What Should I Do With All Those Medals?

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My latest bling — from the Awesome 80s Run this weekend — joined its friends in the dusty old box the other day. But I’ve been thinking about it.

What can I say. I like that thing.

In fact, I like all of my medals. Sure, I’d much prefer a Tiffany pendant or any other form of race jewelry instead — but only because I wish I could actually wear those things daily. Because any time I look at a medal, I remember the race I ran to get it, and those stories are always fun (or at the very least educational: “oh yeah, I started that half way too fast and scored a PW/personal worst”).

That got me to thinking: what are some ways to use, or at the very least enjoy your race medals — outside of the box, ya know? Here are a few options, plus some ideas from yours truly.

1. Hang ’em

Get one of these handy medal hangers (or put it on your “Want” Pinterest board – I trust your spouse is looking?) — and display your bling proudly.

The downside: you can only put so many (specifically, 24). If you have more medals than that, you’ll have to rotate or play favorites. Wouldn’t that be like having to choose which of your children you love more than the others?

2. Wear ’em

And don’t mind if people look at you weirdly.

3. Use ’em

Lately, some races have been handing out medals that can actually be used for other stuff. Mostly to do with alcohol, but hey – I’ll take it! The inaugural Runners World Half Marathon medal doubled as a bottle opener (here’s someone else’s photo of it). The Healdsburg Half Marathon medal, meanwhile, doubled as wine bottle stopper (photo from Cathryn). That alone is reason enough for me to run this race next year!

4. Snap ’em on the fridge?

I have yet to see a race medal that doubles as a refrigerator magnet, but don’t you think it’s an excellent idea? It can’t be that difficult to stick a magnet slip on the back of the medal, right? In fact, I’ve been thinking of trying a little DIY project… except my DIY success rate is near zero. Any volunteers?

Today’s run:

Two words: Zero. Pain. It’s unbelievable, really, what some bone-cracking and toe-popping will do for you. I went to the chiropractor again this morning and, despite HusbandRuns’ continued smirks, I feel like a new, balanced and adjusted person.

Today’s workout was a 3-mile tempo run with a one-mile warmup and 1+mile cool-down, from the Marathon: Own It plan in Train Like a Mother.

It was beautiful:

Negative splits on the tempo, sub-8:30, and only three days after an injury that I seriously thought might sideline my training for two to three weeks.

If you’ll excuse me now, I’m off to marry my chiropractor.

3 thoughts on “What Should I Do With All Those Medals?

  • November 21, 2012 at 5:39 pm
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    Hurrah for wine-stopper medals!

    BTW…we are having a very informal (ie no medals) turkey trot at ours at 8.30 tomorrow morning. Mid peninsula – if you’re interested I’ll email you details. You’d be really welcome. So far it’s us and three non-running friends. Walk/run/cycle/whatever 5k and then back to ours for tea and toast/bagels.

    Reply
    • November 21, 2012 at 11:21 pm
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      aaah, thank you for the invite! I’m actually doing a very crowded formal Turkey Trot (the one in downtown san jose… 20,000 people showed up last year!) But next year I totally think I’ll either do an informal run or look for something smaller! Have fun!

      Reply

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