EnglishClub ESL Forums

Hello!
I met this sentence in an exercise.
"You can't really complain, you've had a good run for your money."
I looked this idiom up in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, but it didn't help... I mean, I got confused even more. It said "to make sb try very hard, using all their effort and skill in order to beat you in a game or a competition". If it is so, I can't get the meaning of the whole sentence...
I looked it up in another dictionary, and it gave a different meaning. So I'm turning for help to you now . Could you please
1) explain when to use this idiom,
2) give another example with the idiom,
3) say if it's common in spoken English (maybe I shouldn't concentrate on it so much).
Can't wait to learn the truth about this tricky idiom!!! Thank you very much!

You may be confused because you are mixing up two slightly different idioms:

1. to have a good run for your money
If you have a good run for your money you have a long period of time when you are happy or successful, eg:
I reckon it's time you stepped down as team captain. You've had a good run for your money, but you ought to give someone younger a chance now.
It's a pity Mary left Peter but he can't really complain - he had a good run for his money.

2. to give someone a good run for their money
If you give someone a good run for their money you fight very hard against them so that it is difficult for them to defeat you, eg:
The new Google phone is giving the iPhone a good run for its money.

In fact I used this expression this very day. I played squash with a friend and beat him. Then he told me his legs were sore from working out two days before. I said:
"Well, you gave me a good run for my money anyway, even if your legs were sore. You nearly beat me!"