a slow 10k (in 1:30) while still in university, I casually said to my friend, “Oh, I’m running a marathon in October because I want to qualify for Boston and I also want to buy a house in three years when I’m 25.”

Needless to say, my friend looked at me like I had two heads, but managed to say a few encouraging words before I set out to accomplish what many others believed were impossible feats for me. In fact, I doubted myself too.

I mapped out a plan that would get me to where I wanted to be. I was quite detailed in my plans. I spoke to a number of people who have successfully accomplished what I wanted to do in order to learn what it takes.

For running, I planned out the weekly mileage, including how far the long runs would be and what I will eat/drink to recover. I also developed a strength training program. Each week, I had a contingency plan, just in case I got injured. Luckily, things went very well during my first marathon training cycle. This is how the race went.

For saving money, I looked at all my accounts and credit card statements, analyzing every source of income and every expense.

In 2012 as well as some of 2013 and 2014, my sources of income were: my contracts with the Federal Government, personal training, working at trade shows/promotional events, collecting refundable bottles, and cleaning.

I was super busy and, somehow, I managed to never miss a workout, unless I was super tired or sick. Thankfully, I didn’t get sick too often. However, I was extremely tired.

When I looked closely at my expenses, I realized that there were a few things that I didn’t need to spend money on. Therefore, the daily trips to Starbucks, shopping for clothes, and subscriptions I no longer took advantage of had to go.

Confession time: I didn’t realize that my daily trips to Starbucks were costing me almost $10 per day.

Finishing my first marathon and qualifying for Boston on my first attempt gave me the confidence to keep moving forward toward my goals. Crossing the finish line of my first marathon made me feel unstoppable. Unfortunately, registering for the Boston Marathon was not in the cards for me (for budgeting purposes). So, I set that aside until later.

By the end of 2012, I felt that I stopped wasting time and money. I was working and running so much, I honestly didn’t have the time to go shopping or clubbing.

Then, to save gas, I started running to work. I was killing two birds with one stone while working on two huge goals simultaneously.

Shockingly, what happened is that after my long, hard runs on the weekends, I was way too tired to go shopping. Not only that, but I was also way too tired to go out to the bars, which also helped me save money.

The average 20-something spends about $50-$75 per night out (including drinks, cab rides, dinner, tips). Given that each month has about 4 weekends, if you go out Friday and Saturday night, you could end up spending between $400-$600 per month on entertainment.

Since my long runs were on Saturday mornings, I couldn’t go out on Fridays because I could not be hungover and dehydrated for my long run. Then, I also couldn’t go out on Saturday night because Saturday morning’s long run completely wore me out. Looking back, I believe I ran my long runs a bit too hard, which is why I was so worn out.

Then, when Sunday rolled around, I was busy getting organized for the week so I could fit in all my running around all my jobs. During the week, I was so busy that I would wake up on a Monday and realize it was Friday again. While some of my friends complained on social media about being bored, all I could think of was “I don’t remember when I was bored last time.”

In the spring of 2013, I ran my 2nd marathon. It didn’t go as well as I had hoped because I started too fast. I also did a fitness competition only a few weeks before the race, which required a completely different kind of training and I didn’t consume enough carbohydrates during my training cycle.

With that in mind, I did what every runner does after finishing a marathon — signed up for another one in the fall. I figured I would have enough time to recover and try again.

I worked every day and ran nearly every day, taking every opportunity to put some more miles onto my legs.

The 2013 Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon ended up going very well, which inspired me to give Vancouver another go in the spring of 2014.

My 4th marathon, the BMO Vancouver Marathon 2014, was another personal best. At that point, I was feeling unstoppable.

After each marathon, I would go back and forth between “never again” and “I wish I could do this every week.” Ultimately, though, I would just get back to work and try again. I was running personal bests but I still wanted to accomplish more and do more.

Halfway through 2014, I realized I was finally able to afford to run the Boston Marathon and I was well on track towards reaching my down payment goal. Therefore, when September rolled around, I registered for Boston 2015 and bought my plane tickets.

I was also signed up for the Victoria marathon in the fall of 2014 and my goal was simple: To get a better starting position in Boston, and that’s exactly what I accomplished that day. My 3:18 was enough for me to move up to a better starting position in Boston. This was my fifth marathon.

In order to run a marathon under 3:20, I really had to work for it during the training cycle. When I wasn’t running hard, I was working at multiple jobs. When I wasn’t working or running, I was reading inspirational books and recovering. There were no opportunities for me to spend any money because I was too busy to go anywhere except to work and running.

The Boston Marathon experience, which was my sixth marathon, was very special to me because it took a lot of dedication to training and budgeting for me to be able to go. I didn’t get a personal best in Boston because there were a lot of things going on during that training cycle. I was sick with the flu that didn’t seem to go away during that winter and we had a nightmare for a landlord, which was stressing me out.

The Boston Marathon was one of those things I had been wanting to do since I was 15, but only got to do 10 years later. To this day, I am still grateful for that opportunity, regardless of the fact it took 10 years to get there.

Once I got back from the Boston Marathon in 2015, it was time to focus on a really important goal I set for myself three years ago, which was to buy a house.

Part of the reason why my Boston Marathon training didn’t go as well as I was hoping was that I was sometimes unfocused. I was unfocused because we had a terrible landlord who would arbitrarily raise the rent without giving us written notice of any kind, never did any maintenance on the property, and would belittle us in any way he could. This negative experience was the real reason why I wanted to buy my own place.

Thankfully, we found a place to buy which didn’t cost a lot. I felt so proud of myself for being able to save for that down payment in three years through denying myself frequent outings to restaurants, finding alternative means of transportation, working more than one job, and not buying new clothes.

The house was in the perfect location and the offer was accepted a little over two weeks after I got back from Boston. Since my mom had to cosign (this is Victoria, after all, and real estate is not cheap), the deal almost fell through due to a Canada Post error which resulted in the paperwork nearly getting lost in transit. Thankfully, the deal went through as planned and we were into the new house and away from the nightmare landlord.

Between 2012–2015, I experienced a lot of growth. Learning how to stay disciplined with money, time and fitness have been a transformational experience for me. It took me a while to be able to share this story, but I feel that it needs to be shared. I’d be lying if I said that I never felt like quitting. Of course, I had moments where I thought, “why am I doing this to myself?” Then, I always remembered why I started and how much it would mean to me when I accomplished my goals.

I wrote this for everyone who has been told that they can’t do something, who has dealt with financial setbacks and shady characters along the way, who has had a nightmare for a landlord, who struggles to get their workouts in, who works hard day in and day out, and who has gotten up one more time after falling down.

It wasn’t easy for me but it was definitely worth it and I have no regrets at all.