Race Entry Fees

I generally don't blink an eye at paying $30 or even $40 here and there for a 10K or $80-$85 for a half marathon, but the other day I went to register for San Diego's Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon and had serious race registration fee sticker shock...$125! Seriously?! Add in processing fees and we're talking $10 per mile. What do I get for that big entry fee? A shirt. A finisher's medal. A free beer at the finish. Am I really going to pay $10/mile to run? Probably. I thought that maybe since it's a TNT event, I would be able to take part of it as a charitable contribution on my tax return, but no go there. I contemplated just registering for the full marathon because the price per mile drops dramatically ($160 for the full so just about $6.11 per mile). In the end, I'm sure I'll register for the half and defer buying that new iPod for another month.