I am moving the one bill (and maybe both of them) to a bank-based billpay service, which avoids the fees the one charges to pay online, and which promises to reimburse you for any late fees incurred if they send the check out too late. I've done it once with our medical insurance and it worked fine.

As for the race: I just don't get the 'tude. Yeah, by all reports I can just show up, or if I'm lucky take someone else's pre-registered spot, but that puts the cause out the dough. Plus, the only capacity issue is for the afterparty, and no way am I drinking beer after two hours in the freezing cold anyway. So I'll likely spend that morning running the same distance indoors, reading a very lovely Frank DeFord novel somebody sent me ::hugs::