I do weigh the cost when registering. To keep costs down, I track the events in which I want to participate (like you, I'm just a poor age grouper only looking to cross the finish line) and register as early as I can. I registered for three events in Las Vegas just after Thanksgiving in the organizer's "Black Friday" sale. Each event was just a touch over $100 for a sprint. Like you, I know what goes into them so I felt that was a reasonable price. For a sprint, not sure I would do much more than that.

Last year, I considered Long Beach again but the price definitely drove me off. I forget exactly how much it was but I seem to recall it was several hundred dollars just for the sprint. Yeah, no. I'll still do Santa Barbara because it's still pretty reasonable for the event, but I also have to factor in travel and any accommodations. For out-of-state events that can quickly double, or more, the price of admission.

For longer events like a 70.3 or 140.6, then it's obvious the events cost so much more because of just how much more personnel, infrastructure and time in required. Expensive as it is, I think ~$1000 for a full distance and ~$500 for a 70.3 is actually a pretty reasonable price. Of course, in my triathlon "career" I only have a handful of those longer events left. I'm going to plan on Oceanside next spring and that may end my distance events. I'll just stick to local sprints from that point on.