You want how much of my money??

Now that half the races I was considering doing next summer are already sold out, I decided to look through my remaining options last night. I have a few criteria that are turning out to be mighty restrictive: (1) a half-ironman race relatively close by, (2) an olympic and maybe a sprint that I don't need to rent a car and get a hotel room to race, (3) all races take place in May and June.

Each year, I've done one triathlon (two Olympic distance races). The more I've read up on triathlon, the more I realize, this is not what other people do. It's like putting all your eggs in one basket. One thing goes wrong and you feel utterly deflated. All that training only to get a flat tire or just get too nervous and not pull through. I figured this summer, I'd be smart, I'd do a few races. That possibility, however, is getting decidedly slimmer all the time and it's making me a little depressed.

First of all, who knows their schedule this far in advance?? My girlfriend is graduating this coming May but her college hasn't even scheduled their commencement ceremony yet. I know roughly when it is, but two of the races I'm considering fall in the "danger zone". Her sister in CA is also going to be getting married some time this spring -- likely May or June. That's not scheduled yet either.

Secondly, who can afford all these races?? After all the other gear costs of triathlon and race entries you have travelling to and from races, shipping equipment and finding lodging. That's why the races I've done in the past have been close enough to my home to avoid having to get a hotel. I love this sport, but I refuse to spend all my money on it. Where's the poor, aspiring triathlete scholarship?!

Now that I'm done griping, here are the races I'm looking at: The Mooseman Half Ironman, Harriman State Park Tri (half or olympic), the New Jersey Devilman, and the Tupper Lake Tinman. All but the Harriman race would require overnight lodging and rental cars, most likely. What a bummer. The New York City Tri is a great race precisely because it's smack dab in the city -- why are there not more urban landscape races? Why, oh why?